Brett Hankison faces three counts of wanton danger for firing into Taylor’s apartments in March 2020. Taylor, a Black woman was shot several times during the raid. The warrant was not valid and no drugs were discovered.
Despite protests across the country, no officers were charged with Taylor’s murder. Many demonstrators demanded that the officers involved be tried for murder. This result was different from the two other cases that have put race relations in the national spotlight in 2020, the murder of Black people by white people in Minneapolis and the shooting of Ahmaud Abery in Georgia. Three white men chased the 25-year-old Black man as he jogged through a neighborhood.
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Three white men pursued Arbery were convicted in November of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in January. In the videotaped murder of Floyd, Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis officer was convicted in state court of murder and manslaughter.
The Taylor case was decided by Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s Republican attorney general. He determined that the officers entered the woman’s apartment in self defense after her boyfriend shot first. Cameron, a Black man, declined to give a grand jury consideration of the case the option to charge those officers in connection Taylor’s death. However, he acknowledged Taylor’s loss was very heartbreaking.
Hankison is not facing criminal charges in the incident. For each count of wanton endangerment, Hankison could spend one to five years prison.
This process began on Friday and is expected to last for several weeks. To determine whether they are fair and impartial jurors, potential jurors will be asked questions. The Jefferson County residents make up the pool.
Despite Hankison’s request, Ann Bailey Smith, Jefferson Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith had requested that the trial be moved to Louisville. Smith felt that the public attention surrounding the case would make a difficult task of seated an impartial jury. Smith declined to grant the request.
Hankison pleaded not guilty.
