Former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett will plead guilty to federal charges in connection to the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor, reports the Washington Post. She is accused of helping falsify a search warrant and filing a false report to cover it up. The penalty carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Goodlett and her attorney, Brandon Marshall, along with Mike Songer, an attorney representing the Justice Department, confirmed her plea agreement during an online court hearing with Magistrate Judge Regina S. Edwards in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Kentucky on Friday.
Edwards told the former detective to surrender her passport and to have no contact with the other defendants
Ben Crump, the attorney for Taylor's family tweeted, "LMPD Officer Kelly Goodlett will plead GUILTY to federal charges of falsifying a search warrant and filing a false report in an attempt to cover up Breonna Taylor's fatal police shooting! The truth prevails!"The truth prevails!"
Last week, Goodlett resigned from her post in the police department after she and her three former colleagues were charged in connection with Taylor’s death in March 2020. Unlike her colleagues, Goodlett was not indicted but her charges were filed in "sealed information.” According to analysts, this is the procedure when a defendant has agreed to a plea deal with the government.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges against Goodlett and her co-defendants earlier this month, alleging Taylor's rights were violated when Joshua Jaynes, along with Kyle Meany and Goodlett, sought the warrant to search Taylor's home "knowing that the officers lacked probable cause for the search."
"We allege that the defendants knew the affidavit in support of that warrant contained false and misleading information and that it omitted material information," Garland said.
Authorities also allege that Jaynes and Meany "knew the search warrant would be carried out by armed LMPD officers and that conducting that search could create a dangerous situation for anyone who happened to be in Ms. Taylor's home."
Garland said officers "took steps to cover up their unlawful conduct" after her death.
Jaynes and Goodlett allegedly met in a garage weeks after the shooting in May "where they agreed to tell investigators a false story," the attorney general said.
An in-person hearing is set for August 22, 2022 to entertain Goodlett's plea.
Goodlett has been released on a $10,000 bond. She was ordered to relinquish her passport and remove all firearms from her home.
