Judge dismisses charges against Louisville police officers in Breonna Taylor case

Karla Ward, Lexington Herald-Leader on Mar 27, 2026

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — A federal judge has dismissed the remaining charges against two Louisville Metro Police Department officers in the Breonna Taylor case.

Senior District Judge Charles Simpson on Friday issued an order dismissing the case against former Louisville Officers Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, one week after the Department of Justice filed a motion asking that the charges be dropped.

The officers were accused of providing false information in order to get a search warrant for Taylor’s apartment.

Taylor died after being shot by police who were attempting to execute the no-knock warrant after midnight on March 13, 2020, sparking civil rights protests around the country.

Jaynes and Meany were indicted twice on a felony charge related to deprivation of rights, and both times the charge was reduced to a misdemeanor, most recently on Aug. 20, 2025.

After that, the Justice Department said in its motion, the “government undertook a further review of this matter. Based on that review, and in the exercise of its discretion, the government has determined that this case should be dismissed in the interest of justice.”

Democratic U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, whose district includes Jefferson County, on Friday called the decision “an abhorrent miscarriage of justice.”

“We’ve spent six years working toward justice for Breonna Taylor, and Trump’s DOJ has spent the past year undermining that work at every opportunity. Breonna and her family deserve so much more,” McGarvey wrote in a post on the social media platform X.

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