The trial of Former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, charged in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, has been delayed until 2022.
Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing multiple shots that entered a neighbor’s apartment and endangered three people on March 13, 2020. His bond was set at just $15,000.
On Friday, Jefferson County Judge Ann Bailey Smith cited the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the lengthy delay.
“There’s just a lot of logistical issues that I think would have to be overcome for us to be able to go forward on this trial on August 31st,” Smith told the court. “I think unfortunately that date is not going to be realistic.”
Last month, the judge ruled that the trial would not be moved from Jefferson County. Stew Mathews, Hankison’s attorney, had argued that “adverse publicity” directed at LMPD, would mean “a large percentage” of potential jurors in Jefferson County could not be fair and impartial.
The judge disagreed.
“There are very many people in this community who hold police officers in very high regard,” she said. “So I think that’s a distinction as well that we may be able to get jurors who will be open-minded and listen to the evidence and decide the case solely on what they hear in the courtroom, and not based on media reports or preconceived notions about what took place.”
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Hankison’s charges in September. Although Hankison fired ten shots into Taylor’s apartment, Cameron said none of his shots struck Taylor.
If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, Cameron said.
