BREAKING NEWS: Former Louisville cop is expected to plead guilty to federal charges related to the death of Breonna Taylor who was shot dead during no-knock warrant raid on her home

• Kelly Goodlett, 35, is expected to plead guilty on August 22 after her charges were sealed, leading to suspicions that she accepted a plea deal 
• Goodlett was charged with conspiring with Joshua Jaynes, 40, to falsify the search warrants and covering up their actions afterward
• Goodlett, alongside three others, were charged last week for their connection to Breonna Taylor's death in March 2020 
• The cop also resigned from the Louisville Metro Police Department last week after the charges were announced 
• She now faces up to five years in prison for falsifying a search warrant and filing a false cover-up report

A former Louisville cop is expected to plead guilty to federal charges related to the death of Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead during a no-knock warrant raid on her home in 2020. 

Kelly Goodlett, 35, who resigned from the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) last week, is expected to plead guilty on August 22 after her charges were filed as sealed information, which analysts predict means she's taken a plea deal. 

The judge ordered her to hand over her passport on Friday and she is not allowed to talk to her other colleagues, who have been charged, according to the Courier Journal. 

The former cop faces a maximum of five years in prison for falsifying a search warrant and filing a false cover-up report, after she was charged in a sealed 'information' - not indicted - according to the Washington Post. 

Taylor, 26, was shot dead inside her home after a plainclothes officer busted into her apartment for a drug probe warrant. 

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot an officer in the leg with his legally-owned gun and later admitted he did not know the police had breached his home when he fired. Officers shot back, fatally striking Taylor six times. 

Goodlett was charged last week alongside Sergeant Kyle Meany, 45, Detective Joshua Jaynes, 40, and former Detective Brett Hankison, 46, for their connections to Taylor's March 2020 death.

Jaynes and Meany have both been charged with one count of deprivation of rights and one count of conspiracy.

Meany has been charged with making a false statement to the FBI, while Jaynes is accused of falsifying records in a federal investigation.

Goodlett has been charged with conspiring with Jaynes to falsify the search warrants and covering up their actions afterwards, according to August 4 court documents. 

The other three have pleaded not guilty, according to The Washington Post, and could face life in prison for civil rights offenses. 

As part of her suspected plea deal, she could have agreed to testify, which would help the Justice Department hold the police department accountable for Taylor's death. 

Jaynes' lawyer, Thomas Clay, expressed concern over the possibility that Goodlett could provide prosecutors with information, and stated that anyone involved in the case should not be prosecuted. 

'The reaction I’ve gotten from people in the law enforcement community has been pretty much shock and outrage. They think that these prosecutions are unjustified and they’re politically motivated,' Clay told the Washington Post.  

The Justice Department did reveal that Goodlett had conspired twice with Jaynes on the affidavit and again after the shooting in an attempt to cover up the alleged disinformation. 

The Justice Department is focusing its case mainly on the preparation of the affidavit rather than officers using excessive force, which is hard to prove. 

Former US Attorney Barbara McQuade said the department's decision was 'clever' and could offer a better prospect of a conviction, since the criminal justice system largely protects the force used by police. 

'There was a shooting, and someone died, and perhaps it was a crime, but it’s very difficult, as everyone knows, to prove a case in a police shooting because police officers have the authority to use deadly force,' she told the Washington Post. 

'To focus on the shooting itself was unlikely to go anywhere. What Justice did here was go back a step.'  

Jaynes was fired by the Louisville Metro Police in January 2021, in Kentucky, for adding a false statement to his sworn affidavit for the 'no knock' warrant to search Taylor's apartment over her drug dealer ex-boyfriend.

As a result, EMT Taylor, 26, was fatally shot by LMPD officers on March 13, 2020, sparking widespread protests around the country.

Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke today announced the charges - which include violating Taylor's civil rights, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force, and obstruction offenses.

They claim that the LMPD’s Place Based Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant for Taylor’s home, which then led to her death.

Garland also confirmed that Hankison, who was cleared of criminal charges earlier this year, has been charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.

Until now, Hankison was the only officer to be charged in relation to Taylor's death, after firing shots through her window and sliding glass door.

He was found not guilty of three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots into a neighboring apartment.

The Department of Justice confirmed that he will now face further charges, for reportedly using 'unconstitutionally excessive force' while acting in his official capacity. 

A separate indictment filed earlier this month claimed that after Taylor was shot a Hankison moved from the doorway to the side of her apartment and fired 10 more shots.

These went through a window and a sliding glass door, both of which were covered with blinds and curtains, therefore depriving three of Taylor's neighbors of their constitutional rights. 

The first count charges him with depriving Taylor and her boyfriend by firing shots through a bedroom window that was covered with blinds and a black out curtain.

Both counts allege that Hankison used a dangerous weapon, and that his conduct involved an attempt to kill.

Jaynes, the leading investigator in the case, is accused of falsifying information on an affidavit used to approve the warrant to raid Taylors arrest.

He claimed that he had verified through a US Postal Inspector that Taylor's ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug trafficker, had been getting packages delivered to her apartment.

But he had actually spoken to a fellow officer, Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, who had received the information from Shivley Police. 

Mattingly later resigned from the force, and has not been charged in connection to Taylor's death.

Officers Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison were also fired from their roles in the police over the Taylor case.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron failed to charge Mattingly and Cosgrove with a crime last year, saying that both cops were justified in returning fire against Walker.

Both Cosgrove and Hankison were fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for their actions during the raid.

Garland said the federal charges allege that the officers falsified information on the search warrant used to enter Taylor's home.

He said that this violated her fourth amendment rights, which resulted in her death, with Jaynes and Goodlett 'knowingly falsifying' a document created after her death.

The charged claimed that the pair had allegedly met in a garage in May 2020 to discuss telling investigators a false story to 'cover up their unlawful conduct.'

Sergeant Kyle Meaney reportedly 'lied to the FBI' during its investigation of Taylor's death, and has also been charged.

Affidavits sworn by Jaynes and approved by Meany were used to obtain warrants to search five properties, including Taylors home.

The indictment claims that both Jaynes and Meany knew that the affidavit used to obtain the warrant was ‘false, misleading and out-of-date.’

It also states that both offices knew that the warrant would be carried out by armed LMPD officers, creating a ‘dangerous situation’ for officers and anyone at Taylor's home.