The accidental murder of Breonna Taylor shocked the nation when a group of police officers used a no-knock warrant to shoot through her door while searching for another person. The death led to riots around the nation and demands to end these warrants as unconstitutional. Now Biden’s FBI is taking action directly against the cops involved.
According to Courrier Journal,
Saying “Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that four current and former Louisville Metro Police officers have been federally charged in Taylor’s March 2020 slaying that touched off a firestorm of protest in the city and across the nation.
Former Louisville Metro Police detective Joshua Jaynes, 40, who was fired for lying on the search warrant that led to the deadly 2020 raid at Taylor’s apartment, was taken into custody Thursday morning by the FBI and booked in the Oldham County Detention Center, according to attorney Thomas Clay, who is representing Jaynes.
Sgt. Kyle Meany, 35; Officer Kelly Hanna Goodlett, 35; and former detective Brett Hankison, 46; also were charged in the federal investigation of the March 13, 2020, death of Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician whose name became a rallying cry for protesters during demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism.
The four face different charges related to violating Taylor’s civil rights, including lying on the search warrant, obstructing investigators and, in Hankison’s case, jeoparding Taylor’s neighbors with his reckless gunfire.
Garland announced the indictments during a news conference Thursday at the Department of Justice headquarters.
Here’s Garland’s announcement,
Hankison, Jaynes and Meany all made their first appearance Thursday before Magistrate Judge Regina Edwards and were ordered released on the condition they have no contact with other defendants or victims.
Edwards also ordered them to have no guns in their homes as a condition of their release and set unsecured bonds on all three of $50,000, which they must pay only if they violate the terms of their release.
She ordered Hankison to appear for further proceedings on Sep. 14 and set a trial date of Oct. 13.
LMPD fired Hankison in June 2020 for wantonly shooting into Taylor’s apartment the night she was killed, resulting in several bullets piercing the walls into a neighboring occupied apartment. He was indicted on state charges of wanton endangerment but acquitted by a jury.
Until now, no officers had faced charges for Taylor’s death.
Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, praised the decision to charge the officers at a press conference Thursday morning, saying: “What we’ve been saying was the truth, that they shouldn’t have been there and that Breonna didn’t deserve that.
“Today’s overdue, but it still hurts.”
The death of Breonna Taylor is a tragedy that should have never occurred. Whether you are conservative or liberal, no-knock warrants have obvious risks and even border on being unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. Do you think it’s fair to charge cops when their actions cost the lives of an innocent person?
