Breonna Taylor’s case returned to federal court Friday as prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss the pending charges against two former Louisville officers accused of falsifying a warrant used in the raid that led to Taylor’s death, according to a court filing. The request targets former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany, framing the motion as appropriate after federal prosecutors said their review found the case no longer warranted continued prosecution.
Prosecutors said the charges against Jaynes and Meany should be “dismissed in the interest of justice.” The filing did not set a timeline for when the judge would decide; it noted that a hearing is scheduled for April 3. In the meantime, federal judges had already reduced felony charges against each officer to misdemeanors, and prosecutors previously said after a second reduction that they had decided to drop the cases—leaving Friday’s request as another procedural pivot in the litigation.
Friday’s motion also unfolded against the backdrop of how the original warrant was challenged in earlier rulings. In March 2020, Taylor was shot to death when officers broke down the door of her apartment while serving a no-knock drug warrant, the case described as seeking a former boyfriend who no longer lived there. The boyfriend at the time fired at the officers, and Taylor was killed as police fired back, the filing and reporting said.
Taylor, who was 26 and Black, was killed on March 13, 2020, and the case drew national attention during the wave of racial justice protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis that May. For activists and advocates, Taylor’s killing has remained a cited example of what they argue is systemic injustice affecting Black women, as the case continued through appeals and changing prosecution positions over the years.
After Taylor’s death, federal prosecutors under former President Joe Biden pressed charges against the officers. Under President Donald Trump, prosecutors asked that Brett Hankison, the only officer serving prison time tied to Taylor’s killing, be released while he appeals his conviction, according to the reporting. A federal judge sentenced Hankison to 2 years and nine months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for firing 10 shots into Taylor’s windows on the night she was killed, with prosecutors saying none hit anyone.
The two officers who were not charged with the shooting that killed Taylor were those accused of falsifying the warrant, while neither of the officers who shot Taylor was charged in that part of the case, after prosecutors concluded they were justified in returning fire into the apartment. Police found no drugs or cash inside Taylor’s apartment, and the city paid a $12 million wrongful death settlement to Taylor’s family.
In filings and statements reported by AP, lawyers for Taylor’s family said the warrant used in the raid should receive “heavy legal scrutiny,” arguing that without the warrant police never would have come to Taylor’s door and that the fatal shooting would not have happened. Lawyers Ben Crump and Lonita Baker said in a statement that they remain angry and heartbroken that almost no one faced punishment in the shootings.
Among the officers’ supporters, Travis Lock, an attorney for Jaynes, said, “We are elated with this development.” Michael Denbow, a lawyer for Meany, said he was “incredibly grateful for today’s filing” and added that Meany “is looking forward to putting this matter behind him and moving forward with his life.”
Outside court, Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, said in a Facebook post that she was extremely disappointed in the Justice Department. She wrote that she was told the charges were being dropped while the department implied it had helped her and said she felt the agency had not served her or Breonna well since taking over. Democratic U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, who represents much of Louisville, posted that the decision was an insult to people who had fought for Taylor and said, “My heart is heavy for Breonna’s loved ones — this is not justice,” the report said.