By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
- The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a motion to dismiss all federal charges against two former Louisville Metro Police Department officers linked to the warrant used in the Breonna Taylor raid.
- The motion requests dismissal “with prejudice,” meaning the charges cannot be refiled if approved by a judge.
- The officers, former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany, had been accused of providing false information to obtain the search warrant used in the 2020 raid.
- Previous rulings reduced or dismissed more serious felony civil rights counts in the case, narrowing the prosecution’s case.
- A federal judge has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss.
LOUISVILLE, KY — The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday asked a federal judge to dismiss all remaining federal criminal charges against two former Louisville Metro Police Department officers accused of falsifying information used to obtain the search warrant in the fatal 2020 Breonna Taylor raid, according to court filings.
AP
The motion, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, seeks dismissal of the case against former Detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany “with prejudice,” meaning the charges could not be refiled if the judge approves the request.
Jaynes and Meany had been indicted on federal civil rights and related charges tied to allegations they provided and approved false or misleading information in a warrant affidavit that preceded the police entry into Breonna Taylor’s Louisville apartment, where she was shot and killed by officers during a narcotics investigation on March 13, 2020.
Federal judges previously dismissed or reduced the more serious felony counts against the two officers, ruling prosecutors had not established a direct legal link between the alleged false information and Taylor’s death, leaving only lesser charges.
The latest motion argues that dismissing the case is “in the interest of justice,” but a judge has yet to rule on the request.