Justice Dept. Asks for 1-Day Sentence for Ex-Officer Convicted in Breonna Taylor Raid

The Justice Department’s civil rights chief has asked a federal judge to sentence a Louisville police officer convicted in the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor to one day in jail, a stunning reversal of Biden-era efforts to address racial disparities in local law enforcement.

Last year, a federal jury in Kentucky convicted Brett Hankison, the officer, of one count of violating Ms. Taylor’s civil rights by discharging several shots through Ms. Taylor’s window during a drug raid that went awry.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced next week.

On Wednesday, Harmeet K. Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for civil rights, asked the judge in the case to sentence Mr. Hankison to time he had already served, in addition to one day in prison and three years of supervised release.

In the filing, Ms. Dhillon suggested the prosecution was excessive, arguing that the Biden Justice Department had secured a conviction against Mr. Hankison after he had been acquitted on state charges and his first federal trial ended in mistrial.

“In this case, two federal trials were ultimately necessary to obtain a unanimous verdict of guilt,” Ms. Dhillon wrote — adding that Mr. Hankison, a felon who was fired from his job five years ago, had already paid a substantial penalty for his actions.

“The jury’s verdict will almost certainly ensure that Defendant Hankison never serves as a law enforcement officer again and will also likely ensure that he never legally possesses a firearm again,” she wrote.

Such requests are typically filed by career prosecutors who worked on the case. Wednesday’s filing was signed by Ms. Dillon, a political appointee who is a veteran Republican Party activist with close ties to President Trump, and one of her deputies.