Ex-officer Brett Hankison sentenced to 33 months in prison in Breonna Taylor’s death

The former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer convicted of a civil rights offense in the death of Breonna Taylor was sentenced to 2 years and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, on Monday in federal court.

Brett Hankison was found guilty of one count of violating Taylor’s civil rights after he blindly shot into Taylor’s apartment in March 2020. Hankison’s bullets did not hit anyone.

The Department of Justice recommended that Hankison should receive one day of imprisonment and three years of supervised release in a sentencing memorandum filed Wednesday. The sentencing memorandum was signed only by department officials and none of the line prosecutors.

Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said during a press conference outside of the courthouse after the verdict that she wasn’t completely happy with the sentence. Palmer said that the judge did the best that she could, considering that a new prosecutor, who was allegedly not present during the entire trial, came to the sentencing and seemed to be arguing more for the defendant than for Taylor.

“It was just as disrespectful as being sent to a hospital my daughter wasn’t at,” Palmer said about the prosecutor’s performance in court. “I’ve never seen such a thing. I’ve never even heard of such a thing. It was disrespectful. It was heartbreaking. It shouldn’t have happened. And like I said, he didn’t know who I was.”

Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, who shot at officers after they rammed the door down because he allegedly didn’t know it was law enforcement at the door, said he was “grateful” for a small piece of justice.

“Brett Hankison told me I was going to go to jail for the rest of my life, so I definitely feel some type of something to see him going — even if it’s a little time,” Walker said at the press conference.

Outside the courthouse, protesters blocked traffic and demonstrated in support of Taylor and her family. Four people were arrested, including Bianca Austin, Taylor’s aunt, according to WHAS. One protester jumped on a Louisville Water truck as it attempted to drive through the demonstration.

Before Monday’s sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings turned down Hankison’s motion for a new trial, expressing frustration and saying the motion was “nebulous and disjointed”, according to WHAS.

The defense stated that Hankison should have a new trial because of misconduct from the prosecution in last year’s trial, according to WHAS.

“The Court finds it difficult to parse the specific claims of misconduct from the motion,” Jennings wrote in her 58-page order, according to WHAS. “This appears to be a circumstance of throwing everything possible at the Court and seeing what sticks.”

Taylor was fatally shot during the 2020 raid, during which three officers fired dozens of rounds after her boyfriend fired one round at them, striking one of the officers.

Hankison fired 10 rounds through Taylor’s sliding glass door and window, which were covered with blinds and curtains, prosecutors said. Several of the rounds traveled into Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment. None of the 10 rounds hit anyone.

The guilty verdict against Hankison came in November, hours after the jury acquitted him of a second count of violating the civil rights of three of Taylor’s neighbors, who lived in an adjacent apartment that was also struck by gunfire during the raid.

Prosecutors argued Hankison’s use of force was unjustified, put people in danger and violated the civil rights of Taylor and her three neighbors. The indictment alleged Hankison deprived Taylor of the right to be free from unreasonable seizures and deprived her neighbors of the right to be free from the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Hankison is the only person to be convicted in relation to Taylor’s death.

ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.