Officer Kelly Goodlett to appear in court next week on conspiracy charge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Three former LMPD officers, indicted by a grand jury, face decades in prison for their role in the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor, but a fourth still has not appeared in court.

Former officer Kelly Goodlett was noticeably missing from Thursday’s string of court appearances.

The court records for Goodlett are different than the other officers announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Brett Hankison, Kyle Meany, and Joshua Jaynes were all indicted.

Goodlett was charged through information, a key difference.

“She could get up to five years and she has given a statement to the agents talking about the conspiracy,” said lawyer Ben Crump.

He explained Thursday that appears to be part of a plea deal offered to LMPD officer Kelly Goodlett.

While no document outlining the deal has appeared in Goodlett’s court file, multiple lawyers said what is in the file so far signals a deal has been made.

Goodlett was charged through information, not an indictment, for conspiracy.

The government said Goodlett met with Joshua Jaynes in his garage to get their story straight following the revelation that postal inspectors said Taylor’s ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover did not receive packages at her address.

That contradicted information used by detectives in a warrant. The government said Goodlett then lied to investigators after that meeting.

‘She conspired with others to lie about the search warrant before it was executed and then after they had murdered Breonna Taylor,” Crump said.

Goodlett is scheduled to appear in federal court next week.

If the judge accepts the plea deal, lawyers tell WAVE Goodlett would plead guilty then.

Jaynes, Hankison, and Meany face up to life in prison. Goodlett faces five years.

“It’s really a Serpico moment to have an officer who finally starts telling on everybody and how they conspired together to cover up the murder of this innocent Black woman,” Crump said.

Goodlett was still on LMPD’s payroll when this information was revealed Thursday.

LMPD Chief Erika Shields said Goodlett will be fired.

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