After years of gaslighting from Kentucky officials and conservative media, a new development in the case of Breonna Taylor’s killing appears to confirm many activists’ allegations: The raid on her home was unjustified and part of a police conspiracy.
That is, according to one of the police detectives involved in getting a search warrant on her home.
Former Louisville Metro Police Det. Kelly Goodlett on Tuesday pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, admitting she and another office lied in an affidavit used to obtain a court’s approval to raid Taylor’s home on March 13, 2020.
I don’t believe in karma. But there’s something to be said about the profound endurance of truth in this case.
Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was fatally shot by police while they were executing the warrant. Goodlett on Tuesday admitted to falsely claiming in the warrant affidavit that a postal inspector had confirmed a suspected drug dealer was receiving packages at Taylor’s home. She also admitted to later trying to cover up her actions.
Goodlett is one of four former LMPD officers facing federal civil rights charges connected to the deadly raid. Two of them — former LMPD Det. Joshua Jaynes and former LMPD Sgt. Kyle Meany — were involved in preparing and approving the false search warrant, according to prosecutors. And the other — former LMPD police officer Brett Hankison — is accused of using excessive force when he fired 10 shots into Taylor’s home after retreating. Bullets flew into a neighbor’s apartment, nearly striking one man. A jury acquitted him on state charges of endangering Taylor’s neighbors earlier this year.
I don’t believe in karma. But there’s something to be said about the profound endurance of truth in this case. And how the pressure applied by activists is seeing success in spite of the clear obstacles.
Demands from activists that we “Say Her Name” have survived the meme-ification of her death. They survived the predictable dissolution of the public’s interest in her case. (Remember those black squares everyone posted on their Instagram pages two years ago?) They survived the similarly predictable public backlash to antiracist activists following the 2020 social justice protests. They survived gaslighting from Kentucky officials, like Attorney General Daniel Cameron, whose meek investigation resulted in no officers being charged in Taylor’s death.
Despite all of that, the sham story we’ve been sold justifying the deadly raid on Taylor’s home is unraveling. And a cover-up is being exposed.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.