Judge Clears Former Police Officers Of Key Felony Charges In Breonna Taylor's Death

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

A federal judge has dismissed the most serious charges against two former Louisville police officers accused of falsifying the search warrant that played a key role in a sequence of events culminating in the fatal shooting of Louisville resident Breonna Taylor in her apartment in 2020.

(Left) Louisville Police Det. Joshua Jaynes. (Right) Sgt. Kyle Meany of the Louisville Metro Police Department testifies in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 23, 2022. Louisville Police via AP; Timothy D. Easley/Pool via AP Photo

U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled on Aug. 22 to eliminate a key part of count one of the indictments against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and Louisville Sgt. Kyle Meany, which accused them of depriving Taylor of her constitutional protections against unreasonable search—Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law (18 U.S.C. § 242)—with an enhancement alleging the use of a dangerous weapon causing death.

Jaynes and Meany were both accused of knowingly providing or endorsing false information in an application for a “no-knock” warrant to search Taylor’s home, a move that set in motion the events leading to her death.

The deprivation-of-rights charge normally carries a fine of up to a year in prison, but the enhancement—a sentence in the indictment stating that “the offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon and resulted in Taylor’s death”—elevated the charge to a felony punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty.

Simpson’s decision to strike down the enhancement was based on the finding that the most direct, and legal, cause of Taylor’s death was her boyfriend’s decision to fire at the officers conducting the raid, prompting them to return fire, killing Taylor.

Taylor, a 26-year-old medical worker, was shot and killed by police in March 2020 during a raid at her apartment. Officers were investigating a man suspected of drug trafficking who had previously dated Taylor. Police believed the man was using Taylor’s apartment to receive illicit packages, although no drugs were found at her home.

During the raid, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that struck one of the officers in the leg. Walker said he fired his handgun because he believed intruders were breaking in. Two officers returned fire, with several bullets striking and killing Taylor.

The judge wrote in his order that, “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.”

Simpson concluded that Walker’s actions, rather than the falsification of the search warrant, became the “proximate, or legal, cause of Taylor’s death.”

While he struck down the felony charge that could have led to life in prison for the two defendants, the judge kept the remainder of the deprivation-of-rights charge against both Jaynes and Meany, who now both face up to one year in prison on that count.

However, Jaynes could still spend a total of up to 26 years in prison—if convicted and if the judge imposes consecutive sentencing. That’s because he faces a conspiracy to falsify records and witness tampering charge (up to five years) and a falsification of records in a federal investigation charge (up to 20 years), in addition to the reduced deprivation of rights charge (up to one year).

Meany faces a false statement to federal investigators charge (up to five years) and the reduced deprivation of rights charge (one year), for a total of up to six years if convicted and if the judge orders consecutive sentencing.

Two other detectives—Brett Hankison and Kelly Goodlett—were charged in the case.

Goodlett pleaded guilty to two federal crimes—conspiring with another detective to falsify an affidavit to obtain the search warrant, and conspiring to cover up the false warrant by lying to criminal investigators after Taylor’s death.

Goodlett is awaiting sentencing, Hankison’s trial is slated for October, while no trial date has been set for Jaynes and Meaney.

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Department of Justice with a request for comment about its next steps in the case.

Taylor’s family told The Associated Press in a written statement that they disagree with the ruling.

“Obviously we are devastated at the moment by the judge’s ruling with which we disagree and are just trying to process everything,” reads the statement, per the outlet.

“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.”

Roughly six months after Taylor was killed, officials in Louisville agreed to pay $12 million to her family to settle a wrongful death lawsuit alleging that police officers had no probable cause or legal basis to enter and search her home.

The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing.

Walker was initially charged with attempted murder for firing at officers, who said they knocked and announced themselves before entering the apartment. Walker said he did not hear officers identify themselves and believed intruders were breaking into the home.

Charges against Walker were eventually dropped and, after filing several lawsuits against the City of Louisville and individual officers involved in obtaining the search warrant, he reached a $2 million settlement.