A former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department officer who was found guilty of firing shots into the home of Breonna Taylor must remain in federal prison, after a district court judge refused to free him on bond pending his appeal of his three-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings determined in an opinion Monday that ex-police officer Brett Hankison did not present a sufficient legal question on appeal to warrant bond being set, despite him being a low flight risk, according to the opinion.

The judge said that although Hankison raised several issues — including the length of his sentence, whether the evidence was sufficient for a conviction and whether jury instructions were clear — she was not convinced of the potential success of the appeal.

"While the motion does not present close or difficult issues, the need to search an extensive record and flesh out bare arguments and case law causes this memorandum and opinion to be significantly longer than the arguments should have warranted," according to the opinion. "Hankison raises numerous issues but fails to indicate how the court's decisions, the majority of which were discretionary, presented close or novel questions or violated Sixth Circuit standards."

Judge Jennings found that under the Bail Reform Act, incarcerated people are allowed to be released only if they are found not to be a flight risk and if their appeal is likely to result in either a reversal, a new trial or a sentence reduction below what the defendant has already served.

The law created a presumption against release during appeal, meaning that defendants need to prove their case is exceptional and that they will meet the high burden of proving their appeal will be successful, the opinion noted.

The appeal contains a variety of issues, with Hankison contending that his sentence was greater than necessary; there was insufficient evidence to convict; and  the court improperly allowed rebuttal testimony and refused to issue specific jury instruction wording requested by Hankison, the judge said.

Judge Jennings found that none of the specific reasons Hankison cited on appeal would likely result in his sentence being overturned, and that despite him not being a flight risk, he was unable to prove his appeal would be legally sufficient to warrant bond.

Hankison filed an appeal before the Sixth Circuit after being sentenced in July to 33 months in federal prison for his role in the shooting death of Taylor in March 2022. A jury found Hankison last year of being guilty of firing a gun into Taylor's home during a no-knock police raid.

Hankison was indicted in August 2022 on two counts of violating Taylor's civil rights, and was ultimately tried three separate times, with the first two trials being declared mistrials. Prosecutors finally scored a conviction in November 2024 on both civil rights violation counts.

The U.S. Department of Justice's stance on the case has taken a dramatic turn since President Donald Trump returned to office for a second term. Prior to sentencing, Trump's top Civil Rights Division prosecutor, Harmeet K. Dhillon, and special prosecutor Robert J. Keenan requested a one-day jail sentence for Hankison.

Dhillon and Keenan, neither of whom were involved in trying the case, acknowledged in their sentencing memorandum that the request was a "significant departure," from the sentencing guidelines. The federal probation office requested that Hankison be sentenced between 11 and 14 years based on the federal sentencing guidelines.

The decision to involve top Civil Rights Division appointees signaled a shift on how the Trump administration plans handle cases of police misconduct. Keenan, a career prosecutor, has begun showing up in multiple cases like Hankison's requesting light sentences, or offering plea agreements to officers accused of misconduct.

Counsel for Hankison and a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Hankison is represented by Donald J. Malarcik of the Ohio Defense Firm, Jarrod James Beck of the Law Offices of Jarrod James Beck and Ibrahim Aly Farag of Farag Legal Services PLLC.

The government is represented by Andrew Braniff and Michael J. Stronger of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The case is USA v. Hankison, case number 3:22-cr-00084, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

--Editing by Covey Son.