Former Detective In Raid That Killed Breonna Taylor Reportedly Pleads Guilty

Topline

Kelly Goodlett, a former detective with the Louisville Police Department in Kentucky, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of conspiring with another police officer to falsify a search warrant used in the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose death in 2020 helped spark national protests against police violence and racial inequity, the New York Times reported.

Key Facts

The terms of Goodlett’s plea deal were not immediately available, although the former detective was facing a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Goodlett and two other officers were charged earlier this month with federal crimes for violating Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights by falsifying an affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for the no-knock raid, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference — a fourth officer faces was charged with civil rights offenses for excessive force.

The Department of Justice claims Goodlett met with fellow officer Joshua Jaynes in a garage in the aftermath of the shooting to agree on a false story they could use to cover for the false evidence they had submitted to justify the drug investigation that led to the raid — falsely verifying that the target of an alleged drug trafficking operation had received packages at Taylor’s home address, while deliberately misleading state, federal and local authorities investigating the raid.

Key Background

At the time of the raid in March, 2020, Taylor, 26, was asleep with her boyfriend — who fired a handgun at police officers when they entered, suspecting they were intruders — when police fired more than 30 shots at them, killing Taylor. Her name, along with those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbury, became a rallying cry at protests across the country demanding to hold police accountable for disproportionate shootings of people of color, argued to be fueled by years of systemic racism and oppression. Several states and cities have since banned no-knock bans. Four officers involved in Taylor’s death — Goodlett, Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kyle Meany — were charged earlier this month with civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction, according to the Department of Justice. Goodlett resigned from the police department earlier this month after Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields announced plans to fire her, local radio station WFPL reported, making her the latest officer involved in the botched raid to leave the force. Hankison was let go in June, 2020. Three months later, he was charged by a grand jury with wanton endangerment of Taylor’s neighbors in the shooting when shots entered an abutting apartment unit where a pregnant woman, her boyfriend and a 5-year-old were sleeping. He was acquitted in March. The two other officers involved in the raid (Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly), were not indicted in that ruling, and were determined to be “justified in returning fire” at Taylor’s boyfriend. Jaynes, meanwhile, was fired in January, 2021, for violating department procedures when he obtained the search warrant.

What We Don’t Know

Whether any of the three other officers charged in the raid will enter guilty pleas. While three of the officers face charges related to falsifying information, Hankison was charged with civil rights offenses for allegedly using excessive force by firing 10 rounds through a window into Taylor’s home.

Further Reading

Four Louisville Officers Charged By U.S. Over Breonna Taylor’s Killing (Forbes)

Former Louisville officer to plead guilty to Breonna Taylor cover-up (Reuters)

Former Louisville Police Officer Acquitted Of Endangering Breonna Taylor’s Neighbors In Fatal Raid (Forbes)