Judge Clears Former Police Officers of Key Felony Charges In Breonna Taylor’s Death

A federal judge dismissed the most serious charges against two ex-Louisville officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.

(Left) Louisville Police Det. Joshua Jaynes. (Right) Sgt. Kyle Meany of the Louisville Metro Police Department testifies in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 23, 2022. Louisville Police via AP; Timothy D. Easley/Pool via AP Photo

A federal judge has dismissed the most serious charges against two former Louisville police officers accused of falsifying the search warrant that played a key role in a sequence of events culminating in the fatal shooting of Louisville resident Breonna Taylor in her apartment in 2020.

U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled on Aug. 22 to eliminate a key part of count one of the indictments against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and Louisville Sgt. Kyle Meany, which accused them of depriving Taylor of her constitutional protections against unreasonable search—Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law (18 U.S.C. § 242)—with an enhancement alleging the use of a dangerous weapon causing death.

Jaynes and Meany were both accused of knowingly providing or endorsing false information in an application for a “no-knock” warrant to search Taylor’s home, a move that set in motion the events leading to her death.

 The deprivation-of-rights charge normally carries a fine of up to a year in prison, but the enhancement—a sentence in the indictment stating that “the offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon and resulted in Taylor’s death”—elevated the charge to a felony punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty.

Simpson’s decision to strike down the enhancement was based on the finding that the most direct, and legal, cause of Taylor’s death was her boyfriend’s decision to fire at the officers conducting the raid, prompting them to return fire, killing Taylor.

Taylor, a 26-year-old medical worker, was shot and killed by police in March 2020 during a raid at her apartment. Officers were investigating a man suspected of drug trafficking who had previously dated Taylor. Police believed the man was using Taylor’s apartment to receive illicit packages, although no drugs were found at her home.