LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Former Det. Brett Hankison’s wanton endangerment trial for his role in the raid of Breonna Taylor's home will remain in Jefferson County, for now, a judge ruled Thursday.
While acknowledging that there had “obviously been an overwhelming amount of publicity in the case,” Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith said she would do her best to find unbiased jurors in Louisville.
“At this point in time, I do think the prudent thing to do is to try to get a jury seated here in Jefferson County,” the judge told attorneys.
However, if it is not possible to find unbiased jurors, she said she would revisit Hankison’s request to move the August trial to another county.
In February, attorney Stew Mathews, who represents Hankison, asked Smith to move the trial because of a “media circus” that has portrayed Hankison and other officers in a “false and negative light."
He claimed the “avalanche of publicity” has created a “negative impression” of Hankison, causing the potential jury pool in Louisville to be “irreparably harmed.”
Mathews asked that the trial be moved to an adjacent county so Hankison could get a fair and impartial trial.
“Every resident of Jefferson County is aware or will be aware” of the fatal shooting of Taylor by police, Mathews argued Thursday, noting there are banners with Taylor’s name outside the courthouse and “Wanted” posters of Hankison around town.
“The charge is not related to Breonna Taylor in any way” yet the media has made Hankison’s wanton endangerment case a “referendum” on her death, he argued.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police officers during a March 13, 2020 raid.
Hankison was charged with firing at a neighboring apartment unit, showing "extreme indifference to human life" for three people inside, a grand jury concluded.
Each wanton endangerment charge carries a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years, if convicted.
Mathews indicated jurors would be “afraid” of possible retaliation if they did not find Hankison guilty.
But Smith pointed out that the coverage of the case has been national, and moving the trial to a surrounding county likely would not help in finding jurors who have not heard about the Taylor case.
The judge said she once moved a trial to Boyle County and “the publicity followed the case.”
“I don’t think we can think we can just move this case to another county and have the publicity not follow us there,” she said.
The Kentucky Attorney General's office has argued Jefferson County is "large and diverse" and thorough individual questioning of jurors could find a panel of objective jurors.
“It may take several days” but “give the opportunity to the people of this community to hear the evidence,” prosecutor Jim Lesousky said.
Police shot and killed Taylor, an emergency room tech and former EMT, during an undercover raid on her apartment on Springfield Drive as part of a series of raids elsewhere that targeted narcotics trafficking.
Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought they were being robbed, according to his attorney, and fired at officers when they rushed in, hitting Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
No drugs or money were found in her home.
Neither Hankison nor the two other officers who fired their weapons during the raid — Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove — were indicted in Taylor's death. Taylor was killed by one of Cosgrove's bullets, according to FBI ballistics findings released by Cameron.
Taylor’s death touched off Louisville’s racial justice protests and gained national prominence as demonstrations spread across the U.S. in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man who died after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”
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