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The criminal case against former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison, the only officer charged in the controversial raid that killed Breonna Taylor, has been expunged, or erased, from public records.

The criminal case against former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison, the only officer charged in the controversial raid that killed Breonna Taylor, has been expunged, or erased, from public records.

Former Louisville Police Officer Brett Hankison discusses the muzzle flashes that he saw coming from the apartment as he is questioned by the prosecution in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, March 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The criminal case against former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison, the only officer charged in the controversial raid that killed Breonna Taylor, has been expunged, or erased, from public records.

As part of a Kentucky law passed in 2020, criminal cases in which a defendant is found not guilty are supposed to be automatically expunged within 60 days.

Hankison's attorney, Stew Mathews, said his case was ordered expunged by Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith in late May.

A Jefferson County Circuit Court jury found Hankison not guilty on March 3 on three counts of wanton endangerment. The former detective fired multiple shots during the March 13, 2020 raid, some of which went into the home of one of her neighbors. 

Once a case is expunged, the file, court videotape, fingerprint cards and all other records are supposed to be sealed forever - not only from the public, but from police, prosecutors and the judge. The cases are sealed and removed from public files.

If asked about the case, court clerks are required to say it does not exist.

The law is aimed at helping people who have had run-ins with the law get jobs and support their families, as years-old cases with unproven charges still show up on employer background checks.

For Hankison, however, the expungement will not be of much help given the level of national coverage of Taylor's death, his attorney said.

"All you gotta do is Google his name and you find 5,000 articles about him," Mathews said. "It's not like nobody can find out what he was ever charged with."

Currently, Hankison "has little jobs here and there" and is appealing his termination from LMPD, Mathews said.

His appeal in front of the Louisville Police Merit Board was postponed pending his criminal trial and has not been rescheduled.

Officers busted down Taylor's door in the middle of the night to serve a search warrant related to a drug dealer who lived 10 miles away.

When police burst in, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that hit former Sgt. John Mattingly in the leg. Walker has said he believed the couple were being robbed.

Multiple Louisville Metro Police officers returned fire, killing Taylor, 26. No drugs were found in her home.

While several officers were fired or disciplined for the raid, Hankison was the only one indicted by a grand jury after Attorney General Daniel Cameron and his prosecutors presented the case in Sept. 2020.

Cameron declined to press charges against Mattingly and the officer who fired the fatal shot, Myles Cosgrove, saying they were "justified" in returning a shot fired by Walker.

The trial was about Hankison firing 10 times from outside Taylor's apartment through a sliding glass door and Taylor's bedroom window, with three bullets flying into an adjacent apartment where Cody Etherton, Chelsey Napper and her 5-year-old child lived.

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Jason Riley is a criminal justice reporter for WDRB.com. He joined WDRB News in 2013 after 14 years with The Courier-Journal. He graduated from Western Kentucky University. Jason can be reached at 502-585-0823 and jriley@wdrb.com.

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