Kelly Goodlett, the former Louisville detective that helped write the warrant that led to the deadly police raid, pleaded guilty.
Two years after Breonna Taylor's death, former Louisville Metro Police Department detective Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to a felony conspiracy charge in federal court. Goodlett becomes the first officer convicted for their role in the deadly 2020 raid on Taylor’s home.
The 26-year-old EMT was killed in her home by Louisville Metro Police on March 13, 2020. Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in their home when police made a late-night raid with a drug search warrant at the wrong address. Walker fired a shot that hit one of the officers coming through the door, and they returned fire, shooting Taylor eight times.
Last year, a judge permanently dismissed charges against Walker for allegedly shooting and wounding a police officer last year. In September, the city of Louisville agreed to pay $12 million to Taylor's family and institute police reform in the family's wrongful death suit.
On Tuesday, Goodlett appeared in a federal courtroom in Louisville, answering several questions from federal judge Rebecca Jennings Grady. The former detective is one of four ex-Louisville officers indicted on criminal civil rights charges earlier this month by a federal grand jury. Goodlett was not indicted but charged in a federal information filing.
According to the Associated Press, federal investigators said Goodlett helped mislead a judge into wrongly authorizing a raid of Taylor’s apartment by adding a false line to the warrant. Court records say that former officer Joshua Jaynes, who drew up the Taylor warrant, had claimed to Goodlett that he had "verified" from a postal inspector that a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor's apartment. Goodlett knew this was false and told Jaynes the warrant did not yet have enough information connecting Taylor to criminal activity, prosecutors said. According to the court records, Goodlett added a "misleading" claim to the warrant saying the suspected drug dealer, Taylor's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, was using Taylor’s apartment as his current address.
Jaynes and Goodlett later conspired to create a cover story when Taylor's death began gaining national attention.
The detective resigned from the Louisville Metro Police department on Aug. 5, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new federal charges in the Taylor case.
Goodlett faces up to five years in prison for the conviction and is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 22. Judge Grady said there may be "extenuating circumstances" that may move the court to push back the sentencing date.
Jaynes, Kyle Meany and Brett Hankison were also indicted on charges related to the warrant used to search Taylor's home, including various civil rights violations, conspiracy, use of force offenses and obstruction. In a separate indictment, Hankison was charged with using excessive force when he retreated from Taylor's door, turned a corner and fired 10 shots into the side of her two-bedroom apartment. He was acquitted by a jury on similar state charges earlier this year.
Jaynes, Meany and Hankison have all been fired and face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted on the civil rights charges.
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