An ex-detective with the Louisville Police Department who contributed to the writing of the search warrant that resulted in the fatal police raid on Breonna Taylor’s apartment has admitted guilt on a federal conspiracy charge.
Federal investigators claim Kelly Goodlett amended the warrant with a fake statement and subsequently teamed up with another officer to concoct a lie after news of Taylor’s police shooting death on March 13, 2020, started to go throughout the country.
During the execution of a narcotics search warrant, cops knocked on Taylor’s door and shot the Black lady, age 26, to death. As the cops entered through the door, Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that struck one of them. The officers then opened fire, hitting Taylor many times.
The 35-year-old Goodlett testified in a federal hearing in Louisville on Tuesday in which he acknowledged planning to forge the warrant with another Louisville police officer. Shortly responding to repeated inquiries from federal judge Rebecca Jennings Grady, Goodlett.
A federal grand jury indicted three former policemen from Louisville earlier this month on felony civil rights allegations. Goodlett was charged in a federal information file rather than in an indictment, which suggests that the former detective is likely working with the authorities.
On November 22, Goodlett will be sentenced. According to Grady, there can be “extenuating circumstances” that would cause the court to reschedule the sentence. It was not addressed in open court on Tuesday because a portion of the plea hearing was also held under wraps. If found guilty, she may spend up to five years in jail.
On August 5, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced further federal charges in the Taylor case, she announced her resignation from the agency.
Charges relating to the warrant used to search Taylor’s house led to the indictment of former police officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany. When Brett Hankison, a third former cop, backed away from Taylor’s door, rounded a corner, and fired 10 rounds into the side of her two-bedroom apartment, he was accused of using excessive force. On comparable state charges earlier this year, he was declared innocent by a jury. Hankison, Meany, and Jaynes have all been let go.
If the three former policemen are found guilty of the civil rights charges, they may get a maximum term of life in prison.