Ex-LMPD detective has wanton endangerment record expunged in Breonna Taylor case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Louisville Metro Police detective Brett Hankison was already acquitted this year of wanton endangerment charges in the 2020 raid that left Breonna Taylor dead.

Now, those criminal charges have been expunged, though the ex-officer faces ongoing lawsuits, online notoriety for his connection to Taylor's death and a pending appeal to try to get his LMPD job back.

The order for automatic expungement in Hankison's Jefferson Circuit Court case was entered Wednesday, online records show.

Hankison's attorney, Stew Mathews, told The Courier Journal the case was actually expunged earlier this year after his March acquittal following a week-long trial.

Automatic expungement orders in the commonwealth take effect 30 days after acquittal and are sent to prosecutors, defendants and their attorneys, the original arresting agency, local jail and Kentucky State Police, which is also responsible for notifying any federal agencies of the expungement.

Kentucky newsProsecutors say commonwealth's attorney who did favors for nude images should quit

Mathews said the expungement does not have much of an effect on Hankison, 46, and whatever he decides to do in the future.

"All you've got to do is Google his name, and you'll probably find 5,000 articles about him," Mathews said, adding he spoke with Hankison earlier this month. "… I don't know much of a difference it makes. It's obviously not a bad thing."

As for whether Hankison may try to find law enforcement work again in the future, Mathews said, "I really haven't discussed what his future plans are."

"I don't know if he will or wants to or if any opportunity will ever present itself," Mathews said, adding Hankison is "kind of sitting back waiting to see what happens" with a federal investigation into Taylor's case and LMPD.

Hankison was the sole LMPD officer charged and indicted following Taylor's death on March 13, 2020, during an early morning raid at her apartment on Springfield Drive in southwest Louisville.

Taylor died after several LMPD officers forced their way into her apartment with a battering ram around 12:40 a.m. with a search warrant to look for drugs and cash as part of a larger narcotics investigation.

After Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a single shot from his legally owned handgun at who he thought were intruders, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly fired six rounds, detective Myles Cosgrove fired 16 and Hankison fired 10 in response.

Six of those bullets struck Taylor, with Cosgrove firing the fatal shot, the FBI concluded.

People doing goodLouisville church raises thousands to install safe haven baby boxes

Hankison fired into Taylor's apartment through a covered glass door and window during the raid that turned up no cash or drugs. Three of those rounds traveled into an adjacent apartment with a man, pregnant woman and 5-year-old child inside.

In September 2020, Cameron, the Republican attorney general, announced a grand jury indicted Hankison on three wanton endangerment counts, with a conviction of the class D felony carrying between one to five years in prison.

But this past March, a Jefferson County jury found Hankison not guilty on all counts, with Hankison's attorney arguing he was "doing his job as a police officer."

Mattingly and Cosgrove and a detective who wrote the search warrant involved in the investigation and raid at Taylor's home were not charged but either retired or were fired in the fallout over the killing of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman whose name became synonymous with racial justice protests throughout America in 2020.

Hankison was fired later in 2020 after then-interim Chief Robert Schroeder called the rounds he shot through the covered door and window "a shock to the conscience."

He appealed his firing to the Police Merit Board, but the appeal hearing was set aside until criminal proceedings concluded, with the next hearing date not yet set. Hankison also faces several lawsuits, including one from a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her and a federal suit that claims he harassed suspects and planted drugs on them.

Walker, Taylor's boyfriend, also has sued Hankison and the other LMPD officers who had a role in the warrant process and deadly raid.

Reach Billy Kobin at bkobin@courierjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor: Ex-Louisville detective Brett Hankison's case expunged