Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police officer, has been sentenced to 33 months in federal prison following his conviction for civil rights violations tied to the fatal raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in March 2020. Though Hankison did not fire the shots that struck Taylor, a jury found he used excessive force during the incident by firing 10 rounds blindly into her apartment and a neighboring unit.

The sentencing marks the only prison term handed down in direct connection to Taylor’s death, despite national outcry and widespread protests. Hankison’s bullets did not hit anyone, but federal prosecutors argued his actions endangered innocent lives and violated a fundamental rule of policing: “If they cannot see the person they're shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger.”

“I think the judge did the best she could with what she had to work with,” said Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, after the hearing. However, she criticized federal prosecutors for seeking a lighter sentence than many had expected.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was with her during the raid and fired a shot at officers believing them to be intruders, said he was “grateful for the small piece of justice that we got.”

Hankison’s sentencing came just days after the current federal government urged the judge to impose a single day in prison, a drastic departure from the Biden-era Department of Justice that brought the original charges, as BET previously reported. 

“Every American who believes in equal justice under the law should be outraged,” Taylor’s family attorneys said in a public statement. “Recommending just one day in prison sends the unmistakable message that white officers can violate the civil rights of Black Americans with near-total impunity.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland, under Biden, had called Hankison’s use of deadly force “unlawful” and an “important step toward accountability.”