Felony charges against two former Louisville police officers in Breonna Taylor case thrown out

LOUISVILLE, KY - Two former Louisville police officers have seen at least some of the major felony charges for which they were indicted in the death of Breonna Taylor thrown out by a federal judge, the Associated Press reported. The two officers, former police detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were indicted by the Department of Justice in 2022 for allegedly falsifying part of a search warrant. 

In 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland made what some have called a “show” visit to Louisville where he announced federal charges had been filed in Taylor’s death. However, U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson saw it differently, declaring that it was the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, not a bad warrant, that led to her death.

Neither Jaynes nor Meany were present at Taylor’s apartment when her boyfriend shot at police, leading to an exchange of gunfire that led to her death. 

Simpson wrote this week that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” By doing so, Simpson effectively reduced the felony civil rights violation charges against the former officers to a misdemeanor. The felony charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison. 

Two other charges remain, one against each of the former cops, however. Jaynes still faces a conspiracy charge, while Meany is accused of making false statements to investigators. 

In March 2020, Louisville police, in possession of a drug warrant, broke into Taylor’s apartment pursuant to a no-knock warrant. When police entered, Walker fired a shot, striking one officer. Walker later said he thought an intruder was breaking into the apartment. When police returned fire, Taylor was struck and succumbed to her wounds.

The shooting became a cause celebre of anti-police activists and some politicians. They claimed that Taylor, who was black, was a victim of systemic police racism. 

Simpson ruled that it was Walker’s conduct, not that of the officers, that was the “proximate, or legal cause of Taylor’s death.” 

“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 police, the judge wrote. 

Walker was arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer, however, that charge was later dismissed after Walker’s attorney argued he didn’t know he was shooting at police. 

“Obviously we are devastated at the moment by the judge’s ruling with which we disagree and are trying to process everything,” Taylor’s family said in a statement to the Associated Press. The letter said they were told prosecutors plan to appeal the judge’s ruling. 

“The only thing we can do at this point is continue to be patient…we will continue to fight until we get full justice for Breonna Taylor.” 

In an email, the DOJ said they are “reviewing the judge’s decision and assessing next steps.” 

Kelly Goodlett, a third former Louisville officer charged in the federal warrant case, has agreed to testify against the two officers after she pleaded guilty in 2022 to a conspiracy charge. 

In charging the officers, prosecutors had alleged that Jaynes, who wrote the Taylor warrant, claimed to Goodlett several days before the warrant was served that he had “verified” from a postal inspector that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Breonna Taylor’s apartment.

However, Gooldett claimed she knew that was false and told Jaynes that the warrant didn’t have sufficient information connecting Taylor to criminal activity. She added a paragraph saying the suspected drug dealer, Walker, was using Taylor’s apartment as his current address, court records read. 

Approximately two months after Taylor’s shooting, Jaynes and Goodlett met in Jaynes’ garage to “get on the same page” before Jaynes was scheduled to speak with investigators about the Taylor warrant, court records said. 

A fourth Louisville officer, Brett Hankinson was charged in 2022 by federal prosecutors for endangering the lives of Taylor, Walker, and those in neighboring apartments when he fired his weapon into Taylor’s windows. While a trial last year led to a hung jury, prosecutors plan to retry him on those charges in October.