LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A Jefferson Circuit Court judge has upheld the termination of former Louisville Metro Detective Joshua Jaynes, who was fired for being untruthful in a search warrant used to raid Breonna Taylor’s home.
Judge Mitch Perry’s June 22 ruling comes about ten days after hearing oral arguments between attorney Thomas Clay, who represents Jaynes, and attorneys for the Louisville Merit Board, who unanimously voted to uphold the termination last June.
In his order, Perry ruled that the "crux of this case is the truthfulness of Mr. Jaynes' statement in the search warrant affidavit."
Attorney Thomas Clay, who represents Jaynes, said he will take the case before the Kentucky's Court of Appeals.
In a statement after the previous merit board ruling, Mayor Greg Fischer said that former Chief Yvette Gentry "stepped into service at a very difficult time for our city, and then undertook a thorough and thoughtful review of this case. I supported her decision then, and I support it now."
Gentry fired Jaynes in January, telling him in a letter that his "actions have brought discredit upon yourself and the department."
Jaynes wrote in the search warrant affidavit, under oath, that Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, was receiving packages at her apartment on Springfield Drive and said he confirmed the information through the U.S. postal inspector — one of the key justifications for the warrant.
In May 2020, a U.S. postal inspector in Louisville said Metro police did not use his office to verify that information.
Jaynes has admitted he never spoke to the postal inspector.
Instead, Jaynes and his attorney, Thomas Clay, argued he relied on information from another officer, Jonathan Mattingly, one of the officers who executed the search warrant at Taylor's South End home on March 13, 2020.
“I had no reason to lie in this case,” Jaynes said. “I’m here because I relied on information from another officer.”
Mattingly submitted the request through the Shively Police Department, which serves as a liaison between LMPD and the postal inspector because of "bad blood" between the two agencies.
Jaynes said he assumed Mattingly had checked directly with the postal inspector.
In an interview with Louisville police investigators, Shively police Sgt. Timothy Salyer said he and Shively Detective Michael Kuzma got a text from Mattingly on Jan. 17 asking they check with a postal inspector to see if packages were being sent to Taylor's home for Glover.
Both Shively officers say the postal inspector told them there were no packages being sent to Taylor's home and that information was promptly and accurately relayed to LMPD.
After Taylor's death, both Salyer and Kuzma became concerned when they read the warrant affidavit written by Jaynes. Salyer asked Mattingly about what Jaynes said in the affidavit.
"Sgt. Mattingly stated he told Detective Jaynes there was no package history at that address," Salyer told investigators.
Former Louisville police chief Yvette Gentry previously testified that Jaynes admitted to being untruthful in obtaining a search warrant for the fateful raid of Taylor’s apartment and was “completely comfortable” in firing him.
“Untruthfulness is a big deal,” Gentry said. “There are certain policy violations you don’t get a second chance to come back from.”
Gentry served as interim chief for several months until earlier this year, when Chief Erika Shields formally took over the police department's top job.
Mattingly has said he told Jaynes there were no suspicious packages going to Taylor's home.
Perry ruled the "collective knowledge doctrine argument is defeated by the untruthfulness of the information provided in the search warrant affidavit."
Detective Brett Hankison, along with Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, with LMPD's Criminal Interdiction Division, burst into Taylor's Springfield Drive apartment around 1 a.m. March 13 to serve the search warrant. Taylor was inside the apartment with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.
Taylor, 26, was shot six times and died at the scene.
Walker thought they were being robbed, according to his attorney, and fired at officers when they rushed in, hitting Mattingly in the leg.
Cosgrove and Hankison were fired.
A Jefferson County grand jury indicted Hankison on Sept. 23 on three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into an apartment near Taylor's unit where a man, pregnant woman and child were at the time. His case is pending. He was later acquitted.
No one was charged in Taylor's death.
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