A federal judge in Louisville, Ky., dismissed serious felony charges against two former officers involved in the case of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed during a police raid in March 2020. U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled that the actions of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired a shot at the police during the raid, were the legal cause of her death, not the validity of the warrant. The judge’s decision reduced the charges against the officers, Joshua Jaynes and Kyle Meany, from civil rights violations carrying a life sentence to misdemeanors.

Although some charges were dropped, a conspiracy charge against Jaynes and a false statements charge against Meany were not dismissed by the judge. The incident occurred when police executed a drug warrant at Taylor’s apartment, resulting in her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, firing a shot that hit an officer. In the exchange of gunfire that followed, Taylor was killed by the police.

Simpson stated that Walker’s actions were the primary cause of Taylor’s death, diverting blame from the officers initially accused of falsifying information in the warrant. Walker was initially charged with attempted murder but was later cleared when it was argued that he believed the intruders were a threat.

One of the former officers involved in the case, Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and is set to testify against Jaynes and Meany during their trials. Prosecutors alleged that Jaynes falsified information in the warrant and misled Goodlett about the case before the raid.

Another officer, Brett Hankison, faces charges for endangering Taylor, Walker, and neighbors by firing into Taylor’s apartment during the incident. Hankison’s retrial is scheduled for October after a previous trial resulted in a hung jury in connection to the charges.