Former cop to plead guilty to rights charge in Taylor death

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Former Louisville police Detective Kelly Goodlett intends to plead guilty to a civil rights charge stemming from the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman whose death in a botched police drug raid helped spark racial justice protests in 2020.

Goodlett is set to appear Aug. 22 before a federal judge to enter her plea, media outlets reported, citing her lawyer, Brandon Marshall.

Goodlett will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to violate Taylor’s civil rights for helping falsify an affidavit for the search of her apartment, the Courier Journal reported Friday. She faces a sentence of no more than five years in prison.

Taylor was shot by officers who knocked down her apartment door while executing a search warrant. Taylor’s boyfriend fired a shot that hit one of the officers as they came through the door, and they returned fire, striking Taylor multiple times.