Four Louisville police officers face federal charges in Breonna Taylor’s shooting death
Four current and former Louisville police officers were hit with federal charges related to the 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor, who was shot during a law enforcement raid at her apartment, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.
Former Louisville Metro Police Department officers Joshua Haynes, Kelly Goodlett, and Brett Hankison and current LMPD Sgt. Kyle Meany were charged in two separate indictments with “civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies and use of force and obstruction offenses” related to Taylor’s death.
Haynes, Goodlett and Meany are accused of committing civil right offenses in the falsification of a so-called “no-knock” search warrant, Garland said.
“Federal charges announced today allege that members of the place based Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home,” the AG said, adding: “This act violated federal civil rights laws and those violations resulted in Miss Taylor’s death.”
“This act violated federal civil rights laws and those violations resulted in Miss Taylor’s death.”
Taylor, a 26-year-old black medical worker, was shot and killed by officers when they attempted to carry out the warrant for a search of her home. During the incident, Taylor’s boyfriend fired at the officers, believing an intruder was entering the apartment. Taylor was hit multiple times when the police returned fire.
The Department of Justice believes cops knew the affidavit used to support the warrant contained “false and misleading information,” including the fact that officers had “verified that the target of the alleged drug trafficking operation had received packages at Ms. Taylor’s address,” Garland said.
“We alleged that the defendants knew their actions and falsifying the affidavit could create a dangerous situation and we allege these unlawful acts resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death,” Garland continued, noting that the officers conducting the raid were unaware of its false and misleading statements.
Jaynes and Goodlett have also been accused of conspiring to “mislead federal, state, and local authorities” investigating the incident after Taylor’s death.
“For example, we allege that in May 2020, those two defendants met in a garage where they agreed to tell investigators a false story,” Garland said.
The DOJ separately alleges that Meany “lied to the FBI during its investigation in this manner.”
Jaynes faces one count of willfully depriving Taylor of her constitutional rights in his official capacity as an officer, another count of conspiracy, and one count of falsifying a report. Meany faces one count of willfully depriving Taylor of her constitutional rights in his official capacity as an officer and one count of making a false statement to federal investigators. Goodlett faces one count of conspiracy.
Hankison – who was found not guilty earlier this year in a state trial on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment in connection to the shooting – has been charged with two civil rights offenses, with the DOJ alleging he “willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force while engaging in his official capacity as an officer.”
The former detective was among the several officers executing the search warrant and blindly shot 10 bullets through a covered window and sliding glass door.
“Community Safety dictates that police officers use their weapons only when necessary to defend their own lives or the lives of others and even then, that they must do so with great care and caution,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said.
“Today’s indictment alleges that Hankinson’s use of excessive force violated the rights of��Breonna Taylor and her guests and also of her neighbors whose lives were endangered by bullets that penetrated into their apartment.”
The charges against Hankinson are separate from those previously filed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky as they “allege violations of the US Constitution, rather than of state law,” the DOJ said.Jaynes was fired from his position with the department in January 2021 after then-interim LMPD Chief Yvette Gentry found he lied to a judge to obtain the warrant to search Taylor’s apartment the previous year.
In his affidavit to obtain the warrant, Jaynes claimed he verified through a US Postal Inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend and suspected drug dealer Jamarcus Glover had packages delivered to Taylor’s apartment.
However, Jaynes actually heard the claim from another officer, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly. Mattingly also did not receive the information from a postal inspector, but from police in the suburb of Shively. Officers with that department later confirmed postal inspectors had said there were no packages for Glover delivered to Taylor.
Gentry also fired two other officers connected to Taylor’s death last year; Hankison and Myles Cosgrove, who the FBI concluded fired the shot that killed Taylor.
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division is also conducting a separate investigation into a potential pattern of misconduct at the Louisville Metro Police Department — including excessive force, improper searches or racially discriminatory policing, Clarke said.
“Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Garland said Thursday. “The Justice Department is committed to defending and protecting the civil rights of every person in this country. That was this department’s founding purpose and it remains our urgent mission.”
All of the alleged civil rights charges involve alleged violations of Title 18 — which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if the violation results in death or an attempt to kill. The obstruction counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, while the conspiracy and false statement charges carry a maximum sentence of five years.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer celebrated the charges later Thursday, calling them a “critical step forward in the process toward achieving justice for Breonna Taylor.”
“While we cannot reserve her tragic death, we can and must continue to pursue justice for her,” he said, later adding, “While I know some may feel that this process has taken too long, as I have said from the beginning there can be no shortcuts to due process, no shortcuts to justice.”
Civil rights lawyer Ben Crump also praised the charges saying, “Today was a huge step toward justice.””We are grateful for the diligence and dedication of the FBI and the DOJ as they investigated what lef to Breonna’s murder and what transpired aftwards,” he added.
“We hope this announcement of a guilty plea sends a message to all other involved officers that it is time to stop covering up and time to accept responsibility for their roles in causing the death of an innocent, beautiful young Black woman.
