Breonna Taylor‘s mother was escorted out of a Louisville courtroom where the only ex-cop criminally charged in her daughter’s death is standing trial over what she was wearing.
According to reports, Tamika Palmer was told she couldn’t enter the courtroom this week over the red and black letterman-style jacket that donned a photo of Breonna Taylor, a large “B” on the chest and the date she died –– March 13, 2020 –– on the sleeve.
Breonna’s younger sister, Juniyah Palmer, told The Courier-Journal that a Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputy told her mother that her outfit “isn’t going to work” and they were both escorted out. The news outlet reported they did not return to court on Thursday (February 25) following the incident.
Juniyah also told the outlet she wasn’t allowed to wear a t-shirt with Breonna’s name on it.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Col. Carl Yates shared a statement on behalf of Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith‘s staff attorney which cited the “standard of dress code policy” for people viewing a trial.
That policy, the statement says, indicates that “no one should wear any attire or display any object that is so inherently prejudicial that it would deprive a defendant of a fair trial.”
Any article of clothing that “prominently displays sympathy for either side in a trial may prejudice the jury, or appear to do so, and it could result in a mistrial or an appellate court’s reversal of the jury’s ultimate decision.”
Brett Hankison is currently standing trial on wanton endangerment for the bullets that entered Taylor’s neighbors’ apartment. None of the officers involved in the fatal raid have been directly criminally charged for fatally shooting her while she was asleep.
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