Background Circle Background Circle
Former Louisville cop pleads guilty to lying on Breonna Taylor search warrant

Former Louisville cop pleads guilty to lying on Breonna Taylor search warrant

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Louisville police detective who helped falsify the warrant that led to the deadly police raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.

Federal investigators said Kelly Goodlett added a false line to the warrant and later conspired with another detective to create a cover story when Taylor’s March 13, 2020, shooting death by police began gaining national attention.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot to death by officers who knocked down her door while executing a drug search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door and they returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times.

Goodlett, 35, appeared in a federal courtroom in Louisville on Tuesday afternoon and admitted to conspiring with another Louisville police officer to falsify the warrant. Goodlett briefly answered several questions from federal judge Rebecca Jennings Grady.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was in the courtroom Tuesday but did not speak after the proceedings.

Three former Louisville officers were indicted on criminal civil rights charges earlier this month by a federal grand jury. Goodlett was not indicted, but charged in a federal information filing, which likely means the former detective is cooperating with investigators.

Goodlett will be sentenced Nov. 22. Grady said there may be “extenuating circumstances” that may move the court to push back the sentencing date. Part of the plea hearing was also kept under seal and was not discussed in open court Tuesday. She faces up to five years in prison for the conviction.

She resigned from the department Aug. 5, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new federal charges in the Taylor case.

Former officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany were indicted on charges related to the warrant used to search Taylor’s home. A third former officer, Brett Hankison, was charged with using excessive force when he retreated from Taylor’s door, turned a corner and fired 10 shots into the side of her two-bedroom apartment. He was acquitted by a jury on similar state charges earlier this year. Jaynes, Meany and Hankison have all been fired.

The three former officers face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the civil rights charges.

Federal prosecutors said in court records that Jaynes, who drew up the Taylor warrant, had claimed to Goodlett days before the warrant was served that he had “verified” from a postal inspector that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor’s apartment. But Goodlett knew this was false and told Jaynes the warrant did not yet have enough information connecting Taylor to criminal activity, prosecutors said. She added a paragraph saying the suspected drug dealer, Jamarcus Glover, was using Taylor’s apartment as his current address, according to the court records.

Two months later, when the Taylor shooting was attracting national headlines, the postal inspector told a media outlet he had not verified packages for Glover were going to Taylor’s apartment. Jaynes and Goodlett then met in Jaynes’ garage to “get on the same page” before Jaynes talked to investigators about the Taylor warrant, court records said.

They decided to say Sgt. John Mattingly, who is identified in the court records as J.M., told them Glover was receiving packages at Taylor’s home, according to prosecutors. Mattingly was shot in the leg during the raid at Taylor’s apartment.

Meany, who signed off on the Taylor warrant and was still a Louisville police sergeant when he was indicted on Aug. 4, was fired by Louisville Police Chief Erika Shields on Friday.

Shields said in a statement that Meany has not yet had his case heard by a jury, but “he is facing multiple federal charges after a lengthy investigation by the DOJ” and should not “expect continued employment under such conditions.”

Hankison was the only officer charged who was on the scene the night of the killing.

Source link

Related Posts
Leadership Highlight: DeShawn Burrell the Basileus of Zeta Phi Beta’s Grad Chapter in Louisville
Leadership Highlight: DeShawn Burrell the Basileus of Zeta Phi Beta’s Grad Chapter in Louisville

In an effort to highlight the people who are leading graduate chapters across the nation, we at Watch The Yard Read more

How to spot a liar | Pamela Meyer
How to spot a liar | Pamela Meyer

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. On any given Read more

Black Kentucky Cop Fed Up With Racism On The Force Fired After Giving ‘Sensitive’ Intel To BLM Protesters
Black Kentucky Cop Fed Up With Racism On The Force Fired After Giving ‘Sensitive’ Intel To BLM Protesters

A Black police officer has been fired from the Lexington Police Department after an investigation found he provided information to a Read more

12-Year-Old Atlanta Boy Found Shot To Death In Woods Near Home, Family Pleads For Answers
12-Year-Old Atlanta Boy Found Shot To Death In Woods Near Home, Family Pleads For Answers

The family of a 12-year-old boy has been pleading with the Atlanta community for help in searching for the person responsible Read more

This Louisville Podcaster Seeks To Highlight The Humanity In Historical Figures
This Louisville Podcaster Seeks To Highlight The Humanity In Historical Figures

Podcaster Jermaine Fowler transports his listeners to the Antebellum South -- where the pounding of hooves and taunting barks of Read more

Daughter of NYPD cop says her dad wrote no such letter implicating police in Malcolm X’s assassination
Daughter of NYPD cop says her dad wrote no such letter implicating police in Malcolm X’s assassination

Update (February 27, 2021): One week following the release of a letter allegedly written by deceased former NYPD officer Raymond Wood, implicating Read more

Georgia teacher faces backlash after blaming Breonna Taylor for her own death during virtual class
Georgia teacher faces backlash after blaming Breonna Taylor for her own death during virtual class

Georgia high school teacher, Susan McCoy is facing backlash after she told her students Breonna Taylor caused her own death Read more

Black Cop Fired After Being Heard Saying ‘N****s’ During Arrest, Police Chief Says He Could Damage Image Of Officers Everywhere
Black Cop Fired After Being Heard Saying ‘N****s’ During Arrest, Police Chief Says He Could Damage Image Of Officers Everywhere

A Black Tampa, Florida police officer Delvin White was fired from his job this week after a random body camera audit Read more

Unlike Pluto – Everything Black (feat. Mike Taylor) [Official Lyric Video]
Unlike Pluto – Everything Black (feat. Mike Taylor) [Official Lyric Video]

🔥 Unlike Pluto - Everything Black (feat. Mike Taylor) 🔥 ↪︎https://monstercat.lnk.to/EverythingBlack Trap Nation on Apple Music: https://apple.co/2AcAWz7 🎶 More from Read more

Pacific Rim: The Black – Official Anime Trailer (2021) Netflix
Pacific Rim: The Black – Official Anime Trailer (2021) Netflix

Here's the official trailer for Pacific Rim: The Black, which will premiere on Netflix on March 4, 2021. There was Read more

Kentucky Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend, Kenneth Walker
Kentucky Judge Dismisses Criminal Case Against Breonna Taylor’s Boyfriend, Kenneth Walker

Update (March  9, 2021):  A Kentucky judge has decided to permanently close the criminal case against Kenneth Walker, the boyfriend of Read more

The Most Searched: A Celebration of Black History Makers
The Most Searched: A Celebration of Black History Makers

This Black History Month, we’re celebrating some of #TheMostSearched moments and individuals in America. To find them, we used U.S.-based Read more