U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings last week rejected an unsigned plea by the Department of Justice to sentence Brett Hankison, a former Louisville police officer, to time served after he shot up Breonna Taylor’s home and a neighbor’s home during a botched no-knock raid looking for a drug suspect who had moved.

Instead, Judge Jennings sentenced Hankison to 33 months in prison and three years of probation. 

Judge Jennings, a Donald Trump appointee, rejected the Justice Department’s plea, saying it undercut the jury’s verdict, according to the Associated Press.

A Kentucky jury convicted Hankison in November of one count of abusing Taylor’s civil rights for shots fired during a botched police raid on her home. 

The deadly shooting of Breonna Taylor sparked anger in the United States and worldwide. I live on Chicago’s Northside, and I see posters hanging from the windows of shops honoring her.

Myles Cosgrove, another Louisville cop, who was with Hankison during the raid, fired the shot that killed Taylor on March 13, 2020. No one has been charged with her murder.

Hankison blindly fired 10 bullets into Taylor’s home on March 13, barely missing a five-month-old baby, a pregnant woman, and a man who was sleeping. Miraculously, no one was hit. 

Louisville police also tried to cover up what happened.

A subsequent police report contained errors, including listing Taylor’s injuries as “none” even though she was dead. Police said no force was used to enter her apartment when they fired shots into her apartment and used a battering ram to gain entry.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in June 2020.

Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, had asked Judge Jennings last week to sentence Hankison to time served — the single day he spent in jail at the time of his arrest, which sparked anger, conveying that Black women’s lives were less valued. 

The Justice Department’s sentencing memo for Hankison downplayed his role in the raid at Taylor’s home, saying he “did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.”

The memo was not signed by any of the career prosecutors who tried the case.

It was submitted on July 16 by Harmeet Dhillon, a political appointee by Trump to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Police burst into Taylor’s residence with a no-knock warrant.

The no-knock warrant said police were looking for a drug suspect. It was based on faulty information because the suspect had moved. 

Taylor shared her apartment with Kenneth Walker, her boyfriend. 

Walker, awakened from sleep, thought someone was breaking into the house and fired a warning shot, striking Officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. He later dropped a lawsuit against Walker for shooting him.

Taylor’s family was awarded $12 million in compensation and was given a promise that the LMPD would reform its practices.

Taylor, 26, was a medical worker. 

After the sentencing, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, spoke with CNN‘s Laura Coates about the sentencing, saying, “It wasn’t justice, but I got essentially what I started out for, which was jail time. So, it’s a start.”