Protesters participate in the Good Trouble Tuesday march for Breonna Taylor, on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Louisville, Ky.
Amy Harris/Invision/AP/Invision
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Amy Harris/Invision/AP/Invision
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Friday, federal prosecutors requested that a judge drop charges against two Louisville officers accused of fabricating the warrant that led to the police raid on Breonna Taylor’s apartment, resulting in her death six years ago.
In a court document, prosecutors stated that after reviewing the case, they believe charges against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany should be dismissed “in the interest of justice.”
Previously, judges had downgraded a felony charge against each officer to a misdemeanor, noting there was no direct connection between the false information in the warrant and Taylor’s death. Following the second ruling, prosecutors opted to drop the case.
“We are elated with this development,” commented Travis Lock, Jaynes’s attorney.
Michael Denbow, Meany’s lawyer, expressed gratitude for the day’s filing, adding that Meany is eager to move past the matter and continue with his life.
Breonna Taylor, aged 26, was fatally shot by police as they broke into her apartment under a no-knock drug warrant in search of a former boyfriend who was no longer living there.
Taylor’s boyfriend at the time fired at the officers, and Taylor was killed as police returned fire.
Her death on March 13, 2020, and the local response to how Louisville handled the case, attracted national attention amid racial justice protests following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis that May. Six years later, activists continue to highlight Taylor’s case as an example of systemic injustice faced by Black women.
Federal prosecutors during President Joe Biden’s administration filed charges against the officers. However, under President Donald Trump, the Department of Justice requested that Brett Hankison, the only officer imprisoned for actions related to Taylor’s death, be released from prison while he appeals his conviction.
On Facebook, Taylor’s mother, Tamkia Palmer, expressed her profound disappointment with Trump’s Justice Department.
Palmer wrote, “Their phone call today informing me that charges against the police are being dropped while implying they have helped me is utterly disrespectful. This is the first time I’ve heard from them since they took over, and it’s clear they have not served me or Breonna well.”
A federal judge sentenced Hankison to two years and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for firing 10 shots into Taylor’s windows on the night of her death. None of the shots hit anyone.
The two officers who fired the shots that killed Taylor were not charged, as prosecutors determined their return fire was justified.
No drugs or cash were discovered in Taylor’s apartment. The city provided her family with a $12 million wrongful death settlement.
