A federal judge has thrown out major felony charges against two former Louisville police officers accused of falsifying a no-knock warrant that led to the killing of Breonna Taylor.
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a shot at police the night of the raid, were the legal cause of her death, and not a botched warrant.
Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany were charged by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 of knowing they had falsified part of the warrant that put Taylor in a dangerous situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.
But Simpson wrote in the Tuesday ruling that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which had carried a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.
Judge Simpson declined to dismiss a conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.
In March 2020, police took a drug warrant to Breonna Taylor’s apartment, and broke down the door. Breonna’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that struck an officer in the leg. Walker said he believed an intruder was bursting in. Officers returned fire, striking and killing Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in her hallway.
Walker was soon arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but the charge was later dropped after his attorneys argued Walker didn’t know he was firing at police.
Judge Simpson concluded that Walker’s “conduct became the proximate, or legal, cause of Taylor’s death.”
A DOJ spokesperson confirmed that the department is reviewing the judge’s ruling and assessing next steps.
