'So you guessed.' Jury gets case in Brett Hankison's federal trial over Breonna Taylor raid

The fate of former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison in his federal trial over whether he violated the civil rights of Breonna Taylor and four other people during the police raid that killed her now lies in jurors' hands.

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was inside her South End apartment when she was fatally shot by plainclothes officers attempting to serve a search warrant at 12:40 a.m. March 13, 2020, in a botched narcotics investigation.

Hankison is accused of violating the civil rights of Taylor, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker and three neighbors by firing 10 bullets "blindly" through a covered sliding-glass door and window as police returned fire when Walker a shot at them.

Hankison's defense team says his actions were justified based on his perception that he was saving his fellow officers' lives.

If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Jury deliberations have ceased for Monday and will resume Tuesday morning.

Here's how each side framed what happened during closing arguments as well as how they questioned Hankison on the stand:

Federal prosecution's case: Hankison fired 'blindly' into Taylor's apartment

"Shocking." "Unfathomably dangerous." "Stomach churning." "Disbelief." "Day one."

Those words - quotes from witnesses, echoed by the prosecution during closing arguments - were flashed on a screen for the jury to describe Hankison's actions of “blindly spraying bullets” into Taylor's apartment.

The prosecution reminded jurors of the testimony of Walker, who said he and Taylor were awakened to bangs on the front door. Walker said he and Taylor asked three times for the people to identify themselves but heard no response. While Walker and Taylor got out of bed and moved toward the apartment's entrance, the front door burst open.

Walker then fired one round from his handgun, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. Of the seven officers present, only Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove and Hankison fired their weapons. But unlike the others, Hankison did not discharge his weapon in the doorway of the apartment.

"If the defendant had fired back in that moment, we wouldn't be here," federal prosecutor Michael Songer told jurors Monday. "But that's not what the defendant did."

Instead, Hankison opened fire after other officers had stopped shooting, firing through a covered sliding-glass door and window, Songer said.

Throughout the trial, witnesses, including Hankison, have told the jury that they could not see any furniture, people or movement through the covered windows.

According to Songer, Hankison "blindly fired" his gun because he was angry someone would shoot at the police. And since body camera footage was not turned on at that time, Songer said Hankison thought his fellow LMPD officers would cover for him.

But several officers testified that they would not have shot through a covered window where they could not clearly see an active shooter.

On the stand, Hankison said he could see muzzle flashes from the gunfire lighting up the front of the apartment through the curtains and blinds.

But prosecutors have said that does not meet the standard of LMPD policies on the use of deadly force and target identification, which state an officer must clearly see an active, imminent threat.

This firearms lesson is taught to officers on "day one" and is repeated at least twice a year during recertification training, the prosecution contends. Despite this, Songer said Hankison "did not fire at a person he could see."

Songer also referenced testimony by Michael Van Arsdale, a forensic scientist and firearms examiner who conducted a scene reconstruction of the shooting. In a graphic, Van Arsdale showed the trajectory of Hankison's bullets, including those that struck the common wall between Taylor's apartment and the neighbors'.

Songer denied Hankison's testimony that he had target identification because Walker was illuminated by a muzzle flash while he and other police were in the apartment's entrance.

Songer noted he had asked during cross-examination why Hankison had fired first through the sliding glass door, which opens into the living room, rather than where he had last seen Walker, which was in the back of the hallway.

Hankison said he thought Walker had been walking toward the officers while firing a weapon.

"So you guessed," Songer said.

Songer said Hankison also lied about where exactly he fired his weapon.

Hankison has said he fired while standing on the sidewalk and close to the apartment. However, some witness testimony and Hankison's discharged shell casings place him several feet away, in the parking lot, Songer said.

The prosecution said Hankison's actions not only placed the people inside Taylor's apartment at risk but also nearby neighbors: Chelsey Napper, Cody Etherton, and a 5-year-old.

"Chelsey and Cody did nothing wrong," Songer said, but their lives were placed in immediate danger when Hankison's bullets sprayed into their apartment.

"Officers can't shoot if they can't tell (whether) there are innocent people in the line of fire," Songer said. "But the defendant did."

Defense's case: Hankison thought LMPD officers were being 'executed'

Defense attorney Stewart Mathews told jurors this case cannot be determined with hindsight. Rather, what's most important is what Hankison perceived at the time.

During the brief window of time, described as "a handful of seconds" from when the front entrance was first breached to when the gunfire had ceased, Hankison believed he was stopping an active shooter who was "executing" his fellow officers, Mathews said.

In the defense's closing argument, Mathews said he agreed Hankison could not see a human being through the covered windows. However, he said, Hankison "knew that his partner had been shot and he knew that was done by a human being."

Mathews added Hankison saw the silhouette of a human being, holding what he perceived to be an AR-15 rifle.

At the time of the shooting and in a subsequent interview with investigators, Hankison said he saw an AR-15 rifle and the muzzle flashes from it. He knew another officer had been shot and believed they were being "executed," he said.

While it was initially dark inside the apartment when police kicked open the front door, Hankison said the room was illuminated by a muzzle flash from Walker's handgun. With that light, Hankison said he saw a large figure toward the end of the hallway, in a shooter stance.

The muzzle light and noise looked and sounded "just like an AR-15," Hankison said.

No rifle was found at the scene. Only one gun - a handgun owned by Walker - was recovered.

Two rifle casings were later found - one inside the bedroom of Taylor's sister, and another in the apartment complex's parking lot.

When Van Arsdale's graphic was shown, Hankison said those shots where he intended his bullets to go and that he did not fire "blindly."

He said all of his rounds were fired in a "tight pattern" and that he had no prior knowledge about the existence of the adjoining apartment.

While Mathews said he thought Hankison had reacted to the situation as permitted by the LMPD's policy on the use of deadly force, a potential violation of the department's policies and procedures "is not necessarily criminal."

"Even a mistake does not arise to the level of a crime,” Mathews said.

If his perception was reasonable in the chaos of that moment, then it was not criminal, Mathews said.

Mathews closed his argument by telling jurors to put themselves in Hankison's shoes and asking what they would have done in that frenzied moment.

What happens now? Jury to deliberate

The jury is now deliberating whether Hankison is guilty of violating the civil rights of Taylor, Walker, Napper, Etherton and the child.

The original 16-person jury was made up of one Black man, six white women and nine white men. But four of these members were randomly assigned as alternates prior to the deliberation and will subsequently not be part of deciding the final verdict.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Brett Hankison federal trial: Jury deliberates in Breonna Taylor case