Source: Bluegrass Institute
by Jacob Sullum
“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. … Taylor’s death did not flow inexorably from the warrant that Jaynes obtained. It is nevertheless true that Taylor would not have died in a hail of gunfire but for Jaynes'[s] fraudulent and misleading affidavit, which Meany approved. That reality underlines the potentially grave consequences of letting police officers make shit up to manufacture probable cause—a danger that does not seem to trouble the main Justice Department official charged with protecting Americans’ civil rights.” (03/28/26)