Judge Dismisses Charges Against Two Former Cops Involved In Breonna Taylor's Murder

BYGabriel Bras Nevares2.3K Views
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Remembrance Event Held In Louisville To Mark Breonna Taylor's 28th Birthday
LOUISVILLE, KY - JUNE 05: Protesters and volunteers prepare a Breonna Taylor art installation by laying posters and flowers before the "Praise in the Park" event at the Big Four Lawn on June 5, 2021 in Louisville, Kentucky. The event commemorated what would have been Breonna Taylor’s 28th birthday. Taylor was a Black woman killed by police during a botched drug raid on her apartment on March 13, 2020, which sparked nationwide protests. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Neither officer was present at the Breonna Taylor raid, but they were charged with submitting a false affidavit for it.

The Breonna Taylor case just got a massive update, as federal U.S. District Court Judge Charles Simpson reportedly dismissed charges against two former police officers involved in the raid on her house in which cops murdered her. Former detective Joshua Jaynes and former officer Kyle Meany were charged with "submitting a false affidavit" back in 2022, which is what prompted the raid in the first place. Also, they faced accusations of fabricating a "false cover story in an attempt to escape responsibility for their roles" in designing the search warrant with "false information." These initial charges reportedly could've resulted in life sentences. According to TMZ, neither officer was there during the raid.

Furthermore, on Thursday (August 22), Judge Simpson reportedly claimed that this search warrant did not cause Breonna Taylor's death. Rather, Simpson attributed her murder to her boyfriend Kenneth Walker and how he shot at officers, and characterized this as the "legal cause" of her death. "There is no direct link between the warrantless entry and Taylor’s death," the ruling reportedly reads. "Taylor’s death was proximately caused by the manner in which the warrant was executed.

Judge Dismisses Charges Against Cops Involved In Breonna Taylor's Murder

"[Kenneth Walker’s] decision to open fire, as alleged and argued, was the natural and probable consequence of executing the warrant at 12:45 a.m. on 'an unsuspecting household,'" the ruling reportedly continued concerning Breonna Taylor. "That decision prompted the return fire, which hit and killed Taylor." Per TMZ, former detective Jaynes still faces "two counts of falsification of records, conspiracy to falsify records, and witness tampering" charges in this case. On the other hand, Meany faces "one charge of [making a] false statement to federal investigators." He and Jaynes could serve up to five and 40 years respectively if found guilty.

"Louisville police is different,” EST Gee shared last year. “You know how n***as teach them to not like the police? I don’t want to say his name. He was involved in the Breonna Taylor s**t, one of the police officers. When I was little, he walked [into] a group of us home at gunpoint, on my granny. She lived in Turtle Creek. One of the dudes from the Breonna Taylor [murder]. So I had my own experience early. The police, they ain’t never helped me."

About The Author
Gabriel Bras Nevares is a staff writer for HotNewHipHop. He joined HNHH while completing his B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communication at The George Washington University in the summer of 2022. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Gabriel treasures the crossover between his native reggaetón and hip-hop news coverage, such as his review for Bad Bunny’s hometown concert in 2024. But more specifically, he digs for the deeper side of hip-hop conversations, whether that’s the “death” of the genre in 2023, the lyrical and parasocial intricacies of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle, or the many moving parts of the Young Thug and YSL RICO case. Beyond engaging and breaking news coverage, Gabriel makes the most out of his concert obsessions, reviewing and recapping festivals like Rolling Loud Miami and Camp Flog Gnaw. He’s also developed a strong editorial voice through album reviews, think-pieces, and interviews with some of the genre’s brightest upstarts and most enduring obscured gems like Homeboy Sandman, Bktherula, Bas, and Devin Malik.
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