The U.S. Department of Justice is now urging a federal appeals court to release former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison from prison while he challenges his conviction—an extraordinary reversal that has reopened old wounds from one of the most defining police-violence cases of the last decade.
Hankison, 49, is the only officer involved in the botched March 2020 raid that killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor to face criminal consequences. In July, he was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for using excessive force after firing 10 rounds blindly through Taylor’s covered windows and sliding glass door. None of his bullets struck Taylor, but several punched into a neighboring apartment, nearly hitting two people inside and coming close to another officer.
Despite the gravity of the case—and years of federal prosecution—the DOJ is now arguing that Hankison should not remain behind bars as his appeal moves forward. In a brief filed Friday with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, federal prosecutors said the jury’s handling of the excessive-force charge signaled uncertainty, making imprisonment “unwarranted.”
It’s a sharp departure from the department’s earlier posture. The same prosecutors brought in by the Trump administration had already surprised observers in July when they asked the trial judge to hand down no prison time. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings rejected that request, saying the DOJ was treating Hankison’s conduct “as an inconsequential crime.”
Hankison is serving his sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey, with a projected release date in February 2028.
A Case Still Straining Public Trust
The Justice Department’s new push is likely to inflame tensions in Louisville and beyond, where Taylor’s name became a rallying cry for racial justice and police reform. For many Americans, Hankison’s conviction—after a mistrial in 2023 and acquittal on state wanton-endangerment charges in 2022—represented one of the few instances of federal accountability in police-shooting cases.
Now, some may see the DOJ’s intervention as an institution retreating from a hard-won verdict.
What Happened the Night Taylor Died
The raid unfolded just after midnight on March 13, 2020, when officers forced entry into Taylor’s apartment as part of a broader narcotics investigation tied to her ex-boyfriend. Taylor’s current boyfriend, believing intruders were breaking in, fired a shot that struck an officer. Two officers returned fire, killing Taylor.
Hankison, positioned behind the entry team, ran to the side of the building and fired through the apartment’s windows. He testified that he believed officers were being attacked by someone with a rifle—an account prosecutors argued was reckless, unprofessional, and violated basic policing standards.
What Comes Next
The Sixth Circuit will now decide whether Hankison should be allowed out of prison during his appeal—a decision that could take weeks. No hearing date has been set.
For Taylor’s family and many who followed the case, the DOJ’s filing is more than a legal maneuver. It raises a familiar, painful question: after all the public outcry, investigations, and promises of reform, is the system prepared to deliver accountability—or retreat from it?
