A former Louisville police detective plans to plead guilty this month to federal charges in the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, whose death in a botched police raid sparked global protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
It would be the first conviction in the case.
The former detective, Kelly Goodlett, her attorney and an attorney representing the Justice Department confirmed her plea agreement during an online court hearing Friday. A hearing was set for Aug. 22. Goodlett was released on a $10,000 bond.
Goodlett was charged this month with helping to falsify a search warrant and then trying to cover it up. She resigned from the Louisville Metro Police Department a day after the Justice Department announced indictments against her and three other current or former officers — former detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison, and Kyle Meany, a sergeant who the police chief sent a termination notice on Monday. According to Justice Department officials, Jaynes, Meany and Goodlett were involved in preparing the warrant for Taylor’s home.
Hankison was fired in 2020, and Jaynes in 2021.
Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot to death during a drug-related investigation shortly after midnight on March 13, 2020. Her death led to months of protests in Louisville and abroad. Police had believed she was holding drugs and money for an ex-boyfriend. No drugs or money were found in her apartment.
Hankison was found not guilty in March on state charges of endangering neighbors the night of the raid.
Hankison had been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing through sliding-glass side doors and a window of Taylor’s apartment, endangering the lives of a pregnant woman, her young child and her boyfriend who lived there, prosecutors said.
Hankison’s attorneys said he fired 10 bullets because he thought his fellow officers were “being executed.”
One of those officers, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who had a license to carry. Walker said he mistook the police officers for intruders. Police said they announced themselves but Walker said he did not hear them identify themselves. He fired a single shot. Police returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times. Myles Cosgrove, the officer who investigators said fired the shot that killed Taylor, was also dismissed from the department.
