A pair of former Louisville cops who had tampered with a search warrant that led to the death of Breonna Taylor has been cleared of several felony counts by a federal judge. According to US District Judge Charles Simpson, Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who shot at police during the raid, was the legal cause of her death and not the fake warrant.
It was reported in New York Post that on August 2022 US Attorney General Merrick Garland filed federal charges against retired Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt Kyle Meany.
As alleged by Garland, they had deliberately doctored parts of warrant in order for Breonna Taylor to be put in harm’s way by sending armed police officers to her apartment. However, it is worth mentioning that both Jaynes and Meany never showed up during the raid.
“There is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death,” noted Judge Simpson while making his decision Tuesday. Consequently, this development has lessened civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany from felonies carrying life imprisonment as maximum penalties to simple misdemeanors.
Judge still keeps some charges
However, Judge Simpson left intact one conspiracy charge against Jaynes while retaining another against Meany for having allegedly given false information when questioned by investigators. The indictments assert that although it was Jaynes’ and Meanys’ actions which eventually resulted into Taylors’ death but it came to an end after Walker started shooting at the law enforcement officials.
“In other words, while the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set off a series of events that ended in Taylor’s death, it also alleges that (Walker) disrupted those events when he decided to open fire on the police,” wrote Judge Simpson.
In March 2020 police busted into Breonna Taylor’s apartment using a drug search warrant and Walker fired one round striking an officer in his leg because he thought someone was breaking in. Officers then returned fire killing Taylor, a 26-year old black woman in her hallway. Simpson concluded that Walker’s actions were the “proximate, or legal” cause of Taylor’s death.
At first, Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer but his defense argued that he was unaware that he had shot at officers.
Family reacts to the ruling
In response to Simpson’s decision, Taylor’s family expressed their disappointment.
“Obviously we are devastated at the moment by the judge’s ruling with which we disagree and are just trying to process everything,” they said in a written statement to The Associated Press.
Prosecutors informed the family that they plan to appeal Simpson’s decision.
“We’re being patient right now … We’ll keep fighting until Breonna Taylor gets full justice,” stated on behalf of the family.
The US Department of Justice said it is “reviewing the judge’s decision and assessing next steps,” in an email statement.
Kelly Goodlett Involvement in The Case
Another ex-officer implicated in this federal warrant case named Kelly Goodlett pled guilty to conspiracy last year while she is expected to be used as a witness against Jaynes and Meany as per their ongoing trials. It emerged from federal prosecutors’ revelations that Jaynes who prepared warrant for Ms. Breonna Taylor falsely advised Goodlett that he had checked with postal inspectorate which indicated involvement of suspected drug dealer shipping packages into her house.
Goodlett was aware this was not true and told Jaynes that the warrant had failed to provide proper linking of Taylor to criminal activities. Notwithstanding, a paragraph added to the warrant by Goodlett stated that it was known the suspected drug dealer used Taylor’s apartment as his address.
Two months later, while national attention focused on the Taylor shooting, Jaynes and Goodlett met in Jaynes’ garage for purposes of aligning their stories before he spoke to investigators about the Taylor warrant.
Brett Hankison’s Trial Is Upcoming
Furthermore, former officer Brett Hankison also faced charges by federal prosecutors in 2022 for endangering Breonna Taylor, his boyfriend Walker, and neighbors when he fired into Taylor’s windows. His trial last year ended with a hung jury but Hankison is scheduled to be retried on those charges in October.
