The Louisville Matro Police Merit Board voted 4-0 Wednesday to uphold the termination of the police detective responsible for obtaining the no-knock search warrant that led to the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Joshua Jaynes obtained the warrant for the botched March 13, 2020 drug raid that resulted in the 26-year-old Taylor's death, setting off nationwide outcry and protests. The police board upheld his firing hours of deliberation and three days of hearings to decide Jaynes' reinstatement.
Former interim Police Chief Yvette Gentry fired Jaynes in January after finding the detective was "untruthful about how he obtained some information regarding Taylor in the warrant."
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below:
In an interview last year with Louisville police investigators, Jaynes acknowledged that he did not personally verify that a drug-trafficking suspect was receiving mail at Taylor's apartment, even though he had said in an earlier affidavit that he had. Jaynes said he relied instead on information from a fellow officer.
His lawyer, Thomas Clay, argued Jaynes did not lie on the affidavit and did not have a responsibility to verify information from a fellow law enforcement officer before putting it in his affidavit.
Jaynes will appeal the merit board ruling to circuit court after the official order is issued, Clay said.
