DETECTIVE KELLY GOODLETT ADMITS TO FALSIFYING WARRANT THAT LED TO BREONNA TAYLOR’S DEATH
On Tuesday, Kelly Goodlett, a former Louisville Metro Police Department Detective, pleaded guilty to conspiring crimes that led to Breonna Taylor’s police killing.
Kelly pleaded guilty in front of U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings in a federal court in Louisville, Kentucky. She admitted that she and another retired LMPD detective, Joshua Jayne, were involved in the conspiracy of two federal crimes that resulted in a deadly raid in March 2020.
The first crime was the fabrication of an affidavit to get a search warrant against Breonna, a 26 years old Black woman. There was no probable cause for searching Taylor’s home otherwise. According to their false claims, they verified with a U.S postal inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend had been delivering some packages to her home. Later, Match 16, 2020 the inspector denied this claim in front of the media.
She also admitted that the affidavit claim of J.G (Taylor’s ex-boyfriend and a drug dealer) using her home as his current address was false and misleading and that they knew J.G never visited Taylor for several weeks. According to Kelly’s plead, there was no valid reason for a no-knock raid at Taylor’s home.
In result, Breonna Taylor was fatally shot eight times when seven police officers forced entry into Breonna’s home in this drug dealing case investigation. Additionally, Kelly admitted that after Breonna was shot dead, both detectives lied to criminal investigators covering up the falsification of the search warrant. They obstructed justice by providing the investigators with a false investigation letter.
Goodlet’s plea also included information about a garage meeting between her and the other detective where they agreed on repeating the same false story during further investigations and in front of the media.
Kelly Goodlett will be the first police officer convicted of a botched raid. Upon sentencing, the 35 year old could possibly face five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and a three-year term of supervised release.
Courier Journal in Louisville reported that a sentencing hearing would be held on 21st November. However, Grady said there are chances of the sentencing date being postponed due to extenuating circumstances. The newspaper also reported that Kelly, who appeared with Brandon Marshall as her attorney, was ordered to surrender her passport.
Along with Kelly, four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers have also been facing federal civil rights charges for the illegal and falsified deadly raid. The LMPD sergeant Kyle Meany, former detective Brett Hankison, and former detective Joshua Jaynes have all been indicted by federal grand juries. Jaynes and Meany are charged with four counts, including knowingly using false and incomplete information to get Taylor’s home search warrant and allowing armed officers to conduct the search.
