Officials speak after suspect wounds trooper, kills two women in Kentucky church shooting
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Officer convicted in Breonna Taylor raid gets 33-month sentence
A former Kentucky police officer has been sentenced to 33 months in prison after being convicted in connection with a raid that resulted in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a black woman, in her home. A federal jury last year found Brett Hankison guilty of violating Taylor's civil rights by using excessive force. The maximum sentence for the charge was life in prison. The sentencing comes days after the Trump administration asked the judge to give Hankison a one-day sentence - a position that starkly contrasts with the approach to the case under President Joe Biden. Hankison is the only officer who has been charged and convicted directly in connection with the botched raid. Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with a colleague to falsify the affidavit used to obtain search warrant for Taylor's home and to cover up their actions after her death, will be sentenced next year. After his sentence, Hankison will face three years of supervised release. Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, and lawyers for the family spoke after the sentencing on Monday. "I think the judge did the best she could with what she had to work with," Ms Palmer said, but she was critical of federal prosecutors who had argued for a lesser sentence. Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who was in the apartment with her the night of the raid, said he was "grateful for the small piece of justice that we got". Taylor became a face of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 following her death and the police killing of George Floyd, who was murdered during a police arrest that same year. She was killed after officers in plain clothes executed a "no-knock" search warrant at her home. They burst into her apartment in the early morning hours while she and Walker, were asleep. Authorities believed Taylor's former boyfriend was using her home to hide narcotics. Mr Walker fired a single shot when the police knocked the door down, hitting one officer, Sgt John Mattingly, in the leg. Mr Walker said the officers did not announce themselves as police, and he thought they were intruders. The three officers returned fire, shooting 32 bullets into the flat. Hankinson fired 10 times into her apartment, in order, he said during the trial, to protect fellow officers. None of Hankison's bullets hit anyone, but they did enter a neighbouring property, where a pregnant woman, a five-year-old and a man had been sleeping. Prosecutors said Hankison acted recklessly and "violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force: If they cannot see the person they're shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger." Outside the courthouse, protestors waiting for the verdict blocked the streets chanting Taylor's name. Several people, including Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, were detained by police. How was the justice department involved in this case? In early November 2024, Hankison was convicted on one count of civil rights abuse. "His use of deadly force was unlawful and put Ms Taylor in harm's way," then Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden-appointee, said in a statement. "This verdict is an important step toward accountability for the violation of Breonna Taylor's civil rights, but justice for the loss of Ms Taylor is a task that exceeds human capacity." Days after Hankinson's conviction, Donald Trump won re-election - a political shift that meant the sentencing recommendation would come not from the Biden administration, which brought the charges, but from the Trump-led justice department. Last week, that recommendation - a request for Hankison to serve one day in prison - stunned some, including Breonna Taylor's family. "Every American who believes in equal justice under the law should be outraged," attorneys for the family said. "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." In its sentencing request, the justice department argued that although Hankison was involved in "executing the warrant" during the deadly raid, he did not shoot Taylor "and is not otherwise responsible for her death". The justice department also said that additional prison time "would simply be unjust under these circumstances". Ordinarily, sentencing recommendations are signed by lawyers involved in the case or career justice department employees who deal with sentencing requests. In this case, Trump's appointee to run the Civil Rights Department, Harmeet Dhillon, signed the recommendation. What changes has Trump's justice department made? Since returning to the White House, Trump has made rolling back Biden-era policies a priority, particularly at the justice department. In May, the justice department began the process of dismissing lawsuits brought against the Louisville and Minneapolis following controversy over high-profile police killings and brutality, including that of Taylor. Investigations into police constitutional violations in other cities such as Memphis and Phoenix were also ended. The justice department criticised the Biden administration for enacting "sweeping" oversight agreements "that would have imposed years of micromanagement" of local police by federal courts. During Biden's tenure, the justice department opened civil investigations into 12 state and local law enforcement agencies. In four of those - in Louisville, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Lexington, Mississippi - the department issued reports of systemic police misconduct. While accountability agreements were made with some of the police departments, they were not formally enacted. These changes have also come amid a mass exodus from the justice department. In the Civil Rights Division alone, the division of the department that made the Hankison sentencing recommendation, about 70% of attorneys have left since Trump was inaugurated, reports say. US seeks one-day prison for officer convicted in Breonna Taylor shooting Trump administration to scrap police reform measures in some US cities
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
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Mountain lion attacks child on popular trail in Olympic National Park
A 4-year-old child was attacked and injured over the weekend by a mountain lion while walking with family on a popular trail in Olympic National Park, park officials said Monday. Park rangers were notified of the attack at around 3:15 p.m. Sunday, with initial reports saying that a collared mountain lion bit the child near the park's Victoria Overlook area on Hurricane Ridge, according to a park news release. Clallam County Fire District 2 paramedics and park staff responded, and the victim was flown to a trauma center, the news release said. The child was undergoing treatment as of Monday. The park, which said it was withholding identifying information to protect the child's privacy, did not provide details of the child's condition. With assistance from a canine team, park rangers located the mountain lion shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday and 'dispatched the animal' — a term commonly used to describe killing — on Monday morning, the news release said. Park officials said there were no current threats to the public and that the incident remained under investigation. Anyone who witnessed the attack is encouraged to call 888-653-0009 or email nps_isb@
Yahoo
4 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Relatives, authorities ask for public's help with investigation of Ole Miss player's fatal shooting
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities on Monday asked for members of the public to provide surveillance footage and details from eyewitnesses as they investigate the fatal shooting of an Ole Miss freshman football player in a Memphis neighborhood after a pool party. Corey Adams, an 18-year-old defensive lineman from New Orleans, was found with a gunshot wound inside a vehicle at an intersection in the Memphis suburb of Cordova on Saturday night, said Anthony Buckner, chief deputy of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Adams died at the location of the shooting. Four other men who suffered gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening arrived at nearby hospitals in personal vehicles. Three of them had been released from the hospital as of Monday afternoon, Buckner said. The shooting happened after a pool party attended by about 100 people, including Adams, Buckner said during a news conference. About 40 rifle and pistol casings were found at the shooting scene. No arrests have been made. Buckner asked members of the public who may have information useful to investigators, including surveillance footage from video cameras at neighbors' homes, to come forward. 'We have far more questions right now than we have answers,' Buckner said. 'We know people saw something or heard something.' Adams, who played at Edna Carr High School in New Orleans, is listed on the Ole Miss football website as a 6-foot-4-inch, 235-pound defensive end. He had been one of the top defensive lineman recruits in the country. Adams' mother, who spoke at the news conference but declined to be named for fear of retribution, said Adams was a loving son and brother who had hopes of playing in the NFL. He had time off from practice and went to Memphis to enjoy himself, she said. Memphis is about 85 miles (135 kilometers) north of Oxford, Mississippi, where Ole Miss is located. The Edna Karr Cougars said in a Facebook post that 'words can't describe this type of pain.' 'Corey Adams was more than a football player! He was a friend, brother, son, student, and all around great young man,' the team stated. 'We never question God but this is one we just don't understand.' ___ AP college football: and Adrian Sainz, The Associated Press
