It’s been two years since Breonna Taylor was brutally gunned down in her home after law enforcement officials entered using a botched search warrant. Yesterday (Aug. 23), Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Kelly Hanna Goodlett admitted to falsifying records that ultimately led to Taylor’s death.
Thirty-five-year-old Goodlett pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings to one count of conspiring to violate Taylor’s civil rights. Goodlett faces up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. She is expected to be sentenced on Nov. 22. Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, was present for the hearing. Judge Jennings ordered Goodlett to surrender her passport and she is not allowed to have contact with any of her co-defendants. Sources say she took a plea agreement, some of which remains sealed.
According to a local Louisville outlet, the Courier-Journal, to obtain the search warrant used in the 2020 raid, Goodlett falsely told a judge that she confirmed Taylor’s convicted drug dealer ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover was receiving deliveries at Taylor’s residence. Documents allege that once a postal worker denied the claims that Glover’s packages were being sent to Taylor’s home, Goodlett and another officer met so they could “get on the same page” about their story.
While Goodlett is the first former Louisville officer to be convicted for Taylor’s death, several others will soon appear in court. Former Louisville officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany will be tried on civil rights charges related to Taylor’s death. Former Detective Brett Hankison will also stand trial for a separate federal indictment related to the case.
On March 13, 2020, while Taylor slept in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment, a team of officers burst into the home as part of a drug dealing investigation. As they fired lethal shots without warning, the 26-year-old had no time to prepare for the deadly attack.