Officer in Breonna Taylor's Killing Reportedly Pleads Guilty to Helping Falsify Warrant

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Former Louisville police detective Kelly Goodlett pleaded guilty to helping falsify a warrant that resulted in the death of black woman Breonna Taylor during a no-knock raid, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was killed in March 2020 by police executing a search warrant after her boyfriend shot at them, believing the officers to be intruders.

Goodlett was charged with conspiring alongside a fellow officer to falsify the search warrant used to raid Taylor’s home, as well as cover up their actions afterward, the Justice Department said earlier this month.

The conspiracy included plans to submit a falsified affidavit to obtain a search warrant for Taylor’s home despite lacking probable cause, according to court filings. Another object of the conspiracy was to cover up the falsified nature of the warrant after the shooting, the filings said.

Goodlett entered a guilty plea in federal court, becoming the first officer involved in Taylor’s killing to be convicted for the incident, the report said. Goodlett resigned from the police force after being charged by authorities earlier this month, according to the report.

Three other officers were also charged by the Justice Department earlier this month in connection with Taylor’s death, including the detective with whom Goodlett allegedly conspired.

Taylor’s death at the hands of police, in addition to the killing of George Floyd later that year, helped spark an international series of protests by the Black Lives Matter movement that summer and continues to be cited as an example of police misconduct in the United States.