Hankison trial: What's happening with other LMPD officers charged in Breonna Taylor raid?
Going into Thursday, the jury in the federal trial of former Louisville Metro Police Officer Brett Hankison has been deliberating for more than two days about whether he violated the civil rights of Breonna Taylor and others with the gunshots he fired in the botched raid.
And when that verdict arrives − assuming there's not a hung jury − two of the four federal cases against Louisville police officers over the 2020 raid that killed Taylor will have been settled.
Charges against Hankison and three other officers were announced by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Aug. 4 of last year, with Garland saying "Breonna Taylor should be alive today."
Here’s where those other cases stand:
Joshua Jaynes: Deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy, falsification of records
Former LMPD Detective Joshua Jaynes, who drafted the warrant affidavit for Taylor’s apartment, was charged with three offenses related to violating Taylor’s civil rights and obstructing investigators.
Prosecutors said Jaynes knowingly included false information in the warrant application he drafted and knew the warrant was not supported by probable cause.
In the warrant affidavit, Jaynes wrote that he had verified through a U.S. Postal Inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend — the target of the investigation that saw police come to her apartment — was having packages delivered to her apartment.
After a postal inspector told WDRB-TV that LMPD did not verify whether Taylor’s ex-boyfriend was receiving packages at her home, prosecutors said Jaynes and former LMPD Detective Kelly Goodlett got together in his garage to come up with a cover story.
Jaynes is awaiting trial.
Deprivation of rights under color of law carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if the violation results in death or involves an attempt to kill. The falsification of records charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, and the conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Jaynes was fired from LMPD in January 2021 for including untruthful information in trying to obtain a warrant for Taylor’s apartment.
Kelly Goodlett: Conspiracy
In August 2022, LMPD Detective Kelly Goodlett was charged with one count of conspiracy for working with Jaynes to put false information in the warrant for Taylor’s apartment, meeting up with Jaynes to come up with a cover story and later lying to investigators.
According to prosecutors, Jaynes had previously told Goodlett that there was no evidence Taylor’s ex-boyfriend was receiving packages at her apartment. Knowing this, prosecutors said, Goodlett did not change the statement in the draft warrant affidavit nor did she object to it.
Additionally, prosecutors said she added a paragraph to the warrant affidavit saying detectives had verified through databases that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend listed her apartment as his “current home address.”
Prosecutors said she later met with Jaynes in his garage to “get on the same page because they could both go down for putting false information” in the warrant affidavit.
Within weeks of being charged, Goodlett pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal. She is currently awaiting sentencing and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Goodlett resigned from LMPD after being federally charged. She is expected to be a star witness in the trial of Jaynes and Kyle Meany.
Kyle Meany: Deprivation of rights under color of law, making false statements to federal investigators
According to a federal indictment, Meany approved the warrant application for Taylor’s home “knowing that the affidavit contained false and misleading statements, omitted material information, relied on stale information, and was not supported by probable cause.”
Federal prosecutors further allege Meany lied to an FBI agent when he told them a no-knock warrant was requested for Taylor’s apartment after LMPD’s SWAT unit asked for it.
Former LMPD Chief Erika Shields terminated Meany two weeks after he was federally charged, saying his conduct “adversely affected the morale, operations and/or efficiency of the department.”
Meany is awaiting trial.
Deprivation of rights under color of law carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if the violation results in death or involves an attempt to kill. The false statement charge carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Reach reporter Josh Wood at jwood@courier-journal.com or on Twitter at @JWoodJourno.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Brett Hankison trial: What's happening in other Breonna Taylor cases?
