Judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid, rebuffs DOJ call for no prison time
The federal judge involved in sentencing rejected the US Justice Department's recommendation for no prison time for Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the botched drug raid but did not hit anyone.
Hankison was the only office on the scene charged with Taylor's death. He is the first person sentenced to prison in connection with the case that fuelled nationwide protests against police brutality across the US.
US District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings said no prison time 'is not appropriate' and would minimise a jury's verdict from November. Jennings said she was 'startled' there weren't more people injured in the rain from Hankison's blind shots.
She sentenced the 49-year-old to 33 months in prison for the conviction of use of excessive force with three years of supervised probation to follow the prison term.
The 26-year-old's Breonna Taylor's death, along with the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparked racial injustice and police brutality protests nationwide in 2020.
Taylor was shot in her hallway by two officers after her boyfriend fired from inside the apartment, striking an officer in the leg. Neither of the other officers was charged in state or federal court after prosecutors deemed they were justified in returning fire into the apartment.
Louisville police used a drug warrant to enter Taylor's apartment but found no drugs or cash inside.
Three other police officers have been charged with crafting a falsified warrant in the Taylor case, but none have gone to trial. None were at the scene when Taylor was shot.
The warrant used to enter her apartment was one of five issued that night in search of evidence on an alleged drug dealer that Taylor once had an associated with.
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Washington Post
12 minutes ago
- Washington Post
What to know about the metastasizing Jeffrey Epstein controversy
The Jeffrey Epstein controversy isn't going away for President Donald Trump. In fact, it may be ramping up. Three weeks after the Justice Department said there was nothing more to share about the years-old criminal case against Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died in 2019, the clamor for additional details has consumed Washington. Some MAGA leaders are accusing the Trump administration of hiding the truth. Congress has launched its own investigation. And new revelations about Trump's long and close friendship with Epstein are raising questions about what the president knew about Epstein's crimes and when he knew it. Trump has uncharacteristically lashed out at his supporters, urging them to drop their obsession with the case. 'Don't talk about Trump,' he said last week. But polls show Americans want to know more. A recent CBS News-YouGov poll found that 58 percent say they're following news about the case 'somewhat' or 'very' closely. A third of Republican voters disapprove of how Trump is handling the case, according to a Quinnipiac University poll — suggesting significant discontent among Trump's usually unwavering supporters. Here's what's going on, how we got here and why the controversy has staying power. Epstein was a wealthy, well-connected socialite who died in jail in 2019 in what authorities said was a suicide, before he could be tried on sex trafficking charges. His relationships with presidents, princes and Wall Street barons therefore went unplumbed in court. Trump was among the powerful people who were close with Epstein, but Trump has said he cut off ties before Epstein was arrested in 2006, convicted of sex offenses and received a lenient sentence in a secret plea deal. Figures on the right have spun unsubstantiated conspiracy theories about how Epstein died and who was connected to him, weaving them into an overarching narrative that the country is run by an evil cabal that revels in abusing children. 'There is a sense Epstein had so much influence over these elites,' said Cynthia Wang, who studies conspiracy theories and heads a conflict-management center at Northwestern University. In the past, Trump and current leaders of his administration often fanned the flames. Trump said on the campaign trail that he would 'have no problem' releasing files from Epstein's case. His administration initially seemed headed down that road. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on TV shortly after she took office that a rumored 'client list' of powerful men who abused girls alongside Epstein 'is sitting on my desk right now.' That message changed in early July, when Bondi's Justice Department released a memo saying the Epstein files contain no such list, confirmed that Epstein died by suicide (rather than being killed, as some have suggested) and announced that no additional files would be released. Some of Trump's most loyal and vocal supporters were furious and said they felt as if the administration had let them down. 'As someone who voted for the president, campaigned for the president a lot — I'm not attacking the president,' conservative pundit Tucker Carlson said. 'But I think even people who are fully on board with the bulk of the MAGA agenda are like, 'This is too much, actually.'' In a rare concession to his base, Trump has urged his government to seek the release of old grand jury testimony, but one such request has already been denied by a judge. Meanwhile, demands for new information threaten to consume Washington. Republicans and Democrats on a House subcommittee voted last week to demand that the Justice Department hand over thousands of pages of files about Epstein and his associates. It's a legally binding move that will force the Republican-led Congress to subpoena the Trump administration. 'The president, by September, will surely have turned over everything,' Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who is in charge of issuing the subpoenas on behalf of the panel, predicted. This is the most significant action Congress has taken, but it's not the only one. Various House committees have voted three times in recent weeks to investigate Epstein's actions. Fanned by Democrats who see an opportunity to weaken Trump, the debate has paralyzed the House from doing much of anything else. Republican leaders sent lawmakers home early last week, with plans to reconvene in September. Maxwell was Epstein's girlfriend, and she is serving a 20-year prison sentence on charges of helping him sexually abuse underage girls. She is a critical link in the Epstein story, but she was also accused of lying related to her case, so it's not clear what credible information she might provide. House Republicans have subpoenaed her and are scheduled to talk to her in prison in Florida next month. Last week, the Justice Department dispatched Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was Trump's criminal defense lawyer, to interview her over two days about people in Epstein's orbit. Legal experts doubt Maxwell can shed any new light on the case. 'Prosecutors would have fully explored whether she had any valuable information before she went to trial and was sentenced,' said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney now with the University of Michigan Law School. 'Anyone who could have been charged would have been charged a long time ago.' Evan Gotlob, an attorney who prosecuted similar crimes as a federal prosecutor in New York during the first Trump administration and is now with the Lucosky Brookman law firm, echoed that sentiment. 'I think she's just going to tell them what they already know. So this could be just for show,' Gotlob said. Another reason to be skeptical of what Maxwell says to authorities: She is gunning for a pardon. Trump recently told reporters he hasn't considered it but noted, 'I'm allowed to do it.' Bondi told Trump in May that he is named multiple times in the Epstein files, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. That may not be surprising given that the two once were friends, and Epstein had hundreds of contacts. There's no public evidence of any wrongdoing on Trump's part. But new reporting has underscored the extent of their friendship. Epstein attended one of Trump's weddings. 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New York Times
12 minutes ago
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November 2026 Is Everything
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Fox News
12 minutes ago
- Fox News
America's crime drop isn't a coincidence. Trump's immigration policies are working
A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice brought welcome news: crime is down across much of America. But what the report doesn't say out loud is that the timing is no coincidence. President Donald Trump is simply enforcing immigration laws already on the books — proof that we don't need more laws; we just need leaders with the backbone to enforce the laws we have. The results are undeniable: communities nationwide are seeing tangible improvements in public safety. According to the report, homicides dropped 17% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period last year. Gun assaults are down 21%. Robberies fell 20% and carjackings plummeted by 24%. Even property crimes — like burglary and larceny — saw double-digit declines. These aren't just statistics. They reflect real communities seeing real results. While violent crime fell, ICE arrests surged — more than doubling in places like Sacramento and climbing over 500% in California overall. Nationwide, immigration arrests have already topped 300,000 in 2025 alone. That's not political theater. That's law enforcement doing its job. This data shows the power of real deterrence, the effect of giving law enforcement respect and support to do their job. The fact that these historic drops occurred in the absence of passing new laws gives strong evidence to the power of simply letting law enforcement do their jobs. Conservative Americans have always known that lawlessness — whether from violent repeat offenders or criminal illegal aliens — makes our cities less safe. Under Trump's unwavering leadership, the pendulum is finally swinging back toward sanity. He is proving what we've long known: you can't have public safety without border security. Thanks to the "UPLIFT Act" (H.R. 1680), sanctuary jurisdictions are being forced to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Cities shouldn't be safe havens for known criminals simply because their mayors want to make headlines on cable news. Critics claim the administration's immigration agenda is harsh. But what's truly harsh is letting gang members, human traffickers and drug smugglers remain on American soil out of fear of being labeled "xenophobic." That's not compassion, that's cowardice. Trump's approach to public safety is working. As ICE ramps up operations, violent offenders are being taken off the streets. In Texas, immigration arrests are up 92%. In Florida, 219%. These are hardened criminals — many with prior convictions — who are no longer free to endanger our communities. Anyone who wants to call this immigration enforcement "overreach" should ask the families in Chicago, Los Angeles or Miami who no longer fear nightly gunfire and mayhem. Ask the parents whose kids are no longer walking past open-air drug markets on their way to school. Americans don't care about D.C. talking points. They care about the results. The CCJ report notes that today's violent crime levels are even lower than they were in 2019 — before the pandemic and the defund-the-police chaos. While liberals spent the last five years demonizing law enforcement, Trump stood with the men and women in uniform. Now we're seeing the payoff. This data shows the power of real deterrence, the effect of giving law enforcement respect and support to do their job. Make no mistake: the Biden-era border crisis led to an influx of dangerous individuals, and blue-state sanctuary policies allowed them to disperse into our major cities. But as those policies are being reversed, public safety is being restored. As the newly sworn in Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott said, "The biggest reason right now that we're seeing that massive reduction is because people are held accountable for violating the law, and they're quickly removed from the United States." President Trump is doing what he promised: protecting the innocent, restoring law and order, and making America safe again. The data speaks for itself. And for the first time in a long time, Americans can feel it in their neighborhoods and homes. Ja'Ron K. Smith is the special assistant to the president of the United States for domestic policy.
