Joshua Jaynes is a former Louisville Metro Police detective who was fired for lying on the search warrant that led to the deadly 2020 raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment.

The 40-year-old was taken into custody by the FBI and booked in the Oldham County Detention Center. 

Jaynes was charged in the first indictment with federal civil rights and obstruction offenses for his role in preparing and approving a false search warrant affidavit that resulted in Taylor’s death. The 26-year-old woman was shot and killed in her Louisville home on March 13, 2020, by police officers executing a search warrant.

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The first indictment in the case contains four counts, according to the US Department of Justice.

Count One charges that Jaynes, while acting in his official capacity as officer, “willfully deprived Taylor of her constitutional rights” by drafting and approving a false affidavit to obtain a search warrant for her home.

The indictment alleges that Jaynes “knew that the affidavit contained false and misleading statements, omitted material facts, relied on stale information, and was not supported by probable cause.”

The indictment also claimed that Jaynes “knew that the execution of the search warrant would be carried out by armed LMPD officers, and could create a dangerous situation both for those officers and for anyone who happened to be in Taylor’s home.”

Count Two against Jaynes involves conspiracy charges “for agreeing with another detective to cover up the false warrant affidavit.” This was allegedly done after Taylor’s death by drafting a false investigative letter and making false statements to criminal investigators.

“Count Three charges Jaynes with falsifying a report with the intent to impede a criminal investigation into Taylor’s death,” the justice department said in a statement.

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Taylor’s death sparked months of protests across Louisville with activists calling for action against police’s conduct. The protests added fuel to a nationwide movement around other killings of Black people by police, like George Floyd.