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Ex-cop's trial for Taylor raid offers new chance for justice

Breonna Taylor Officer Trial
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Hundreds of potential jurors gathering at a Louisville courthouse on Friday will learn whether they could be chosen for the only criminal trial over the botched police raid that left Breonna Taylor dead.

Former Louisville officer Brett Hankison isn't charged in Taylor's shooting death.

Instead, he's standing trial on three lower-level felony charges for allegedly firing his service weapon wildly into her neighbor's apartments.

Some protesters who took to the streets after the deadly raid in March 2020 say Hankison's trial might offer a small sliver of justice for Taylor.

But they remain disappointed that other officers were never charged in her death.

Taylor, a Black medical worker, was fatally shot in her home in March 2020 during a botched police raid.

Two of the officers who fired shots were not charged.

Myles Cosgrove, who state investigators believe fired the fatal shot, was fired last January, months after Hankison was fired.

Last June, Jonathan Mattingly, who was wounded in the leg by a bullet fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, retired.

In April, Gov. Andy Beshear signed a partial ban on no-knock warrants.

According to a motion filed by Hankison’s defense, the AP reported Cosgrove, Mattingly, and other officers could testify.

The New York Times reported that the Justice Department announced that it would investigate the police department and the local county government on Monday.