Federal judge in Kentucky ruled that two police officers accused of tampering with warrants before the fatal raid that killed Breonna Taylor were not responsible for her death, The Associated Press exhibitions. And instead of the fake warrant, U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson said Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was responsible for her death because he shot the officers first — even though he had no idea they were cops.
The ruling came earlier this week in the civil rights lawsuit against former Louisville police detective Joshua Janes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany. The two were not present at the March 2020 raid when Taylor was killed. Instead, in 2022, Attorney General Merrick Garland accused the pair (along with another detective, Kelly Goodlett) of filing a false affidavit to search Taylor's home before the raid and then conspiring to create a “false story … to avoid responsibility' for preparing the fake warrant.
Prosecutors had argued that this fake warrant put Taylor in danger. But Simpson rejected the claim that armed officers who conducted a late-night raid on a no-knock warrant based on fabricated information that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor's apartment had anything to do with her shooting. and was killed. “There is no direct connection between the warrantless entry and Taylor's death,” Simpson wrote.
Instead, he argued that Walker was far more responsible. When the police entered Taylor's apartment, Walker fired, thinking the police were intruders, and struck an officer in the leg. In response, police fired over 30 shots into the apartment, with five or six hitting Taylor.
Simpson ruled that Walker's conduct “became the proximate or legal cause of Taylor's death.” (Walker was briefly arrested and charged with attempted murder of a police officer, but that charge was dropped. In 2022, he settled a $2 million civil lawsuit with the city, accusing the cops of violating his civil rights by not be announced during the execution of the raid.)
“While the indictment alleges that Jaynes and Meany set in motion a series of events that ended in Taylor's death, it also alleges that Walker interrupted those events when he decided to open fire,” Simpson said.
In a statement, Taylor's family said The AP they were “devastated” by the decision and were still “trying to process” the decision. “The only thing we can do at this point is continue to be patient … we will continue to fight until full justice is served for Breonna Taylor,” they said.
Taylor's family also said prosecutors told them they planned to appeal the decision. The Justice Department said it was “reviewing the judge's decision and evaluating next steps.”
For now, the Simpson decision has overturned the DOJ's civil rights case against Jaynes and Meany, reducing the charges to misdemeanors. Jaynes still faces a conspiracy charge, while Meany is accused of making false statements to investigators. Goodlett previously pleaded guilty to the charges against him and is expected to testify against the others.
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