DOJ asks judge to drop charges against 2 officers in Breonna Taylor case ‘in the interest of justice’
(ABC NEWS) — The Justice Department on Friday asked a court to drop charges against two former police officers accused of providing false information on a search warrant that led to the fatal 2020 police raid at the apartment of Breonna Taylor.
First bringing charges against the officers in 2022, federal prosecutors alleged that Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany provided false information on the search warrant that allowed police to enter Taylor’s Louisville home. They were also charged with civil rights violations.
In a filing Friday, an attorney with DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, said those charges should be dropped, and said the department has notified Taylor’s family of the move.
A federal judge had twice struck felony charges against the two officers, reducing them to misdemeanors, most recently in 2025.
“The Government undertook a further review of this matter,” according to the filing. “Based on that review, and in the exercise of its discretion, the Government has determined that this case should be dismissed in the interest of justice.”
Whether the remaining charges are ultimately dropped is up to a judge, who has yet to issue a ruling.
Taylor was fatally shot in the 2020 raid that came as plainclothes Louisville officers were serving a warrant searching for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, who they alleged was dealing drugs, but who was not at the apartment.
Officers broke down the door to Taylor’s apartment, and her then-current boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who thought someone was breaking into the home, fired one shot with a handgun, striking an officer in the leg.
Three other officers returned fire, shooting 32 bullets into the apartment.
A former Louisville officer, Brett Hankison, was convicted of a civil rights offense in connection with Taylor’s death during the raid and sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
“The Department of Justice’s move to dismiss these remaining charges is deeply painful for Breonna Taylor’s family and it sends a chilling message about the value of Black lives in our country,” Ben Crump and Lonita Baker, attorneys for the Taylor family, said in a statement.
The attorneys added, “The warrant that sent officers to Breonna’s door has always been at the center of this tragedy and it deserves no less than the highest level of accountability. We cannot accept a reality where a young woman can be killed in her own home, and no one is held responsible under the law. That is not justice. That is injustice compounded.”
