New Breonna Taylor Charges Involve Secret Garage Meeting

The botched police raid that resulted in the death of Breonna Taylor has led to federal charges against four current and former Louisville officers. "Breonna Taylor should still be alive," Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday in announcing the charges, per the AP. Three of those charged—former detective Joshua Jaynes, current Sgt. Kyle Meany, and current officer Kelly Goodlett—are accused of falsifying information to obtain the search warrant that led to the 2020 raid, reports the Louisville Courier Journal. Jaynes was fired in January 2021 for lying on the search warrant; the Louisville Metro Police Department said Chief Erika Shields is initiating termination proceedings against Meany and Goodlett in the wake of the DOJ's indictments. More:

• Garland said the three were aware there was not probable cause for a search warrant and that the information they submitted in the affidavit to obtain it "contained false and misleading information and that it omitted material information."
• Garland repeated details that emerged at the time of Jaynes' firing: that Jaynes said he had verified through a US Postal Inspector that packages were being delivered to Taylor's apartment in the name of her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug trafficker. The info had actually come from Shively Police, not the postal inspector, and the Shively police said postal inspectors had said the opposite: that no packages were delivered.

• In new allegations, Garland said Jaynes and Goodlett met in a garage on May 17, 2020, about two months after Taylor was killed, to discuss how to cover up their actions, per the Washington Post and CBS News. CBS reports the meeting was allegedly spurred by news reports that mentioned the postal inspector wasn't confirming details in the search warrant application. Per charging documents, the pair allegedly agreed to falsely tell investigators that a postal inspector had casually referenced Glover getting packages at Taylor's address.
• They "took steps to cover up their unlawful conduct after Ms. Taylor's death" and "conspired to mislead federal, state and local authorities" investigating the raid, said the attorney general.
• The fourth person facing federal charges is former officer Brett Hankison, who fired shots during the raid and is accused of "deprivation of rights under color of law," per CNN. He is charged with using "unconstitutionally excessive force during the raid on Ms. Taylor's home" in his firing of 10 shots that entered a neighboring apartment "without a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division said Thursday. Hankison was acquitted of state charges earlier this year.
• As for the other officers involved in the raid, Garland noted that "the officers who ultimately carried out the search at this Taylor's department were not involved in the drafting of the warrant, and were unaware of the false and misleading statements they contained."

(More Breonna Taylor stories.)