Breonna Taylor death: Former Louisville detective pleads guilty to falsifying affidavit for raid

A former Louisville, Kentucky, detective pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal civil rights charge for allegedly helping to falsify an affidavit for the search that lead to the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.

Former Louisville Metro Police Department Det. Kelly Goodlett appeared in a U.S. District Court in Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon, when she admitted to conspiring with another Louisville police officer to falsify the warrant. Federal investigators said Kelly Goodlett added a false line to the warrant and later conspired with another detective to create a cover story when Taylor’s March 13, 2020, shooting death at the hands of police began gaining national attention.

Goodlett briefly answered several questions from federal judge Rebecca Jennings Grady during her court appearance. She faces a sentence of no more than five years in prison.

She will be sentenced Nov. 22. Grady said there may be “extenuating circumstances” that may move the court to push back the sentencing date. Part of the plea hearing was also kept under seal and was not discussed in open court Tuesday.

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She resigned from the department Aug. 5, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced new federal charges in the Taylor case.

Officers shot Taylor while executing a search warrant at her Louisville apartment just after midnight on March 13, 2020. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door, and police returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times.

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The federal government recently filed civil rights charges against Goodlett and three other co-defendants — Sgt. Kyle Meany and former detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison. Most of the charges stemmed from the faulty drug warrant used to search Taylor’s home.

Hankison, who was acquitted on state charges in March, was the only officer charged who was on the scene the night of the killing. In announcing the new charges in early August, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the police officers who were at Taylor’s home “were not involved in the drafting of the warrant, and were unaware of the false and misleading statements.”

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Goodlett was expected to plead guilty — and testify against her colleagues — because she was charged by information rather than indicted, the Courier Journal reported earlier this month. 

Jaynes and Goodlett allegedly conspired to falsify an investigative document that was written after Taylor’s death, Garland said. Federal officials had filed a separate charge against Goodlett, alleging that she conspired with Jaynes to falsify Taylor’s warrant affidavit.

 

Garland alleged that Jaynes and Goodlett met in a garage in May 2020 “where they agreed to tell investigators a false story.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.