Former officer Brett Hankison is guilty of Breonna Taylor's death

A former Kentucky police officer has been found guilty of violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed in a botched raid on her own home four years ago.

Brett Hankison, 47, faces life in prison after being convicted of using excessive force against the 26-year-old emergency room technician.

But the jury also found him not guilty on another charge of violating the civil rights of one of Taylor's neighbors. It was the third time Hankison had appeared in court in the case.

But the verdict marks the first time an officer has been convicted in the deadly March 13, 2020 raid that saw Taylor's name become a byword during racial unrest that year.

According to the Louisville Courier Journal, members of Taylor's family burst into tears in court after the verdict was announced Friday.

Prosecutors wanted Hankison taken into custody immediately, but their request was rejected by the judge, the local newspaper reports.

The jury of five white men, one black man and six white women began deliberations Wednesday.

The indictment accused Hankison of depriving Taylor of the right to freedom from unwarranted confiscation and her neighbors of the right to freedom from deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Hankison shot 10 times into their apartment, which he said he did to protect his colleagues, while Taylor's boyfriend opened fire as officers broke down the door.

The former police officer took the stand during two days of testimony during the retrial, telling jurors that he was “trying to stay alive, trying to keep my partners alive.”

Hankison was the first of the four officers charged in the case to face a jury.

Another former officer, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to forging the search warrant for Taylor's home.

Federal charges against the two remaining officers were dismissed by a judge earlier this year. The U.S. Department of Justice recently indicted the two on new charges.

Taylor was killed after plainclothes officers executed a search warrant at her home. They stormed into her apartment in the early hours of the morning while she and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker were sleeping.

Authorities believed Taylor's former boyfriend was using her home to hide drugs.

Mr Walker fired a single shot as they broke down the door, hitting one officer, Sgt John Mattingly, in the leg. Mr Walker said the officers had not identified themselves as police and he thought they were intruders.

The three officers returned fire and fired 32 bullets into the apartment.

Another officer fired the shot that killed Taylor, but prosecutors said his use of deadly force was justified because Walker opened fire first.

None of Hankison's bullets hit anyone, but they penetrated a neighboring property where a pregnant woman, a five-year-old and a man were sleeping.

A later police report contained errors, including listing Taylor's injuries as “none” and saying no force was used during the entry, although a battering ram was used.

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

His previous federal case last year ended in a mistrial when the jury told the judge it was not possible to reach a unanimous verdict.

He was tried by a Kentucky jury in March 2022 and acquitted of three counts of wanton endangerment.

Both Taylor's family and Walker have received compensation from the city because of the incident.

A number of police reforms have also been implemented in Louisville.

Hankison is scheduled to be sentenced on March 12 next year.