Former police detective Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty Tuesday to falsifying the search warrant that led to the killing of Breonna Taylor in March of 2020.
Goodlett pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to violate the civil rights of Taylor, admitting she and another officer forged a search warrant application and later lied about it while trying to cover up the raid.
She is one of four former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department detectives charged by the US Justice Department for their involvement in the raid, which left Taylor, 26, dead in her home.
Goodlett’s guilty plea is the first conviction stemming from Taylor’s death, according to the New York Times, which first reported her guilty plea Tuesday.
Taylor was asleep in her apartment with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020 when police conducted a no-knock raid and charged into her apartment. Taylor’s boyfriend, believing the cops were intruders, fired a single shot.
The three cops who broke in responded with 32 shots, of which six struck Taylor, ultimately killing her.
Taylor’s death, along with other 2020 killings like those of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, sparked intense outrage globally, and prompted massive protests against police violence toward people of color.
Prosecutors say that Goodlett and one of her former colleagues, Joshua Jaynes, met days after the fatal shooting and came up with a false story to cover up the fake evidence they had submitted to justify the raid.
Federal prosecutors also charged Jaynes and another colleague, current Sergeant Kyle Meany, with civil rights violations and obstruction of justice. Another officer, former Detective Brett Hankison, was charged with civil rights violations for excessive force.
In March, Hankison was acquitted on a charge of wanton endangerment. A grand jury had previously cleared the other two officers who shot Taylor, but charged Hankison for endangering neighbors in a neighboring apartment.
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