U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that four current and former Louisville Metro Police officers have been federally charged over the raid that killed Breonna Taylor in March 2020.
The officers who fatally shot Taylor while returning fire at her boyfriend during the service of a warrant were not charged.
Former Louisville Metro Police detective Joshua Jaynes, 40, who was fired for lying on the search warrant that led to the raid at Taylor's apartment, was taken into custody Thursday morning by the FBI and booked in the Oldham County Detention Center, attorney Thomas Clay, who is representing Jaynes, told the Courier-Journal.
Sgt. Kyle Meany, 35; Officer Kelly Hanna Goodlett, 35; and former detective Brett Hankison, 46; also were charged by federal authorities over the incident.
According to the DOJ's news release, the first indictment, which charges Jaynes and Meany in connection with the warrant, contains four counts. Federal officials say:
- Jaynes and Meany “willfully deprived Taylor of her constitutional rights by drafting and approving a false affidavit to obtain a search warrant for Taylor’s home”;
- Jaynes committed “conspiracy, for agreeing with another detective to cover up the false warrant affidavit after Taylor’s death by drafting a false investigative letter and making false statements to criminal investigators”;
- Jaynes falsified a report “with the intent to impede a criminal investigation into Taylor’s death”; and
- Meany made "a false statement to federal investigators.”
Hankison faces two federal civil rights charges alleging he “willfully used unconstitutionally excessive force, while acting in his official capacity as an officer, when he fired his service weapon into Taylor’s apartment through a covered window and covered glass door.”
Hankinson has been acquitted of state charges of wanton endangerment over the same incident.
