LOUISVILLE, KY — A federal judge has dismissed all remaining charges against two former Louisville police officers accused of providing false information on a no-knock search warrant that led to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020.
U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson signed an order on Friday, March 27, dismissing the charges against Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany with prejudice, meaning federal prosecutors cannot bring the same charges against them again using the same evidence. Both Jaynes and Meany were involved in drafting the search warrant used in the botched raid that killed Taylor, 26, in March 2020.
The dismissal came a week after federal prosecutors asked Simpson to dismiss the charges "in the interest of justice." It was an expected yet notable development in the federal case against the former Louisville police officers, which began in 2022.
Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Justice has tried to pause or drop many civil rights cases started under the previous administration. Though Meany and Jaynes were not present during the shooting, both were accused by federal prosecutors of neglecting necessary steps to obtain the warrant for Taylor's apartment.
