A former Louisville police officer has pleaded guilty to helping falsify the affidavit behind the search warrant that led to the death of Breonna Taylor—and to conspiring to cover up the lie. Kelly Hanna Goodlett, 35, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to violate Taylor's civil rights, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Goodlett, who is expected to testify against her former colleagues, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She will be sentenced on Nov. 22. Goodlett resigned from the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department after the charge against her was announced earlier this month.
Goodlett is the first former officer to be convicted in connection with the March 2020 raid on Taylor's apartment, the New York Times reports. Goodlett admitted that she misled a judge by falsely claiming that Taylor's ex-boyfriend, convicted drug dealer Jamarcus Glover, was receiving packages at her address, per the Courier-Journal. Prosecutors said former detective Joshua Jaynes, who drew up the warrant, claimed a postal inspector had verified the information, but Goodlett knew this was false. Two months after the raid, Goodlett and Jaynes met in a garage to "get on the same page" and come up with a cover story after a postal inspector denied verifying their claim, prosecutors said.
When officers on a "no-knock warrant" granted partly on the basis of false information provided to the judge burst into Taylor's home, her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, believing they were intruders, fired a shot. Taylor, 26, was killed when officers returned fire. Jaynes and Kyle Meany, another officer charged with violating Taylor's civil rights, will go on trial in October. Attorney General Merrick Garland has said the two officers who shot Taylor will not face federal charges because they were "not involved in the drafting of the warrant and were unaware of the false and misleading statements that it contained." (More Breonna Taylor stories.)
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