The Shame of a Manipulated Trial

How officers literally got away with murder and barely a slap on the wrist.

Apromising life was snatched from this earth by officers who gave no thought to their actions prior to barging into the home of Breonna Taylor and shooting her while she slept in her bed. Driving while Black was the crime of many Blacks, now sleeping while black made Taylor a target.

There is no doubt in the public minds if Breonna Taylor was white and in the same situation, she would have lived to talk about it. These scenarios confirm systemic racism festering in law enforcement throughout the country.

Breonna Taylor, a 26-year old African American woman was fatally shot in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky on March 13, 2020, when white officers, Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgroves of the Louisville Metro Police Department barged into Breonna’s apartment as apart of an investigation into drug dealing operations with a no-knock warrant.

When the plainclothes policemen barged into the home of Breonna, her boyfriend fired a warning shot because he thought they were intruders and never hear the police call out their identity. This shot hit Mattingly in the leg, and the other officers proceeded to fire 32 shots in return. Six bullets hit Breonna causing her death.

After this tragedy, Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Walker, was charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer but the charges were dismissed with prejudice 12 months later.

Three months after Taylor’s death, June 23, 2020, the LMPD fired Hankison for blindly firing through the covered patio door and window of Taylor’s apartment.

Money cannot bring back a life but justice needed to be served in every way. Louisville agreed to pay Taylor’s family $12 million in a wrongful death lawsuit and to reform their police practices.

Also, a state grand jury indicted Hankison on his reckless behavior endangering Taylor’s neighbors with his shots. Also, it was determined that Cosgrove fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor. Some of the jurors in the case accused Kentucky Attorney General, Daniel Cameron, and the police of covering up what happened.

It took almost two years to bring these policemen in the murder of Breonna Taylor into its first criminal trial. Hundreds of potential jurors gathered at a Kentucky courthouse which is indicative of some measure of justice.

Prior to any criminal trial, as no officer had been charged in Taylor’s death, protesters took to the streets of Louisville for months chanting, “Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor,” in racial injustice demonstrations that erupted around the country. The demonstrators demanded justice, the firing, arrest, and prosecution of these officers.

The Louisville Metro Police Department after the murder of Breonna Taylor, banned the use of the so-called no-knock warrant that was issued and caused her death. Other changes included a law written to limit the use of the no-knock warrant throughout the state, and leadership changes due to racial biases within their police department.

The two former officers who fired shots that struck Taylor were not charged, Myles Cosgrove, the shooter of the fatal shot was fired, Hankison was forced out, and Jonathan Mattingly retired in June 2021.

The insanity of this trial is that these officers who may testify as they are not being tried for the murder of Breonna Taylor or shooting the fatal shot or shots that hit her but are being tried for recklessly shooting and endangering the residents in the apartment complex. Hankison fired 10 shots through Taylor’s patio door at the rear of her apartment. Three of these shots went through the wall of a connected neighbor’s apartment. One of his bullets flew by the head of a neighbor in the neighbor’s apartment hallway.

Breonna Taylor’s death demands justice and once again these police officers get to walk free in having caused an unlawful death. Where’s the justice here? Where is the respect for a human’s life? What happened to right and wrong in the court system? This wrong can never be made right in the eyes of God and those who took her life will be haunted for the rest of their days.

Hankison who shot recklessly through the patio walls faces one to five years in prison for each of the wanton endangerment counts. The other officers go on with their lives as usual.

Unbelievable, these charges were the only criminal indictments issued by a special grand jury convened by the state attorney general. This grand jury complained later that they were prevented from considering harsher charges against these officers. Does this change anything in the courts? Will there be another trial? Probably not.

In conclusion, it boggles the mind, why the no-knock warrant that has caused so many wrongful death has not being banned throughout the country. It is like a modern day lynching especially for people of color and poor communities. This demands a call to action for all people of color and white people who understand this injustice to vote out these proponents of such laws.

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