New details in plea from officer convicted in Breonna Taylor case

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - New details are now public in the plea agreement for one of the former Louisville Metro Police Department officers now federally charged by the FBI in relation to the death of Breonna Taylor.

In the court documents, Kelly Hanna Goodlett describes knowing that some of the warrant used to enter Taylor’s home on March 13, 2020 was not true. It also states that they were at Taylor’s apartment looking for evidence of drugs, money and drug trafficking. Detectives found none of those items at her apartment.

Goodlett admits to meeting with Joshua Jaynes, the lead detective on the case, to “go over their story,” the document states.

The addendum to the plea agreement states the target of the investigation by LMPD’s Placed Based Investigations was Jamarcus Glover, Taylor’s ex-boyfriend. As part of the investigation, the detectives also looked at whether Glover was trafficking drugs at Taylor’s home and that of another woman with whom he had a child, it states.

The documents name Jaynes as the primary investigator and the main person who wrote the warrant affidavit. Goodlett told investigators she fact-checked the affidavit and added information to it.

Goodlett stated that “the most important information” in the warrant that linked Taylor to Glover was the claim that Glover was getting packages at her apartment on Springfield drive. The plea documents states Goodlett and Jaynes knew that information was false.

Goodlett also confessed to knowing that John Mattingly, a former LMPD sergeant, told them that Glover was not receiving packages at Taylor’s home.

“Det. Jaynes told her that Sgt. J.M. had found that ‘there’s nothing there,’ or similar words to like effect (meaning there was no evidence of J.G. getting mail), and that Taylor’s address was “not flagged” by Postal for receiving any suspicious packages,” the addendum states. “Det. Jaynes expressed his disappointment to Det. Goodlett,” the document continues.

Goodlett told the FBI that the information about a lack of packages going to Taylor’s home “cut against” their assumption that Glover kept drugs or money there. The FBI states that both Goodlett and Jaynes had a duty to disclose that information in the warrant affidavit for which Jefferson County Judge Mary Shaw was tasked with reviewing.

Goodlett then reviewed a draft of the warrant affidavit written by Jaynes. She did not object to the false information about the packages from being included, even though she and Jaynes knew that information was false. Goodlett told the FBI she did not say anything about it because she had once been ostracized in her career for trying to report another officer’s use of excessive force, the plea states.

According to the plea agreement, Goodlett also knew that they needed to “freshen up” the warrant for Taylor’s home because it did not “have enough current information” to connect Taylor’s apartment to J.G.’s (Jamarcus Glover) drug dealing. The document also states that Goodlett knew that Glover had not recently visited Taylor’s home. The last time he had was six weeks before the warrant was executed.

In order to get the warrant approved by Judge Shaw, Goodlett said that she added a paragraph which describes Jaynes using a database to verify that Glover used Taylor’s apartment as his “current home address.”

The FBI continues to state that both Goodlett and Jaynes knew that information was “misleading” because they knew Glover was not actually living there. In fact, the FBI states Jaynes and Goodlett also knew that Glover had elsewhere used another former girlfriend’s address and the home which would also be raided on the same night as the raid at Taylor’s apartment, as his primary residence.

Goodlett told the FBI Jaynes had asked for the warrant at Taylor’s apartment to be a “No Knock” warrant because “these drug traffickers have a history of attempting to destroy evidence, have cameras on the location that compromise Detectives once an approach to the dwelling is made, and have a history of fleeing from law enforcement.”

Goodlett had no evidence to believe that Taylor was a drug trafficker or that she had ever tried to destroy evidence or flee from police, the FBI stated.

Goodlett also confessed to knowing that Taylor was expected to be home alone during the night of the raid. She knew that based on conversations with Jaynes and their supervisor, Sgt. Kyle Meany, an officer who was also charged by the FBI.

In the addendum, Goodlett states that Jaynes chose Judge Mary Shaw because he believed Shaw would not closely scrutinize his warrants.

She did remember officers changing their use of a “no knock” warrant for Taylor’s home to a “knock and announce” warrant on a briefing before the raids.

“Det. Goodlett observed that Meany looked very nervous during this meeting,” the document continues.

After Taylor’s death, investigators with LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit asked Jaynes and Goodlett for an investigative letter detailing the information they found in their investigation. The addendum states that Goodlett decided to continue lying about Mattingly’s statement about packages to Taylor’s home.

At the time Goodlett wrote the investigative letter, she did not know that Jaynes had another conversation with Mattingly in which Mattingly, again, confirmed there was no evidence of Glover receiving packages at Taylor’s apartment. Goodlett hoped the investigative letter “would clear both of them,” the addendum states.

However, that changed when it was publicly released that the postal inspector had announced that there were no packages going to Taylor’s home. At the point, Goodlett texted Jaynes “knowing that she and Det. Jaynes were in trouble,” the document states.

Jaynes and Goodlett decided to meet in a garage the next day.

“At the garage meeting, Det. Jaynes told Et. Goodlett that they needed to get on the same page because if he went down, so to speak, for the Springfield Drive warrant, she would go down too. Det. Jaynes made clear to Det. Goodlett that he wanted her to repeat his false statement,” the plea agreement states.

Goodlett placed blame on Jaynes for “pressuring” her to go along with the false story that Mattingly had said there were packages going to Taylor’s apartment in a suggestive, badgering way,” the addendum states. She claims she eventually buckled and agreed to repeat it to others including the investigators with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office.

Goodlett told the FBI that Meany had gone to Taylor’s apartment to conduct surveillance and gather any new information on Taylor. However, Meany found nothing.

Goodlett claims she did not know that while conducting that surveillance, Meany had noticed her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker’s car at her apartment. She claims she also did not know that he had a concealed carry permit. Goodlett stated she would have “thrown a fit” if she had known about that information and that it was never provided to the officers tasked with raiding her apartment. She knew that information should have been included in the documents related to the search and the warrant.

Goodlett pleaded guilty to a conspiracy brought by the FBI two weeks ago. The charge is a civil rights federal felony. As part of the plea, Goodlett cannot be charged by the USAO with any other crimes for which the USAO already has evidence for.

Three other former officers - Kyle Meany, Brett Hankison, and Jaynes - were also charged in relation to the raid that resulted in Taylor’s death.

Goodlett was granted pre-trial release. The judge has yet to accept the plea agreement and decide on a sentence.

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