Louisville cop pleads not guilty
He is the only one charged after 3 officers opened fire inside Breonna Taylor’s house, fatally shooting her.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Jone Kentucky detective charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor pleaded not guilty Monday.
Brett Hankison’s plea comes five days after a grand jury indicted him on three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into the home of Taylor’s neighbors. The grand jury declined to charge Hankison or the other two undercover narcotics officers who opened fire inside Taylor’s house on the night of March 13 with her shooting.
Hankinson's lawyer asked that his client be allowed to keep firearms for self-defense. He said Hankison, who was fired in June, “has received a number of threats.”
The judge turned down the request. The decision not to charge the officers set off protests in Louisville and across the country. Louisville’s mayor lifted the curfew Monday that had been in place after many people refused to stop their nighttime protests.
"The The curfew served purpose of helping ensure that most people were home safe by 9 p.m., because our past experience had shown that most violence and destruction occurs after dark,” the mayor’s statement said.
“We sadly saw some violence, including the shooting of two police officers, one of whom remains hospitalized, dealing with complications of his injuries. But we believe the curfew helped, by ensuring fewer people were out late in the day".
Meanwhile, Kentucky state Rep. Lisa Willner, a Louisville Democrat, said Monday that she’s starting to craft legislation that would narrow the scope of the state’s rioting statute.
Her proposal, which she intends to offer in next year’s legislative session, would protect people from being charged with firstdegree rioting if they’re present but don’t engage in destructive or violent actions.
Her response comes after Democratic state Rep. Attica Scott was charged with the felony last week while participating in Louisville protests for racial justice.
“This is not any attempt at all to weaken the current law,“Willner said. “It’s just to make sure that people who are peacefully protesting, who are merely exercising their First
Amendment rights, are clearly not engaging in rioting.”
Scott was among demonstrators who converged in downtown Louisville to express their disagreement with the grand jury decision.
Scott, the state’s only Black woman representative, was arrested and charged Thursday night with the felony of firstdegree rioting as well as unlawful assembly and failure to disperse, which are misdemeanor offenses.