LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A federal judge dismissed the most serious felony charges — carrying a maximum sentence of life in prison — Wednesday against two former Louisville Metro Police officers facing federal crimes in connection with the fatal raid on Breonna Taylor's home in 2020.
Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and Sgt. Kyle Meany were accused of providing and lying about false information in a search warrant used by police to burst into Taylor's house, resulting in her death.
While saying he was "seriously troubled" by their alleged actions, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson ruled the officers shouldn't be charged with depriving Taylor's rights under color of law and causing her death.
"In terms of foreseeability, one can foresee that a violation of the warrant clause, searching someone’s home without probable cause, would result in an illegal invasion of privacy but not in someone’s death," Simpson said in the ruling. "The existence of probable cause would not have prompted anyone to act differently and so would not have altered the outcome."
Prosecutors sought to "severely punish" Jaynes and Meany, believing police never should have been at Taylor's door and, without the false warrant, she would still be alive, the judge wrote.
But Jaynes and Meany weren't even at the raid and "the Government cannot attribute Taylor's death to the lack of a warrant supported by probable cause," Simpson said in the ruling.
Attorney Thomas Clay, who represents Jaynes, said "we are very pleased with Judge Simpson's order dismissing part of the indictment."
Attorneys for Meany, Brian Butler and Michael Denbow, said in a statement, “we are very pleased with the court’s ruling and believe it was soundly based on the law."
Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment.
Taylor was killed when her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot after police burst in early in the morning as part of a series of searches revolving around a drug dealer who had once dated Taylor. Walker has said he thought the couple were being robbed. Police fired 32 shots in response, killing Taylor.
Simpson ruled officers returning fire was a legal act, "thus, this is not a case of excessive force. Nor is it a case of police brutality. ... This is a case of legal, lethal and tragic crossfire that was not initiated by the police."
Meany is still facing a felony charge for allegedly lying to the FBI and a misdemeanor charge for the warrant. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison.
Jaynes is also charged with two other felony counts for conspiracy, falsification of records and misdemeanors for civil rights violations. He faces a total of up to 25 years in prison.
The judge called the remaining charges "concerning" and "if proven at trial, the falsities of which Defendants stand accused should not be condoned."
No trial date has been set.
Prosecutors have argued Jaynes and Meany "drafted and approved what they knew was a false affidavit to support a search warrant for Ms. Taylor's home. That false affidavit set in motion events that led to Ms. Taylor's death when other LMPD officers executed that warrant."
Simpson ruled there are no facts proving Taylor's death was caused by the lack of probable cause to enter her home.
A year ago, Simpson made a similar ruling dismissing the charge that Jaynes and Meany caused Taylor's death. He ruled then that Walker's initial gunshot he fired at police was the cause of death.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed new charges in October. The so-called “superseding” indictment amended the original charges, adding additional allegations in hopes of getting around the judge's ruling.
But Simpson came to the same conclusion in his ruling this week.
"Even if one sympathizes with K.W.’s conduct, it remains that his firing first directly caused officers to self-defend by return fire," Simpson ruled. "Accordingly, the Court found that K.W.’s act superseded the prior unlawful conduct and so constituted the proximate cause of Taylor’s death."
Police were looking for money or drugs involving Jamarcus Glover, who was at the center of a narcotics probe by Louisville police. The warrant for Taylor's home was executed around the same time that police served other warrants on suspected drug houses in the city's west end — some 10 miles away.
No drugs or money were found in the 26-year-old's home.
LMPD has claimed that while Jaynes obtained a "no-knock" warrant, police repeatedly knocked on Taylor's door and announced themselves before knocking it in.
Walker has said he never heard police announce themselves and believed the couple was being robbed. He fired a shot, hitting former officer Jonathan Mattingly in the leg.
In August 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice charged four former Louisville police officers with federal crimes in connection with the raid of Taylor's home.
Ex-detectives Brett Hankison, Jaynes and former officers Meany and Kelly Goodlett faced charges that include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference in August 2022.
Goodlett has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy for knowingly including false information in the search warrant affidavit used to raid Taylor's home and then conspiring with Jaynes to cover it up.
Hankison was sentenced last month to 33 months in prison after being convicted of using excessive force and violating Taylor's civil rights.
Prosecutors said Goodlett and Jaynes knew false information was in the search warrant affidavit when it was presented to a judge and that other information was stale.
Jaynes claimed in an affidavit presented to Jefferson Circuit Judge Mary Shaw that a postal inspector verified that drug suspect Jamarcus Glover, who had dated Taylor, was using Taylor's home to receive parcels.
Jaynes' indictment claims that in April or May 2020 he tried to get an LMPD officer identified as "J.M." to say that he had previously told Jaynes that Glover had been receiving packages at Taylor's home. However, "J.M." had told Jaynes in January of that year that he had no information to support that, according to the indictment.
Tony Gooden, a U.S. postal inspector in Louisville, told WDRB News in May 2020 that Louisville police didn't confer with his office. He said a different law enforcement agency asked his office in January 2020 to investigate whether any potentially suspicious mail was going to the unit. The local office concluded that there wasn't.
"There's no packages of interest going there," Gooden said.
Jaynes later texted Goodlett that a criminal investigator wanted to meet with him after Gooden's account refuting the information in the warrant affidavit was reported, according to the indictment.
The indictment says Jaynes and Goodlett met the night of May 17, 2020 in Jaynes' garage, where Jaynes allegedly told Goodlett "that they needed to get on the same page because they could both go down for putting false information in the Springfield Drive warrant affidavit."
The charges involving Jaynes falsifying information have not been dismissed.
Goodlett is expected to work with prosecutors and possibly testify against other officers. She will not be sentenced until the trials of the other officers have concluded.
The former detectives who fired the shots that struck Taylor — John Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — were not charged because they didn't know about the false information in the search warrant.
This story may be updated.
Related Stories:
Prosecutors argue false warrant affidavit filed by Louisville police led to Breonna Taylor's death
Attorneys ask judge to dismiss felony charges against 2 officers involved in Breonna Taylor raid
Two former Louisville police officers involved in Breonna Taylor raid have been indicted again
DOJ appeals dismissal of most serious charges against 2 officers involved in Breonna Taylor raid
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
