• Brett Hankison sentenced to 33 months for violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights.
• The sentencing reflects a departure from the Justice Department's recommendation for no prison time.
• Hankison fired blindly during a raid that killed Taylor, sparking protests over police misconduct.

Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police officer, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed during a botched police raid on March 13, 2020. This sentence was issued by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings, who rejected a call from the Justice Department to impose a one-day sentence, stating such leniency would undermine the jury's guilty verdict of excessive force, according to BBC, Al Jazeera, and The Hill.

Hankison was found guilty of fireblindly shooting into Taylor's apartment, resulting in a maximum sentence that could have been life in prison, but he received a lesser sentence of two years and nine months. The former officer had faced significant backlash following Taylor's death, which became a catalyst for nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism, as reported by HuffPost, TRT Global, and India Times.

The judge's rejection of the Justice Department's recommendation for minimal time served represents a significant divergence from prior federal prosecutorial efforts, which had aimed for accountability regarding police misconduct, noted Los Angeles Times and AA. This disparity has led to criticism from Taylor’s family lawyers, who view the government’s leniency as a betrayal of the civil rights protections that the case was intended to uphold.

Hankison's conviction marks him as the only officer charged in connection with the raid, which was based on a no-knock warrant related to a drug investigation that ultimately found no drugs or money in Taylor's residence. The raid ended with the police returning fire after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, believed their entry to be a home invasion and shot at them, resulting in a hail of bullets that killed Taylor, according to Le Monde and NPR.