A former police officer accused of being involved in the death of 26-year-old black woman Breonna Taylor will plead guilty in a trial scheduled for this month in the United States, reports the Washington Post. The African American became an emblem of the Black Lives Matter movement after being murdered in her house during a police intervention in March 2020.
Former police officer Kelly Goodlett was released Friday on $10,000 bond. If she is convicted, she will be the first person convicted in the case that has rocked the United States and beyond.
The death of Breonna Taylor under police fire came to light after the death of George Floyd, an African American suffocated by a white police officer in May 2020, mobilizing anti-racist circles, sparking demonstrations around the world.
Up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine
Kelly Goodlett is not accused of having participated directly in the police intervention in Breonna Taylor’s home, but of having “falsified” a search warrant that allowed entry to the young woman. She and therefore her of having falsely filled out a report to cover up this falsehood. She faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Three other former police officers are charged in this case: Sergeant Kyle Meany and former detectives Joshua Jaynes and Brett Hankison. They, for their part, intend to plead “not guilty.”
Two of them are accused, like Kelly Goodlett, of having created a false search warrant, while the third is accused of “excessive use of force”. Kyle Meany is also suspected of lying to investigators. All three face life sentences.
A wave of anti-racist mobilization
Only Brett Hankinson was charged in September 2020 by the courts, not in connection with the death of Breonna Taylor, but for having “endangered” his neighbor by shooting through a partition. He was later acquitted last March.
The decision then drew the ire of many anti-racist activists and members of Louisville’s black community, who decried prosecutors’ unwarranted leniency and racism in American policing.
Then, the justice backtracks and accuses Brett Hankinson of “excessive use of force.” “He fired ten shots through a window and a French window covered with blackout curtains,” justifies the Minister of Justice.
Twenty shots from the police side
Breonna Taylor was found dead at her home in Kentucky, her body riddled with bullets, on March 13, 2020. Three police officers entered her home in the middle of the night as part of a drug trafficking investigation against her former grandson, a friend, in reality is not present in the scene.
In the act, his new partner Kenneth Walker, believing that they are thieves, shoots with a legally wielded weapon. To which the police responded with a salvo of twenty shots.
Police then claim to have benefited from a so-called “no knock” order, which allowed them to enter Breonna Taylor’s home without warning. However, they also claim to have warned of her arrival, which Kenneth Walker denies.
The Louisville City Council paid $12 million in restitution to Breonna Taylor’s family in September 2020, in exchange for a civil lawsuit being dropped.
Source: BFM TV
