A jury on Friday found former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a botched and fatal police raid, in a new trial in the case. federal case against him.

The guilty verdict came hours after the jury acquitted Hankison of a second count of violating the civil rights of three of Taylor’s neighbors, who lived in an adjacent apartment that was also hit by gunfire during the raid. After the partial verdict was returned, the judge ordered jurors, who remained deadlocked on the charge specifically related to Taylor, to continue deliberating.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on that charge shortly before 9:30 p.m., according to the Louisville ABC affiliate. THAT?.

Family and friends of Taylor hugged and cheered after leaving court Friday night.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, thanked prosecutors and the jury. “They stayed the course,” Palmer said of prosecutors, who retried the case after Hankison’s first federal trial. ended in a mistrial last year, when the jury could not reach a unanimous decision after deliberating for several days.

As deliberations this time dragged well into the night on Friday, Palmer said she began to feel defeated. “The longer it took, the harder it became, and I’m glad to be on the other side,” she said.

“Now I just want people to keep saying Breonna Taylor’s name,” her mother said.

Taylor was fatally shot during the March 2020 raid. The three officers fired dozens of bullets after her boyfriend fired one at them, wounding one of the officers.

Hankison fired 10 bullets through Taylor’s sliding glass door and window, which were covered with blinds and curtains, prosecutors said. Several of the bullets entered Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment, where three people were at the time. None of the 10 bullets hit anyone.

MORE: Mistrial declared in federal case against former Louisville police officer over Breonna Taylor raid

Prosecutors argued that Hankison’s use of force was unjustified, put people in danger and violated the civil rights of Taylor and her three neighbors. The indictment alleged that Hankison deprived Taylor of the right to be free from unreasonable seizures and deprived his neighbors of the right to be free from deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Several witnesses, including Louisville’s current police chief, testified during the trial that the former officer violated Louisville police policy requiring officers to identify a target before shooting, according to The Associated Press.

The defense argued during the trial that Hankison had joined a poorly planned raid and fired his gun after believing someone was advancing on the other officers, the AP reported.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

The plainclothes officers were serving a search warrant for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, who allegedly dealt drugs, when they kicked down the door to her apartment. He was not at the residence, but his current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought someone was breaking into the house and fired a pistol shot, hitting one of the officers in the leg. The three officers returned fire and fired 32 rounds into the apartment.

The original indictment alleged that Hankison had also violated Walker’s civil rights, although Walker was removed from office at the start of the retrial.

The retrial marked the third trial for Hankison, following a mistrial of the initial trial and a state trial in 2022, in which he was acquitted of multiple counts of wanton endangerment.

MORE: Jury finds ex-officer Brett Hankison not guilty of all charges for shooting during Breonna Taylor raid

As in his previous trials, Hankison took the stand during the retrial and became emotional at times during the two days of testimony, according to THAT?the ABC affiliate in Louisville covering the courtroom case.

Hankison told jurors that he was “trying to stay alive (and) trying to keep my partners alive,” according to WHAS.

Hankison insisted that “the only person my bullet could have hit was the shooter,” saying there was “zero risk” of hitting anyone outside the threat, according to THAT?.

He said that night was the first time he fired his gun in nearly 20 years of policing, according to the AP.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for violating department procedure when he “selflessly and blindly” fired shots into the apartment.

The other two officers involved in the raid were not charged. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron called Taylor’s death a “tragedy” but said the two officers’ use of force was justified after they were attacked by Walker.

Former Louisville officer guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights originally appeared on abcnews.go.com