A former Louisville police detective, Brett Hankison, was convicted in federal court on Friday for a civil rights abuse related to the killing of Breonna Taylor. Taylor's death in 2020 ignited widespread protests demanding police reform and racial justice across the United States.

Hankison was found guilty on one count of civil rights abuse, according to a statement from the Justice Department. Although Hankison's shots did not strike Taylor, a Black woman who perished during a police raid on her home, he fired blindly through a bedroom window that was covered with curtains and blinds.

This marks the first conviction for any of the four officers federally charged in connection with Taylor's 2020 death. Two other officers still face charges for falsifying a search warrant affidavit, while another has pleaded guilty to charges related to the search warrant. However, no one has been held accountable for Taylor's actual death.

Taylor, 26, and George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis in May 2020, became symbols of the mass protests in the US and beyond against racial injustice and police brutality.

"The Justice Department will continue to vigorously defend the civil rights of every person in this country to be free from unlawful police violence," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke in the Justice Department statement.

Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were asleep in her apartment on March 13, 2020, when they heard a noise at the door. Believing it was a break-in, Walker fired his gun, injuring one police officer. The police, who had obtained a controversial no-knock warrant for a drug arrest, responded with over 30 shots, fatally wounding Taylor.

Hankison claimed he fired his weapon to protect his fellow officers. This was his second appearance in federal court; his first trial ended in a mistrial. Additionally, the jury acquitted Hankison of violating Taylor's neighbors' rights by firing through a sliding glass door that was also covered with blinds and curtains.

Hankison is scheduled to be sentenced in March next year, according to the Justice Department.

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