Jury selection continues in federal trial of former LMPD detective Brett Hankison

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A jury still hasn't been seated for the federal trial of a former LMPD detective charged with criminal civil rights violations in connection with his actions during the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor's residence in May 2020.

Jury selection continued for a second day Tuesday with a new group of 41 jurors brought in to begin filling out questionnaires. They will then be questioned by attorneys in the presence of the judge, away from the media.

At this point it's not clear how many jurors -- if any -- have been selected so far. The judge said Tuesday it's unlikely they will get through questioning before the end of the day, but hopes to have all jurors seated by Wednesday.

Late Tuesday afternoon, about 10 jurors from Monday were still answering questions. They expect to get through about 30 on Tuesday before sending the rest of them home.

The case centers on Hankison's involvement in Louisville Metro Police's March 2020 police raid on Taylor's home. That's when Hankison fired his gun several times, shooting into Taylor's residence through a sliding glass door and a window.

He is now charged with violating the civil rights of Taylor, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, and the rights of three neighbors in an apartment next door.

Hankison was indicted in August 2022 on two charges of deprivation of rights for firing into a 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

His trial was originally supposed to start in August, but was delayed until October to allow the defense to go over a large amount of evidence turned in by prosecutors.

In a similar case, a jury in a state criminal case found Hankison not guilty on three counts of wanton endangerment last March stemming from the botched raid of Taylor's home.

BREONNA TAYLOR LMPD Shooting

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 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."

Taylor was inside the apartment with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, when police burst in early in the morning on March 13, 2020.

Police were looking for money or drugs involving Jamarcus Glover, who was at the center of a narcotics probe by Louisville police. The warrant for Taylor's home was executed around the same time that police served other warrants on suspected drug houses in the city's west end — some 10 miles away.

BREONNA TAYLOR LMPD Shooting

LMPD has claimed that while Jaynes obtained a "no-knock" warrant, police repeatedly knocked on Taylor's door and announced themselves before knocking it in.

Walker has said he never heard police announce themselves and believed the couple was being robbed. He fired a shot, hitting former officer John Mattingly in the leg.

Police responded with 32 shots, hitting Taylor six times. The 26-year-old died at the scene.

No drugs were found in her home.

The former detectives who fired the shots that struck Taylor — Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — were not charged because they didn't know about the false information in the search warrant.

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Jury selection continues in federal trial of former LMPD detective Brett Hankison