It’s been over a week since the U.S. Department of Justice appealed some of the most serious charges against two former Louisville Metro Police officers involved in the raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment in 2020. As of Tuesday, the DOJ has indicted both officers.
What are the new charges?
New charges from the DOJ indict former Louisville Metro Police Department officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany for their role in obtaining the faulty search warrant for Taylor’s apartment.
According to the indictment, both officers are charged with violating Taylor’s civil rights that would have protected her from an unreasonable search of her home. The 22-page indictment alleges Jaynes knowingly drafted a search warrant with false information and misleading statements. Meany approved the warrant also knowing this information was false, the indictment alleges.
Jaynes faces one felony count of conspiracy and another felony charge of falsifying records in a federal investigation. Meany faces one felony count of lying to the FBI.
If convicted, Jaynes and Meany could face life sentences. The two are scheduled in court Oct. 18.
The DOJ declined to comment for this story.
The warrant, the raid
In 2020, Louisville Metro Police and a local SWAT unit were assigned to execute search warrants for five properties that were allegedly used for drug trafficking. One of those locations was 26-year-old Taylor’s apartment.
Prosecutors allege Jaynes, Meany and another officer obtained the warrant for Taylor’s apartment with false information that linked Taylor to a known drug dealer. Jaynes, they argue, falsely claimed the drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor’s home. Jaynes also claimed he saw this drug dealer make “frequent trips” between Taylor’s apartment and the other properties in the search warrant, according to the indictment.
On March 11, 2020, Meany conducted surveillance at Taylor’s apartment to gather information for the search warrant, the new indictment alleges. Prosecutors allege Meany was supposed to include any information that was “relevant to officer safety and should be shared with officers who would execute the warrant the next day.” Meany saw that Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who legally owned a firearm, had parked his car outside his girlfriend’s home.
The indictment alleges Meany then approved the search warrant for Taylor’s apartment, but Meany did not include any information for police about Walker staying at Taylor’s apartment.
On March 13, 2020 local police and a SWAT team conducted a middle of the night raid at Taylor’s home. Officers issued a no-knock warrant on the apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired a shot at officers and officers returned fire, killing Taylor.
Neither Jaynes nor Meany were present for the botched raid.
In 2022, the DOJ first indicted Jaynes and Meany for their role in the raid. The indictment alleged LMPD did not have probable cause to search Taylor’s apartment until Jaynes and Meany secured the warrant with false information.
In August of this year, a federal judge ruled the search warrant was not the “legal cause” of Taylor’s death. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson said that the decision Walker made to fire a shot at officers who forcefully entered the home was the actual cause of Taylor’s death.
Where the other officers stand
Former officer Kelly Goodlett was the first officer convicted for her involvement in the raid.
Court documents allege that Jaynes worked with Goodlett to cover up that the search warrant was falsified.
She pleaded guilty, and as of now, her sentencing has yet to be scheduled.
Former LMPD officer Brett Hankison is scheduled for a retrial in October, according to a spokesperson from the DOJ. Hankison was one of the officers who was a part of the raid. His bullets did not strike Taylor, but they entered a neighboring apartment where a pregnant woman, her boyfriend and her child were sleeping.
A federal judge declared a mistrial in Hankison’s case last year after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict.
