Judge agrees to dismiss charges against officers tied to Breonna Taylor raid
A federal judge in Kentucky agreed Friday to dismiss charges against two former Louisville police officers accused of wrongdoing related to the raid that led to Breonna Taylor’s death in 2020.
The two ex-officers – Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany – were not there when police shot and killed Taylor at her Louisville apartment. They were charged with knowingly using false information to obtain the warrant justifying the search and later misleading or lying to investigators.
The Trump administration had asked a federal judge to dismiss the charges, deriding the cases – which began during the Biden administration – as “inappropriate, weaponized federal overreach.” Attorneys for Taylor’s family assailed the request, calling it “deeply painful” and saying “it sends a chilling message about the value of Black lives in our country.”
The Justice Department’s move to abandon the cases against the officers marked the Trump administration’s latest sharp reversal on a case or investigation that began during Joe Biden’s presidency. Since Donald Trump retook office last year, the Justice Department has backed away from its own investigations into police forces, abandoned agreements aimed at reshaping some local law enforcement agencies and criticized cases its attorneys brought.
Taylor, 26, was shot and killed in her Louisville apartment by police carrying out a search warrant there in March 2020. Two years later, federal authorities brought civil rights charges against four current or former officers in connection with Taylor’s death, including Jaynes, a detective, and Meany, a sergeant who worked as a supervisor.
When Taylor was killed, authorities had been searching properties allegedly linked to drug trafficking and looking into a man who previously had a relationship with Taylor, according to court papers. In the affidavit used to justify the search warrant, Jaynes falsely claimed to have seen the man make “frequent trips” between Taylor’s apartment and those locations, the superseding indictment against Jaynes and Meany said.
Police broke down Taylor’s door after midnight and her boyfriend, fearing intruders were breaking in, fired a shot. The police opened fire and killed Taylor.
Senior District Judge Charles R. Simpson III, who has been overseeing the case against Jaynes and Meany, had previously dismissed some charges in the case against them.
Simpson wrote last year that he was troubled by “the claimed falsehoods” in the case but did not believe Taylor’s death was due to the warrant. Her killing, he wrote, stemmed from “legal, lethal and tragic crossfire that was not initiated by police.”
On March 20, the Trump administration asked Simpson to dismiss the remaining charges with prejudice, meaning they cannot be filed again later. Citing Simpson’s previous decisions, the Justice Department wrote in a court filing that the cases “should be dismissed in the interest of justice.”
In a brief order Friday, Simpson agreed to grant the government’s request.
Taylor’s killing, along with George Floyd’s months later in Minneapolis, sparked widespread protests and calls for police accountability.
Biden took office the following year, and during his term, the Justice Department launched probes into several police departments and produced reports accusing some of systemic misconduct. The agency also reached agreements with officials in Louisville and Minneapolis meant to reshape policing in both places. Both agreements had been submitted to federal judges for approval.
After Trump returned to the White House last year, the Justice Department shifted course. In May 2020, days before the fifth anniversary of Floyd’s death, the agency said it wanted to scuttle the agreements with Louisville and Minneapolis. The department also said it was retracting findings from investigations into some other police departments.
Not long after, the Justice Department also weighed in on another case stemming from Taylor’s death.
In November 2024, near the end of Biden’s term, Brett Hankison, another former Louisville officer, had become the first directly tied to the Taylor raid to be convicted on criminal charges by a jury.
Hankison had faced a maximum sentence of life in prison. But in a highly unusual sentencing memo last summer, the Justice Department expressed skepticism about the prosecution and asked that Hankison be sentenced to one day in prison.
The judge later sentenced him to 33 months behind bars, and Hankison began serving his sentence in October.
Hankison is appealing and asked to be free on bail during that process, with his attorneys writing that while in federal custody, he faced “threats that have required him to be moved to special housing.” The Justice Department sided with Hankison’s request to be free pending appeal.
A three-judge panel with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit agreed in December to release Hankison pending his appeal, writing that the “case is extraordinary” and “presents novel issues.”
The status of another federal case involving a former Louisville officer linked to the Taylor raid remains unclear. Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty in August 2022 to helping falsify the warrant and lying to investigators later.
Goodlett’s sentencing was originally scheduled for November 2022, but it has been delayed multiple times and not taken place. Since last year, several sealed motions and orders have been filed in the case.