Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer and other family members watched Brett Hankison’s trial over several days to ensure that Hankison would be the only one charged in the raid on March 13, 2020.
After a jury cleared Palmer of wanton endangerment, he left the courtroom quickly and quietly Thursday
Palmer wrote later in a post on social media that “To be precise, these charges weren’t for Breonna Taylor, but he should have been found guilty.”
Ju’Niyah Palmer was Taylor’s younger sister and asked how Hankison could be cleared from wrongdoing.
She wrote, “It’s almost like they walk over my sister!” in a post following the verdict. Taylor was still in town at the time she raided her home, but she was there with Taylor.
Taylor’s death was a constant theme of the two-week trial. However, prosecutors stressed that Taylor’s shooting death and warrant that brought armed officers to her door weren’t the issue. They were referring to Hankison’s threat to Taylor’s neighbors when he opened fire in Taylor’s apartment. Hankison’s multiple bullets were lodged in the wall behind the apartment of his neighbors.
Taylor’s only photo at trial was a crime scene photograph showing her dead body at the end a darkened hallway.
Two Hankison officers shot her fatally after breaking down her front door. Her boyfriend then fired his handgun at her. Two of Hankison’s fellow officers shot her and then returned fire when her boyfriend opened fire with a handgun.
Louisville protestors have complained that Taylor’s death has not been investigated. However, the white men who pursued Arbery to his death and the Minneapolis officer who kneeled upon Floyd’s neck were both arrested and convicted.
A few dozen protestors marched briefly in Louisville after the Hankison jury rendered its verdict. They then returned to the square, where they had gathered for many months in 2020.
“Everybody got justice in 2020, but in Kentucky, we can’t even get willon endangerment cases,” Tyra Walker, cochair of the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said at the gathering.
A day after the verdict, another small group of protestors gathered in downtown Toronto, holding signs and chanting Taylor’s name.
Jeffery Compton was one of them. He said that the jury’s verdict sent a message that “if someone Black lives next to you, they can get shot (at), and they can get away.”
Louisville’s mayor has been widely criticized for the raid and his conduct during the 2020 protests. He said that Thursday’s verdict “adds fuel to the frustration and anger” over Taylor’s death.
Barbara Maines Whaley, the lead prosecutor, told jurors that they weren’t there to “decide the cause of death for Breonna Taylor.”
Hankison stated that Taylor’s death had been a tragedy, and that Taylor “didn’t have to die that night.” This statement prompted Tamika Palmer out of court. He was found not guilty of three counts of wanton endangerment. This is a low-level crime that could have sent him to prison for up to five years.
