Judge dismisses felony against former Louisville officers behind Breonna Taylor search warrant

[August 24, 2024]  (Reuters) - A federal judge agreed to dismiss part of the most serious charge against two former police officers in Lousiville, Kentucky, accused of falsifying a search warrant that led to colleagues killing Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black medical worker, in her apartment in 2020.

Joshua Jaynes, a former Louisville Police Department detective, and Kyle Meany, a former Louisville sergeant, are accused of knowingly making false statements in their application to a judge for a "no knock" warrant to search Taylor's home.

Louisville police were investigating a man whom Taylor had previously dated, suspecting him of drug trafficking. Three officers used a battering ram to enter Taylor's apartment after midnight, startling Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who fired his gun at what he believed were burglars, according to prosecutors.

Two officers returned fire, shooting 22 bullets and killing Taylor, who was unarmed. Police found no drugs in the apartment. Taylor's killing was decried around the world in 2020 by street protests against the disproportionate use of violence by U.S. police against Black people.

Jaynes and Keany were not part of the team that went to Taylor's apartment.

They were both charged with depriving Taylor of her civil rights, including a right not to be subject to an unreasonable search, by obtaining the search warrant on false grounds, knowing it would result in armed officers storming her apartment.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division said in its indictment that the rights violation "involved the use of a weapon and resulted in Taylor's death," making the charge a felony crime for which they faced a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Breonna Taylor’s art is seen in Jefferson Square after the announcement that the FBI arrested and brought civil rights charges against four current and former Louisville police officers for their roles in the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud/File Photo

U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson in Louisville agreed with Jaynes' and Keany's motion to dismiss that part of the indictment in an order issued on Thursday, writing that "the Court finds that the warrantless entry was not the actual cause of Taylor's death."

"Even if police had a valid warrant, the alleged post-midnight, busting in would have frightened K.W. who would have fired, prompting the lethal return fire from the officers," the judge wrote, using Kenneth Walker's initials.

Simpson denied the defendants' requests to dismiss all the other charges; both still face the charge of depriving Taylor of her rights as government officials as a misdemeanor crime, with a maximum sentence of a year in prison.

Jaynes also continues to face two cover-up charges, including one of conspiring to falsify evidence to FBI agents investigating the warrant, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Meany faces a charge of making false statements to the FBI.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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