Lawyer for Breonna Taylor’s neighbors says jury ‘nullified’ wanton endangerment law

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Cody Etherton and Chelsey Napper, the neighbors living next to Breonna Taylor whose apartment was pierced by bullets fired by Brett Hankison, are upset with his not guilty verdict.

They are pursuing a civil lawsuit against the officers and LMPD seeking $12 million in damages.

Their attorney, Jeffrey Sexton, said what happened Thursday was a rare act in legal proceedings.

He said the jury nullified the wanton endangerment law, clearing the former LMPD detective of a crime, even though bullets flew through his clients’ apartment.

COMPLETE COVERAGE: The Breonna Taylor case

“They were in there three hours, there’s no way they examined over 100 exhibits, multiple hours of multiple witness testimony that the prosecutor put on, it was an emotional knee jerk reaction,” Sexton said.

He does not respect Thursday’s decision by a jury to clear Hankison.

“We don’t care what the law is, we don’t care what the facts are, we’re not going to find this guy guilty, period, end of story,” said Sexton.

He’s been pursuing a civil lawsuit for Cody Etherton, Chelsey Napper and their children, who were put at risk by Hankison the night of the Breonna Taylor raid.

“Hankison was fired and Chief Steve Conrad said why, he had no target,” Sexton said. “He violated standard operating procedures.”

“My furniture was ruined, my clock was shot, I just threw it in the garbage,” Chelsea Napper said. “And {LMPD} gave me the number to the Kentucky Bar Association.”

The case has been stalled while Hankison’s trial worked its way through court.

Now that it has finished, Sexton said his case will start moving forward raising more questions about how the officers were trained, including questioning a Bible verse as part of the LMPD firearms training.

“Whose law were these cops following that night, God’s law, or the law of the United States?” Sexton asked.

Sexton has asked for a jury to award them $12 million. That’s one dollar more than what the city settled with Breonna Taylor’s family. He said a jury could award triple that for punitive damages.

“These people could have died that night,” Sexton said. “She was seven months pregnant, there was a five year old sleeping, Cody’s walking through the hall and bullets are flying through their wall.”

A federal judge listened to several motions to dismiss the case back in September. So far, he has not ruled on those motions.

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