LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking to appeal a federal judge's dismissal of felony charges against two former Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers charged in the raid at Breonna Taylor's apartment in 2020.
Back in August, a federal judge dismissed some of the most serious charges against Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany.
Jaynes was a detective in the Place-Based Investigations (PBI) unit, and Meany was a Sergeant in the unit. Jaynes wrote the warrant to search Taylor's apartment, which the government alleges contained false information. Meany approved that warrant.
The government had originally charged both men with a felony for "deprivation of rights under a color of law". That crime is punishable in federal court by a potential life sentence.
Judge Charles Simpson ruled on Aug. 22 that the government had not shown that Jaynes and Meany themselves used a weapon to carry out the crime of shooting Taylor, and thus stripped the indictment of its felony charges.
Simpson said the warrant execution team's "primary goal was self-protection and not facilitating the unlawful search."
On Friday, the DOJ filed a motion to appeal the judge's dismissal. The government didn't list any new arguments in its appeal.
Both Meany and Jaynes are still facing several other federal charges, which hold penalties of up to 12 months in prison.
“The only thing we can do at this point is continue to be patient," Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, previously said in a statement on Aug. 23. "The appeal will extend the life of the case but as we’ve always maintained, we will continue to fight until we get full justice for Breonna Taylor.”
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.
