Louisville, Kentucky, Detective Joshua Jaynes lied when he applied for the March 2020 search warrant that resulted in Breonna Taylor's death. Then he lied about his lies. Sgt. Kyle Meany, the supervisor who approved the warrant application, also tried to cover up its shortcomings. According to an August 2022 federal indictment, both officers knew that police did not have probable cause to search Taylor's apartment.
Based on those allegations, the indictment charged Jaynes and Meany with violating 18 USC 242 by "willfully" depriving Taylor of her Fourth Amendment rights under color of law. It also charged them with conspiring to falsify a document and mislead federal investigators. But according to the Justice Department, which asked U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III to dismiss those charges on Friday "in the interest of justice," the indictment exemplified the Biden administration's "inappropriate, weaponized federal overreach."
