Judge Throws Out Charges in Breonna Taylor Case

UPDATE Mar 27, 2026 4:58 PM CDT

A federal judge dismissed charges Friday against two former Louisville police officers accused of falsifying the warrant used to enter Breonna Taylor's apartment the night police shot her to death. US District Judge Charles Simpson issued a one-page ruling throwing out charges against Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, as federal prosecutors had requested, the AP reports. The case was dismissed "with prejudice," per Louisville Public Media, so it cannot be refiled later.

Mar 20, 2026 3:07 PM CDT

Federal prosecutors now want out of a key piece of the Breonna Taylor case. The Justice Department on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss all charges against former Louisville police officers Kyle Meany and Joshua Jaynes, who helped prepare the warrant used in the 2020 raid that ended with Taylor's death, reports the Courier-Journal. Taylor was shot to death in her apartment when police broke down her door while serving a no-knock warrant in the search for a former boyfriend, per the AP.

The officers were charged in 2022 under the Biden administration's Justice Department with falsifying information on the warrant. However, judges twice undercut the prosecution by reducing the most serious felony counts to misdemeanors, ruling there wasn't a direct legal link between the allegedly false warrant and Taylor's death. Instead, they pointed to the chaotic nature of the raid, during which Taylor's ex fired a shot at officers, apparently thinking they were intruders, not police.

Jaynes was fired in 2021 for allegedly lying on the warrant affidavit, while Meany was fired in 2022 after his federal indictment over the same allegation. Another former officer, Brett Hankison, was convicted of civil-rights violations for his actions during the raid (he fired shots in the apartment) and was sentenced to 33 months. However, he was released pending appeal after the DOJ supported his release. A fourth ex-officer, Kelly Goodlett, previously pleaded guilty to helping falsify the warrant affidavit and has yet to be sentenced.