A jury convicts a former Kentucky officer of using excessive force against Breonna Taylor during a fatal attack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police officer of using excessive force against Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.

The 12-member jury announced its verdict late last night after acquitting Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on charges that he used excessive force against Taylor's neighbors.

It is the first conviction of a Louisville police officer involved in the deadly raid.

Some members of the jury cried as the verdict was announced Friday around 9:30 p.m. They had previously told the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked over Taylor's use of excessive force allegation, but opted to continue deliberations. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.

Hankison fired ten shots at Taylor's glass door and window during the raid, but hit no one. A few shots were fired into a neighbor's apartment next door.

The 26-year-old Black woman's death, along with the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, sparked nationwide protests against racial injustice.

A separate jury deadlocked on the federal charge against Hankison last year, while a jury acquitted Hankison in 2022 on the state's wanton endangerment charge.

Hankison's conviction carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial He acted to protect his fellow officers after Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot them as they broke down Taylor's door with a battering ram.

That jury had sent a note to U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings on Thursday, asking whether she needed to know whether Taylor was alive when Hankison fired his shots.

That was a point of contention during closing arguments, when Hankison's attorney, Don Malarcik, told jurors that prosecutors must “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive” when Hankison fired.

After the jury sent out the question, Jennings asked them to continue deliberating.

Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he walked away, turned the corner of the unit and fired into Taylor's glass door and a window.

Meanwhile, officers at Walker's door returned fire, striking and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.

Hankison's lawyers argued in their closing statements Wednesday that Hankison acted properly “in a very tense, very chaotic environment” that lasted about 12 seconds. They emphasized that Hankison's shots did not hit anyone.

Hankison was one of them four officers charged convicted by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 for violating Taylor's civil rights. To date, these charges have only resulted in one conviction: a plea from a former officer who was not present at the raid and was a witness in another case.

Malarcik, Hankison's attorney, spoke at length during closing arguments about the role of Taylor's boyfriend in firing the shot that struck former Sgt. John Mattingly at the door. He said Walker never tried to come to the door or turn on the lights when police knocked, but instead armed himself and hid in the dark.

“Brett Hankison was 12 inches away from being shot by Kenneth Walker,” Malarcik said.

Prosecutors said Hankison acted recklesslyHe fired 10 shots at doors and a window where he could not see a target.

In their closing argument, they said Hankison had “violated one of the most basic rules of deadly force: If you can't see the person you're shooting at, you can't pull the trigger.”

None of the officers who shot Taylor — Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged in Taylor's death. Federal and prosecutors said those officers were justified in returning fire because Taylor's boyfriend shot at them first.