Protesters gather in downtown Louisville, Ky., on March 13, 2021.Xavier Burrell/The New York Times News Service
A former Louisville, Kentucky, police officer will plead guilty to helping falsify a search warrant in the botched 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor, in a case that sparked nationwide protests, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing the officer’s lawyer.
The officer, Kelly Goodlett, was one of four former and current Louisville Metropolitan Police Department detectives charged by the U.S. Justice Department on Aug. 4 for their involvement in the March 13, 2020, raid that killed Taylor in her home.
Goodlett was charged with conspiring with another detective to falsify the warrant and then cover up the falsification.
Former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department Detective Joshua Jaynes and current Sergeant Kyle Meany were charged with civil rights violations and obstruction of justice for using false information to obtain the search warrant.
A fourth officer, former Detective Brett Hankison, was charged with civil rights violations for allegedly using excessive force, U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said.
The charges represented the Justice Department’s latest attempt to crack down on abuses and racial disparities in policing, following a wave of controversial police killings of Black Americans.
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