BREAKING NEWS: Ex-Louisville detective pleads guilty to falsifying search warrant that led to Breonna Taylor’s death
Kelly Goodlett, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to helping forge a search warrant that led to the March 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor.Goodlett was one of four former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department detectives indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice on Aug. 4Taylor, 26, was asleep with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020, when police conducted a no-call raid and broke into her apartment.Her boyfriend fired one shot at what he said he thought were intruders. Three police officers responded with 32 shots, six of which struck Taylor, killing herGoodlett was accused of conspiring with Joshua Jaynes, 40, to falsify search warrants and cover up his actions afterward. The trooper also resigned from the Louisville Metro Police Department earlier this month after the charges were announced
A former Louisville detective pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to helping forge a search warrant that led to the killing of Breonna Taylor, a black woman whose death fueled a wave of protests over police violence against people of color.
Kelly Goodlett, 35, entered her plea before U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings in federal court in Louisville, Kentucky, the New York Times reported.
Goodlett was one of four former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department detectives indicted by the US Department of Justice on August 4 for their role in the 2020 attack that killed Taylor at his home.
The charges represented the Justice Department’s latest attempt to crack down on abuses and racial disparities in policing, following a series of high-profile police killings of black Americans across the country.
Taylor’s murder, along with other 2020 murders of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia, among others, sparked outrage and spurred protests that peaked that summer.
Kelly Goodlett, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to helping forge a search warrant that led to the March 2020 killing of Breonna Taylor.
Taylor was a black woman whose death in March 2020 fueled a wave of protests over police violence against people of color
Taylor, a 26-year-old EMS technician, was asleep with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020, when police conducted a no-call raid and broke into her apartment.
Taylor’s boyfriend fired one shot at what he said were intruders. Three police officers responded with 32 shots, six of which struck Taylor, killing her.
Goodlett and an ex-officer, Joshua Jaynes, met days after the shooting at a garage where they agreed to a false story to cover the bogus evidence they had presented to justify the botched attack, prosecutors say.
Goodlett was charged with conspiring with another detective to forge the warrant that led to the raid and then covering up the forgery.
Federal prosecutors also charged Jaynes and current Sergeant Kyle Meany with civil rights violations and obstruction of justice for using false information to obtain the search warrant. A fourth officer, former detective Brett Hankison, was charged with civil rights violations for allegedly using excessive force.
In March, a jury acquitted Hankison of the reckless endangerment charge. Earlier, a grand jury acquitted the other two white officers who shot Taylor but indicted Hankison for endangering neighbors in the adjacent apartment.
A grand jury in the case later said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented only the endangerment charges against Hankison to the grand jury.
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