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

The guilty verdict came hours after a jury acquitted Hankison of a second count of violating the civil rights of three of Taylor’s neighbors, who lived in an adjoining apartment that was also hit by gunfire in during the raid. After the partial verdict was handed down, jurors, deadlocked on the number specifically linked to Taylor, were instructed by the judge to continue deliberating.

The jury returned a guilty verdict in that case shortly before 9:30 p.m., according to Louisville ABC affiliate . WHAS.

Taylor’s family and friends hugged and cheered as they left court late Friday night.

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

As the deliberations dragged this time into late Friday night, Palmer said she began to feel defeated. “The later it got, the harder it got, and I’m glad I’m 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 raid in March 2020. The three officers fired dozens of rounds after her boyfriend fired a round at them, hitting one of the officers.

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

MORE: Trial declared mistrial in federal case against ex-Louisville cop over Breonna Taylor raid

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

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

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

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

Plainclothes officers were executing a search warrant for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, who they alleged was dealing drugs, when they broke down the door to her apartment. He was not at the residence, but her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought someone was breaking into the home and fired a gun, striking one of the officers in the leg. The three officers responded, firing 32 rounds into the apartment.

The original indictment alleged that Hankison also violated Walker’s civil rights, though Walker was cleared of the charge early in the retrial.

The retrial marked Hankison’s third trial after the original trial was overturned, as well as a 2022 state trial in which he was acquitted of multiple endangerment charges.

MORE: Jury finds ex-officer Brett Hankison not guilty on all counts in Breonna Taylor raid

As in his previous trials, Hankison took the stand during the retrial, becoming emotional at times during two days of testimony, according to WHASABC affiliate in Louisville covering the courtroom case.

Hankison told jurors 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 of the threat, according to WHAS.

He said the night was the first time he fired a gun in nearly 20 years as a police officer, according to the AP.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for violating department procedure when he fired “wantonly and blindly” 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 were justified in their use of force after Walker shot at him.

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