Janice R. Andrews
LOUISVILLE, KY – A federal judge has greatly lowered the charges against two former Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers. This is a major step in the legal process related to the police raid that killed Breonna Taylor. Some police officers were accused of lying to get a warrant for the failed 2020 raid that killed 26-year-old Black woman Taylor. Taylor’s death started a protest across the country against racism and police abuse.
Judge Charles Simpson III of the U.S. District Court made the ruling. It’s been almost two years since the Justice Department charged former officer Joshua Jaynes and former Sergeant Kyle Meany. They were charged because they helped make and sign a document for a search warrant that was linked to an investigation into drugs. It was said that the document had false and confusing information, important facts that were left out, and no probable cause.
Judge Simpson dropped the most serious charge against Jaynes and Meany, which was criminal deprivation of rights under the cover of law. He made this decision on Thursday. The use of a dangerous tool and the death of Taylor meant that this charge could lead to a life term. But Simpson’s decision threw out this part of the charge, which means the former cops are now likely to face much lighter punishments. The two guys could only spend a year in jail if they were found guilty of the last charge.
What the judge thought and how it affected the case
In his 33-page order, Judge Simpson said that the police entering the house without a search was not the main cause of Taylor’s death. He instead blamed Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who was the first person to fire his gun, as the direct cause. Walker fired one shot because he thought the house was being broken into because no one with police ID was there. His lawyer said it was an act of self-defense. When the cops arrived, they fired 32 shots, and some of them hit and killed Taylor.
“The Court finds that the warrantless entry was not the actual cause of Taylor’s death,” Simpson wrote. This made Walker’s acts the main focus of the case instead of the police officers’. The judge’s decision made it clear that Walker’s choice to shoot Taylor was the “superseding cause” of his death, even though the police officers’ entry was illegal.
A lot of people are upset about this choice, especially since it came at such an odd time. It’s been more than four years since Taylor was shot and killed, and two other police officers have recently been charged with killing Black women: Sonya Massey in Illinois and Ta’Kiya Young in Ohio. Mapping Police Violence, a project run by the group Campaign Zero, which wants to change the way police work, says that police have killed 857 people so far this year. The information shows that in the United States, black people are almost three times more likely to be killed by cops than white people.
What the Defense and Legal Community Had to Say
After the decision, the lawyers for both Jaynes and Meany said they were happy with the court’s decision. Jaynes was fired from the LMPD in January 2021 after an internal investigation found he broke the department’s rules about telling the truth and preparing search warrants. He is still being charged with working with another detective to hide the fake warrant and forgering a document to trick investigators. Meany was fired by Erika Shields, who was Chief of the LMPD at the time, in August 2022 after being charged with a federal crime. He is still being charged with lying to FBI agents.
Thomas Clay, a lawyer in Louisville who was defending Jaynes, said that his client was happy with the result. What Clay said, “This dismissal places the burden on the United States as to how to proceed on the dismissal of this order,” showed how complicated and long-lasting the legal fights that lie ahead. He also said that the Department of Justice was waiting for Brett Hankison’s trial, which was another cop involved in the raid and is set to end in October, before setting a date for the trial of Jaynes and Meany.
Brian Butler, who is defending Meany, agreed with Clay and said, “We are very pleased by the court’s decision.”
Insights into the Judge’s Choice
Judge Simpson’s decision was based on what Kenneth Walker did the night of the raid. The lawyers had to show that the officers’ entry was both the real cause of Taylor’s death and the cause that was closest to it. However, the defense said, and the judge agreed, that Walker’s choice to shoot at the police officers stopped what would have happened naturally. This meant that Jaynes and Meany were not “criminally responsible for Taylor’s death.”
Despite the fact that prosecutors said Taylor was killed with a dangerous weapon, Simpson made it clear that the officers’ actions were in response to Walker’s gunshots and not to help or advance the search itself. The judge said that the cops did have their guns drawn when they walked in, but that was only for their own safety and not to help with an illegal search.
State of Cases Related to This
The police officers who were involved in the raid on Taylor’s apartment are still being sued. In August 2022, the federal government charged four cops, both current and past, with crimes related to the raid. Jaynes and Meany were two of them. One of the four, Detective Kelly Goodlett, admitted she lied on the order but has not been punished yet.
Brett Hankison is being charged by the federal government with breaking the civil rights of Taylor, Walker, and three neighbors by using excessive force during the raid. He fired 10 shots into Taylor’s room. In November, his trial was thrown out because the jury could not agree on a verdict. He is scheduled for a new trial later this year.
The other two cops who fired their guns during the raid are still fighting in court, but they have not been charged with a crime yet. Jaynes and Meany were charged with lesser crimes. This is a big step forward in the justice process for Breonna Taylor and her family, and it’s also an important moment in the larger talk about police responsibility in the US.
