LOUISVILLE, Ky., (WDRB) -- A mistrial was declared Thursday in the trial of former Louisville police Detective Brett Hankison after the jury deadlocked on two counts of civil rights violations and using excessive force stemming from his actions the night of the Breonna Taylor raid.

The jury — made up of six women and six men, one of whom is Black — deliberated for about 20 hours over four days after hearing seven days of testimony. 

The jurors twice told the judge they were deadlocked on Thursday.

The first time, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings gave the jurors what is known as an Allen charge, meaning she instructed them to continue to deliberate, stressing that it is not unusual for juries to struggle with a unanimous decision and the need to make "every reasonable effort" to reach a verdict. 

But about two hours later, the jury sent out a note that some jurors had "concluded deliberating" and could not come to a unanimous ruling. 

The judge also noted that court security officers were sent to the juror room because of "elevated voices."

Grady Jennings decided to ask the jurors if they were hung on both charges or could come back with a unanimous verdict on one of the two counts. 

The jurors sent back a note saying they were deadlocked on both charges. 

Prosecutors asked the judge if they could poll the jurors to determine whether the majority were closer to conviction or acquittal, likely to help decide whether they will try Hankison again. 

The judge set a status conference date for Dec. 13. 

Attorney Lonita Baker, who represents Breonna Taylor's family, said prosecutors told the family they were planning to retry Hankison.

"The family is disappointed," she told reporters. "This is not the outcome they wanted. But we are here for the long game. ... We live for another day to fight for justice for Breonna." 

Baker did not know if prosecutors had been able to poll jurors. 

"We did not receive any information on how they were split," she said. 

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said they are "considering all of our available options." 

The charges stem from a botched March 13, 2020, raid of Taylor's home in the middle of the night, in which police officers busted down her door to serve a search warrant related to a drug dealer who lived 10 miles away.

When police burst in, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that hit Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg. Walker has said he believed the couple were being robbed.

Multiple Louisville Metro Police officers returned fire, killing 26-year-old Taylor. No drugs were found in her home.

Her death, along with George Floyd's, resulted in months of protests in Louisville and across the country over police brutality and racial discrimination.

This trial was about Hankison firing 10 times from outside Taylor's apartment through a covered sliding glass door and blinded windows in Taylor's bedroom window, with three bullets flying into an adjacent apartment where Cody Etherton, Chelsey Napper and her 5-year-old child lived.

In March 2022, a jury in a state criminal case found Hankison not guilty on three counts of wanton endangerment stemming from the shots fired into a neighboring apartment during the raid. Jurors deliberated for about three hours in that case. 

During this trial, LMPD officers testified that Hankison's actions on the night of the Taylor raid were "shocking," unfathomably dangerous" and "stomach churning," the prosecution said in closing arguments Monday.

He fired "blindly, spraying bullets through two covered windows, ripping through walls into a neighboring apartment" where a family and a child were sleeping, said prosecutor Michael Songer, with the U.S. Department of Justice, in his closing arguments Monday.

Hankison failed to isolate a target and acknowledged not being able to see who he was firing at or where exactly the person was, putting multiple lives in danger, Songer said.

Defense attorney Stew Mathews told jurors Monday they have to put themselves in Hankison's shoes at the time, think about what he was seeing and experiencing as an officer was shot and dozens of bullets were fired after they burst into Taylor's home.

"If someone fires at the police, the police are going to fire back at you, and that's exactly what happened here," Mathews said.

Hankison testified he wasn't part of the investigation leading up to the raid and didn't even know the adjacent apartment was there. All Hankison knew was that fellow officers were under fire, he believed from an assault rifle, and that one officer had been shot.

He admitted he was mistaken, and the muzzle flashes were actually coming from Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, and that Walker only fired one shot from a handgun at police.

"Was I wrong that Mr. Walker shot more than one shot? I know that now," Hankison said. "I fired to stop the threat, sir."

"It's a tragedy for a lot of people and a lot of families and I feel bad about it," Hankison said of the shooting, adding that he believed officers should never have been serving a warrant at Taylor's home to begin with.

But he said if given a chance for a do-over, he "would do the exact same thing" because he was trying to save the lives of his fellow officers.

Hankison, 47, was indicted in August 2022 on two charges of deprivation of rights for firing into a sliding door and bedroom window in Taylor's apartment that was covered with blinds and a blackout curtain after "there was no longer a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force," according to the indictment. The charges include violating the rights of Taylor's neighbors.

Three other former officers have also been federally charged for their involvement in the Taylor case: Kyle Meany, Kelly Goodlett and Joshua Jaynes.

The charges resulted from a federal investigation that, in part, looked at how police obtained the search warrant for Taylor's apartment, something a prior state investigation by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron's Office did not pursue. Cameron has said that aspect was part of the U.S. Justice Department's work.

Jaynes and Meany are accused of drafting and approving "what they knew was a false affidavit to support a search warrant for Ms. Taylor's home," Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke has said. "That false affidavit set in motion events that led to Ms. Taylor's death when other LMPD officers executed that warrant."

Goodlett has already pleaded guilty in federal court to felony conspiracy for helping to falsify the affidavit and then conspiring with Jaynes to cover it up. She is expected to testify against Jaynes and Meaney.

The former detectives who fired the shots that struck Taylor — Mattingly and Cosgrove — were not charged.

Mattingly retired and Cosgrove was fired for failing to properly "identify a target," violating the department's use of force policy and failing to use a body camera.

Investigators said Cosgrove fired the fatal shot killing Taylor.

The city of Louisville paid $12 million to Taylor's family and implement numerous reforms in the police department to settle a wrongful death lawsuit. No one was charged in her death.

Louisville police sought out a search warrant for Taylor's home as part of a broader narcotics investigation that focused on other drug suspects, including Jamarcus Glover, who had previously dated Taylor.

Several police reforms were initiated in response to Taylor's death, including banning no-knock warrants, creating a Civilian Review and changing search warrant and currency seizure policies.

The Department of Justice began a wide-ranging civil rights review in Louisville in the wake of Taylor's death.

Federal investigators strongly rebuked the actions of Louisville police, saying they believe the department and Metro Government for years engaged in practices that violated the U.S. Constitution and federal law, including excessive use of force and searches based on invalid search warrants.

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