A federal judge said actions by Breonna Taylor's then-boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, led to her death after he fired at police during a botched 2020 raid, according to a new ruling that lowered the charges of two former Louisville Metro Police officers connected to the fatal shooting.
U.S. District Court Senior Judge Charles Simpson III dismissed felony deprivation of rights under the color of law charges against former detective Joshua Jaynes and former Sgt. Kyle Meany in an order Thursday. The two were federally charged in August 2022 in connection with preparing and approving a search warrant affidavit while, investigators allege, knowing the affidavit contained false and misleading statements, omitted key facts and was not supported by probable cause.
Walker and Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, were inside her South End apartment when plainclothes officers fatally shot her while attempting to serve that search warrant at 12:40 a.m., March 13, 2020, as a part of a narcotics investigation.
When an officer breached the front door to the apartment, Walker — who has said he thought an intruder was breaking in — fired a single shot from a handgun, striking Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg. LMPD officers fired 32 shots in response, with several hitting and killing Taylor.
No drugs were found in her apartment.
Simpson found Walker’s decision to shoot at police was the catalyst behind Taylor’s death, superseding officers’ entry on a warrant that prosecutors have alleged included false information.
Prosecutors are required to prove officers’ entry was the actual cause of Taylor’s death, as well as the proximate cause, meaning her death was “the natural and probable consequence” of what happened. Attorneys for Jaynes and Meany argued Walker’s decision to fire at officers intervened in the natural course of events and should relieve them of “criminal responsibility for Taylor’s death.”
Simpson agreed. In the ruling, Simpson wrote Walker’s decision to shoot at officers became the “legal cause of her death,” even if he didn’t know the people who’d entered the apartment were police.
Additionally, while prosecutors alleged the fatal shooting “involved the use of a dangerous weapon and resulted in Taylor’s death,” the judge ruled officers were using their weapons to return fire against Walker, not to “facilitate, further, or aid in conducting the search itself.”
Though prosecutors argued police had their guns drawn upon entry, the judge said that purpose was “self-protection, not facilitating the allegedly unlawful search.”
More: Key federal charges dropped against former LMPD officers behind Breonna Taylor warrant
Walker was charged with assault and attempted murder of a police officer in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, but those charges were dismissed permanently in March 2021.
In September 2020, Walker filed civil lawsuits in both state and federal court seeking punitive and compensatory damages against the city and several officers involved with the raid. In a settlement with Louisville Metro , Walker received $2 million in late 2022.
Reach reporter Rachel Smith at rksmith@courier-journal.com or on X at @RachelSmithNews . Reach reporter Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com or on X at @LucasAulbach .
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Federal judge: Breonna Taylor's boyfriend responsible for her death, not police
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