Louisville judge who signed falsified warrants in Breonna Taylor raid loses election

A Jefferson County Circuit Court judge who signed the flawed search warrant that led Louisville Metro Police officers to Breonna Taylor’s apartment the night she was fatally shot has been ousted from her position by voters.

Judge Mary Shaw, of District 5, fell short of securing her position on Election Day to Tracy Evette Davis.

According to the Jefferson County Clerk’s Office, Davis received 51% of votes with 100,870 votes cast in her favor, compared to Shaw’s 98,503, or 49%.

Shaw was elected in 2006, and took the bench in January 2007, according to her website. She was a circuit court staff attorney for more than 16 years.

According to Leslie Davis, Shaw’s assistant, she had no comment at this time regarding the election results.

Ahead of the Tuesday night decision, Shaw faced immense criticism and backlash for her involvement in the signing of the falsified warrant, which ultimately resulted in the death of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman and Louisville emergency room technician, in March 2020.

The warrant was one of five obtained by detectives who were looking into potential drug trafficking in Louisville, according to the Department of Justice. The primary target of the investigation was Jamarcus Glover, Taylor’s ex-boyfriend and a man who had been previously arrested for drug trafficking.

Four former Louisville police officers face federal charges for their roles in the botched search warrant execution, including Kelly Goodlett, Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany and Brett Hankison. They face federal charges of civil rights offenses, unconstitutional use of force, obstruction and conspiracy, according to the Department of Justice. Goodlett has pleaded guilty to her charges.

According to court documents, both Goodlett and Jaynes knowingly falsified an affidavit for a search warrant for Taylor’s home. When a group of LMPD officers used a battering ram to force open the apartment’s front door, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at them with his legally-owned gun because he thought they were intruders. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, Det. Myles Cosgrove and Hankison returned a total of 32 rounds into Taylor’s apartment; six of those shots struck Taylor, who died in the hallway of her apartment.

Cosgrove has since been fired from LMPD, and Mattingly retired in 2021.

The court record alleges that both Goodlett and Jaynes put false and misleading information in the affidavit in order to get the warrant.

According to Goodlett’s plea agreement, she acknowledged that she helped another LMPD detective and their supervisor obtain a warrant to search Taylor’s home, despite knowing that the officers lacked probable cause to do so.

To establish probable cause, information in an affidavit accompanying a search warrant must be truthful and timely. Goodlett admitted that she knew that the affidavit in support of the warrant to search Taylor’s home was false, misleading and stale, according to the Department of Justice.