A former detective in Louisville, Kentucky admitted to violating the civil rights of Breonna Taylor by helping to falsify a search warrant of Taylor's apartment, which led to the deadly police raid and Taylor's untimely death, reports CNN.
Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty in federal court before US District Judge Rebecca Grady to one count of conspiracy, admitting that she conspired with another officer to falsify a search warrant and later lied to cover up their act. Because of her guilty plea, Goodlett became the first police officer to be convicted over the March 2020 raid, in which police claimed they were searching for evidence of drug dealing by Taylor’s former boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.
In the plea agreement, Goodlett said she knew the affidavit in support of the warrant falsely claimed that Glover was receiving packages from the US Postal Service at Taylor’s home. She also acknowledged that the officers were aware that the suspect was not living at Taylor’s home and hadn’t visited for several weeks, the DOJ said.
Additionally, Goodlett disclosed that she provided false information to investigators after Taylor’s death to cover up the misleading information contained in the warrant, the DOJ stated.
“First, Goodlett admitted that she knew that the affidavit in support of the warrant to search Taylor’s home was false, misleading, and stale,” the DOJ said in a statement.
“Second, Goodlett admitted that she and the other detective conspired to obstruct justice by providing false information to investigators after Taylor was shot and killed,” the statement continued.
Earlier this month, Goodlett along with three other officers was charged with “submitting a false affidavit to search Taylor’s home without probable cause before the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department’s raid,” and then creating a “false cover story in an attempt to escape responsibility for their roles in preparing the warrant affidavit that contained false information,” according to court documents.
Goodlett is set to testify against her two former colleagues, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany. Another former detective, Brett Hankison is charged in a separate federal indictment, the Louisville-Courier Journal reported.
Previously, Hankison was acquitted on all three counts of felony wanton endangerment in March.
A trial for Jaynes and Meany is scheduled for October 11 and Hankison’s trial is set for October 13.
Goodlett's sentencing is scheduled for November 22.
She faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
