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New federal charges filed against 2 ex-officers in Breonna Taylor case after previous counts were thrown out
Federal prosecutors filed a new indictment Tuesday against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant that led police to Breonna Taylor’s door before they fatally shot her.
The Justice Department’s superseding indictment comes weeks after a federal judge threw out major felony charges against former Louisville Police Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany.
The new indictment includes additional allegations about how the former officers allegedly falsified the affidavit for the search warrant.
It says they both knew the affidavit they used to obtain the warrant to search Taylor’s home contained information that was false, misleading and out of date, omitted “material information” and knew it lacked the necessary probable cause.
The indictment says if the judge who signed the warrant had known that “key statements in the affidavit were false and misleading,” she would not have approved it “and there would not have been a search at Taylor’s home.”
Attorney Thomas Clay, who represents Jaynes, said the new indictment raises “new legal arguments, which we are researching to file our response.” An attorney for Meany did not immediately respond to a message for comment late Tuesday.
Federal charges against Jaynes and Meany were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022. Garland accused Jaynes and Meany, who were not present at the raid, of knowing they falsified part of the warrant and put Taylor in a dangerous situation by sending armed officers to her apartment.
When police carrying a drug warrant broke down Taylor’s door in March 2020, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a shot that struck an officer in the leg. Walker said he believed an intruder was bursting in. Officers returned fire, striking and killing Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in her hallway.
In August, U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson declared that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend were the legal cause of her death, not a bad warrant.
Simpson wrote that “there is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death.” Simpson’s ruling effectively reduced the civil rights violation charges against Jaynes and Meany, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison, to misdemeanors.
The judge declined to dismiss a conspiracy charge against Jaynes and another charge against Meany, who is accused of making false statements to investigators.
In November 2023, a mistrial was declared in the civil rights trial of a third former Louisville police officer in the case, ex-detective Brett Hankison, after jurors failed to reach a verdict on two counts of deprivation of rights. Hankison was accused of firing 10 rounds through Taylor’s bedroom window and sliding glass door.
In August 2022, a fourth former Louisville officer in the case, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to a federal count of conspiracy. Goodlett helped write the warrant that led to the deadly raid.
In 2021, in response to the Taylor case, Kentucky enacted a law which limits when police can use no-knock warrants.
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Missed the VP debate last night? Watch a full replay of the Vance-Walz showdown here
For more than 90 minutes on live TV, the 2024 vice presidential nominees, Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, sparred over a wide range of issues in the first and only VP debate of the campaign, hosted by CBS News. If you missed the debate Tuesday night, you can watch a replay of the full broadcast in the video player above.
The two candidates faced questions from moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan about the economy, immigration, abortion rights, the conflict in the Middle East, climate change, health care, housing costs and more — and offered sometimes sharply different visions for the nation’s future.
Immediately following the debate, CBS News surveyed voters nationwide who reported watching it in order to get their reaction. They were almost evenly divided over who they thought won — 42% said Vance and 41% said Walz, while 17% considered it a tie. A large majority, 88%, said they thought the tone of the debate was generally positive.
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6 highlights from the Walz-Vance VP debate
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Highlights from JD Vance-Tim Walz vice presidential debate
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