LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Department of Justice report, released over two weeks ago, raised concern that Louisville Metro Police (LMPD) officers were going to a handful of judges they believed would rubber stamp their warrants.
The scathing report into the patterns and practices of LMPD and Metro Government revealed that six of 30 judges signed more than half of the warrants the DOJ investigated.
Now, a new policy aims to change that by requiring officers to first bring the warrant to the Court Administrator, who will then assign it to an on-duty circuit court judge.
Sadiqa Reynolds, the outspoken former Louisville Urban League President, and current CEO of the Perception Institute, said seeing that a handful of judges were signing most of the warrants was shocking, but not necessarily surprising.
Given her vast experience working in the law and serving on the bench, she questioned the warrant that led to Breonna Taylor’s arrest early on – before anyone had seen it.
WHAS11 asked her about it.
“I have had a pretty interesting career and it gives me some insight,” Reynolds said. “And the moment that I heard about the Breonna Taylor case, the things I asked about were body camera footage, the warrant, you know, what was found at the residence.”
Her instincts were right.
The warrant was false and was signed by former Circuit Court Judge Mary Shaw.
“I am for progress. I am excited,” Reyolds said about the new policy. “I do not believe Breonna Taylor died in vain.”
Lonita Baker said this step, and others announced since the DOJ report, proves that. But, she wants District Court to implement a similar policy. Baker said more than 90% of warrants are assigned to that court.
“Until all courts may implement similar changes, it's not going to change much,” Baker said. “If it's a search warrant that they need to investigate a murder, they can go to a District Court. So even though that case ultimately will end up in Circuit Court, I don't want the community to be misled to believe that those search warrants have to be signed by a Circuit Court Judge. District Court judges when it comes to signing search warrants and warrants have the same power that Circuit Court judges have.”
Baker said despite the policy, it's important to make sure judges are scrutinizing probable cause - another issue the DOJ reported.
“Breonna Taylor died for no reason at all, and she should still be here had judges, police officers, prosecutor, had been doing what they were supposed to do from the beginning,” Baker said.
Chief Circuit Judge Mitch Perry ordered the policy to take effect Thursday, March 16, 2023.
He said District Court is still providing an on-call judge for search warrant review.
Additionally, a high-ranking court official and a retired judge said a new electronic search warrant program is being piloted in Kentucky.
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