Federal prosecutors filed new indictments on Tuesday against two police officers in Louisville, Kentucky, who allegedly used false information to obtain the search warrant that led to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020. The superseding indictment against former Sgt. Kyle Meany and former detective Joshua Jaynes of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department comes months after U.
S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Simpson III said the 26-year-old’s death was legally caused by her boyfriend firing at police, not the warrant that authorized the raid at her home. On March 13, 2020, officers breached the door of Taylor’s apartment with their guns drawn.
Believing it was an intruder, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired one shot with his handgun and struck an officer in the leg. Officers responded with a barrage of gunfire, killing Taylor. Her death resulted in nationwide protests, and ultimately the city of Louisville paid $12 million to her family and promised to reform its police practices, including how warrants are handled.
But according to the new indictment, Jaynes and Meany lacked probable cause to obtain the warrant in the first place and obtained it only because of false, misleading and out-of-date information in their affidavit. “If the judge had been aware that key statements in the affidavit were false and misleading, she would not have approved the warrant for Taylor’s home and there would not have been a search at Taylor’s home,” pro.