LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Both the prosecution and defense told jurors there is little disagreement about the basic facts of the Brett Hankison wanton endangerment case:
The former detective filed multiple shots during the raid that killed Breonna Taylor, some of which went into the home of one of her neighbors, endangering their lives.
And both agreed, as Assistant Attorney General Barbara Whaley put it, that “Breonna Taylor should not have died that night.”
But they disagree on whether Hankison's actions were legal given the situation.
Whaley described Hankison as firing blindly from outside Taylor’s apartment, nearly hitting neighbor Cody Etherton while Chelsey Napper woke up in their bedroom and “froze” with their 5-year-old child asleep feet away.
Unlike Hankison, former Det. John Mattingly, who was shot in the leg, and former Det. Myles Cosgrove, who were immediately fired upon by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in the line of fire when they shot back, Whaley said.
Attorney Stew Mathews said Whaley left out the context of what was a chaotic scene in which Hankison believed someone was firing an AR-15 at police.
“The scene was total chaos,” Mathews said. “You’re going to find that he was justified, his actions were reasonable given the chaotic situation he was in. These officers had no idea what they were getting into.”
Mathews said Hankison will take the stand to testify on his own behalf.
In addition, Whaley said witnesses who saw Hankison at the hospital after Mattingly was shot will testify.
Etherton, the first witness, said he heard a loud noise and got up to "protect my family."
He dropped to the floor when a bullet came through his wall and then crawled back to their bedroom.
"I didn't know if we was getting robbed," he said. "I didn't know what was going on."
When the gunfire stopped, Etherton said he heard police announce themselves. He said he was held at gunpoint. Etherton described police as unorganized, saying he told Napper to call 911 and tell them they were not involved in whatever was going on.
"It was just reckless to me," Etherton testified. "Any of them bullets could have gone anywhere."
Hankison is charged with three counts wanton endangerment and has been fired. Hankison, whose shots did not hit Taylor, is the only officer charged in the case. None have been charged in connection to Taylor's death.
Court officials initially gathered an expanded pool of 250 potential jurors, to account for the widespread publicity in Taylor's death, which sparked months of marches and protests in downtown Louisville in the summer of 2020.
A jury of 15, including three alternates, are hearing the case.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who worked as an emergency medical technician, was shot multiple times during a botched narcotics raid on March 13, 2020.
Louisville officers kicked in her door using a narcotics warrant, and drew fire from Taylor's boyfriend, who thought an intruder was breaking in. Two officers at the door returned fire, killing Taylor.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
