A federal judge tossed charges against two Louisville police officers who killed Breonna Taylor in 2020, dismissing claims that they attempted to search her home, and ultimately shot her, on a falsified warrant — shifting the blame to her boyfriend instead.
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson wrote that the actions of Kenneth Walker, who shot at officers when they broke down the door to Taylor’s home after they failed to identify themselves — leading him to believe they were intruders — were the legal cause of death for Taylor.
Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and Seargent Kyle Meany were charged in 2022 by the Department of Justice for submitting a false affidavit before the search, then colluding to concoct a “false cover story in an attempt to escape responsibility,” per court documents obtained by CNN.
“While the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set off a series of events that ended in Taylor’s death, it also alleges that (Walker) disrupted those events when he decided to open fire,” Judge Simpson wrote in the ruling. Charges in a separate case against Walker were dropped after attorneys argued he believed he was shooting at a home intruder, not law enforcement.
“There is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death,” the judge wrote, while a separate Louisville officer involved in the shooting is set for retrial in October for endangering Taylor and others when he shot recklessly into her window.
Taylor’s death, which occurred while she was asleep inside her home, spawned months of nationwide protests as the officers evaded accountability in the immediate aftermath. While one officer connected with the killing pleaded guilty, a $2 million settlement from the city of Louisville remains the only justice won for Taylor.