Four current and former Louisville officers are facing federal charges in connection with the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor — including excessive force, falsifying information on the search warrant and staging a coverup, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday.
Kelly Goodlett and Joshua Jaynes are accused of falsifying information on a search warrant before and after Taylor, 26, was killed in March 2020, sparking a wave of racial justice protests across the country. Garland said that the officers not only violated Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights but also knew the falsification would lead to a dangerous situation — one that “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.” The attorney general said Goodlett and Jaynes allegedly met in a garage after the killing and conspired to lie to investigators about the circumstances that led to it.
[…]Former police officer Brett Hankison is charged with two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law. He is accused of willfully using unconstitutional force for firing 10 shots through Taylor’s patio door during the raid. Hankison faced three state charges of wanton endangerment for firing those shots without a clear target, but was acquitted at trial in March.
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Parfigliano
I have no doubt many more of them were in on the cover-up.
trollhattan
Figured that if there were to be consequences, they would come out of the falsification to obtain the warrant.
Good.
lollipopguild
The whole thing was a cluster from the get-go then they really screw up and kill an innocent bystander.
Scout211
And in Foriduh, DeSantis is on the move again.
trollhattan
@Scout211: If Bolsonaro ever tires of ruling Brazil, Florida would make a great next stop.
BruceFromOhio
Say her name.
LeftCoastYankee
@Parfigliano:
This is what Police Unions are for.
p.a.
This is historically typical police brutality and corruption and I hope they are punished to the fullest extent, but what we’re seeing with the Secret Service, DoD etc shows that de-Nazification needs to be from the highest structures down to street level. And I’m afraid the political will and popular support for a thorough housecleaning isn’t here. Yet.
Baud
@Scout211:
Surprised that would be under the authority of the governor and not the AG.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
As an alternative, what if we sent Ron DeSantis to Brazil?
Steeplejack
@Baud:
I had the same question.
Kropacetic
These laws are in conflict with our highest ideals and arguably the constitution. Warren should wear this as a badge of honor. Honor don’t pay the bills, though. I hope a sympathetic lucrative organization is ready to scoop him up.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack: Via shipping container? I’m in.
DeSantis will bore of the whole governor thing, only question is how soon?
Redshift
@Baud: Hell, state attorneys are elected officials. I’m surprised either one would have the authority to do that without some kind of misconduct proceeding.
Redshift
@trollhattan: Since everything he’s doing is in the service of a presidential run and making him a wingnut star, rather than for the benefit of the people of Florida, I’m guessing not until his presidential campaign.
Kropacetic
Is that true in every state?
MisterForkbeard
@Scout211: This was the thing DeSantis was bragging would “trigger the lib media” yesterday, I think.
And yeah, it’s bad and stupid. Let’s go all in on attacking women, and his base will eat it up.
Scout211
@Baud: I tried to copy and paste an excerpt of the executive order, but could not. Just look at the first page and you will learn just how powerful the Governor really is. Or he thinks he is. There are many “whereases” that claim that the governor indeed, has this power. In fact, he claims “supreme executive power.”
Executive Order
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
That was my thought as well. I don’t think DeSantis is the kind of person who would let a little thing like an election stop him. Besides, the state supreme court would undoubtedly perform legal gymnastics to rule he has the power to do whatever he damn well pleases.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:
About five seconds after the election’s decided.
If he wins, he’ll start running for President right away. If he loses, why keep working?
patrick II
@Baud:
If that is so, it would mean that DeSantis fired Warren illegally to uphold the principle of following the law.
coin operated
I hope this ends Dan Cameron’s political career. He was the KY AG that declined to charge the officers and is making a run for KY Governor next year.
lowtechcyclist
@Roger Moore:
I’m sure Warren knows whether or not DeSantis has the legal authority to remove him, and it’s hard to see someone in Warren’s position not contesting it if DeSantis doesn’t have that power.
Redshift
@Kropacetic:
I wouldn’t assume so, but Google says it’s true in Florida.
MisterForkbeard
@coin operated: In Kentucky, it might MAKE his career. “Stood up to the feds who were trying to DEFUND THE POLICE”, etc.
Roger Moore
@lowtechcyclist:
If he loses, you can bet the Republicans will follow the North Carolina gambit and do everything they can to strip the governor of power while DeSantis is still around to sign the legislation.
FelonyGovt
Open thread- repeated from the thread below:
Question for the hive mind: my postcard group is writing postcards to women (“likely Democrats”) ages 18-45 years in Macon, GA to encourage them to vote for Dems. There are two options for the postcard script: one about abortion, birth control, etc. and the other about mass shootings. Which would you choose?
Ten Bears
Execute them …
Roger Moore
@patrick II:
Makes sense to me. You just have to remember that “following the law” means “letting Ron DeSantis do as he pleases” and everything makes sense.
schrodingers_cat
I finally got myself the entire set of the BMW of colored pencils
I got them for about $50 less from ebay and they are brand new.
I love them
I am going to try portraits next, I can do faces okay but exact likeness is still a challenge.
ian
@Ten Bears:
Well, usually there is a thing called a trial. This happens before the punishment stage, but after the charging stage. Calling for punishments before the trial is kind of a ‘lock um up’ vibe, but worse because you moved straight into the ‘murder those people I don’t approve of’.
Kropacetic
@Roger Moore: Law isn’t what our elected representatives decided together. It flows naturally from a big daddy figure on top. Having legislative approval is a bonus, not necessary.
trollhattan
Speaking of Florida holy fuck, just how stupid is Marco Rubio?
https://twitter.com/marcorubio/status/1555188862108008448?cxt=HHwWgIC8yfiBkpUrAAAA
OzarkHillbilly
@FelonyGovt: Abortion.
The Golux
Regarding the title of this post, I find it morbidly amusing at the use of that phrase, since it blithely misunderstands the point of the original saying: “One bad apple spoils the bunch.” Which is certainly true regarding police departments.
TheOtherHank
The “just a few bad apples” thing drives me nuts. As I recall, a popular version of the bad apples metaphor goes, “One bad apple spoils the barrel.” So if the cops just have a few bad apples they need to get rid of them before they ruin everyone. But it seems we’re way to late for that. What we’ve got here is barrel of rotten apples.
Edit: It looks like The Golux got in just before me.
Frankensteinbeck
Garland is silent and methodical.
Joe Falco
@FelonyGovt: I would choose the one about abortion and birth control.
FelonyGovt
@Joe Falco:
@OzarkHillbilly:
Thank you. Together with Nicole from the previous thread, that seems to be the consensus.
OzarkHillbilly
@Frankensteinbeck: Wait a minute, that sounds complimentary. What kind of a DEM are you?
OzarkHillbilly
@FelonyGovt: Dobbs breathes new life into the 3/5 compromise, it’s just being applied to a different population.
Ken
Yes, the Jason Voorhees approach. But it appears some people would prefer Freddy Krueger, making wisecracks while he works.
Central Planning
I saw a sticker on a car here in upstate NY the other day that said “Make US like FL” with a picture of the US flag and what I can only assume is the Florida flag. I will not be looking that up.
That was underneath a thin blue line sticker.
If NY is so horrible for them, why are they still here?
Ken
Hot, humid, and full of pythons?
Captain C
@Ken: Or possibly the Geraldo in Iraq approach: “Here’s where we’re gonna ambush them, right here. This is how we’re gonna do it. They’ll never figure it out.”
Litlebritdifrnt
Open thread update (seeing as I promised). Had my needle biopsy today which was I will admit thoroughly unpleasant. Into ctscan, out again, needle with local anasthetic inserted in the top part of my left booby to the edge of the lung. Back in ctscan, out again, pokey bigger needle into the lung, back in ctscan, out again, slender needle down tubey thing into lung, more anasthetic, (squeeze ctscan tech hand). Back in ctscan, out again bigger needle with clippy thing on the end of it into the lung (doctor “this is going to nip a bit”) resist the urge to scream while cutting off entire bloodflow to ctscan tech’s hand, and grit teeth. Click, click, needle clippy thing out, rinse and repeat. Doctor says “okay that’s it, we got two samples, well done you tolerated that very well, me:(fighting the urge to rip his face off) Ha that’s nothing you should try a gas chamber with a leaky gas mask ha ha (internally sobbing). Anyway tea and biscuits, cheese sandwich, more tea, chest x-ray to make sure my lung wasn’t deflating and released. I have to admit bits of me are very sore, (particularly now that the drugs are wearing off) but the deed is done and now we just have to wait for the results and if worse comes to the worse the treatment plan. I am now drinking a well deserved glass of wine and looking forward to the next adventure in 12 days, Edinburgh for the Tattoo and then up to Loch Ness to look for Nessy.
Han
I thought supreme executive power derived from a mandate from the masses, not some farcical executive order.
patrick II
If Warren is a democratically elected official, and a Democrat to boot, who replaces him? Who decides — DeSantis? Do they hold new elections? Doesn’t this make it too easy to fire elected state officials of a different party?
zhena gogolia
@Litlebritdifrnt: Glad you’re through that! Sounds horrible.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@FelonyGovt: Abortion, birth control, etc. It’s timely so it’s on people’s minds
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Litlebritdifrnt: Glad it’s over and your lung didn’t deflate. Now let’s hope the lab results are good
Ken
@Han: But the elegance of it! What powers does the governor have? Whatever powers he has granted himself via executive order. Avoids all the complexity of having a constitution or laws.
Omnes Omnibus
@Frankensteinbeck: But I was told that he is an ineffective institutionalist. One of these cannot be true.
Omnes Omnibus
@Litlebritdifrnt: Nessy goes to Tuscany for August. Sorry.
Ohio Mom
@FelonyGovt: Abortion. It is finally dawning on normies that ending abortion is a big deal and must be avoided.
What it will take for enough of them to be similarly panicked about guns hasn’t been discovered yet.
Tom Levenson
@Omnes Omnibus: As every sea monster of means does.
Han
@Ken: If he wants supreme executive power, I’d be happy to go down there, throw on a dress, and lob a scimitar at him. It’s Floriduh. Probably won’t even make the news.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Levenson: Well obviously, darling.
Omnes Omnibus
@Han: There is a drone munition that lobs scimitars. Just saying.
Ohio Mom
@Litlebritdifrnt: Oh yeah, the clip to mark where the biopsy was taken from, I had forgotten that part — I had a breast biopsy not quite ten years ago. Your description brought back many memories, lots of similarities between the two procedures.
Still crossing my fingers and toes for you. Enjoy your trip!
VOR
@Han: Wait, so strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government?
Bugboy
Isn’t the English language just beautiful? “Just a Few Bad Apples” leaves out the important part: “Just a Few Bad Apples Spoils the Bunch”…
OzarkHillbilly
Be aware of any abnormal feelings that develop in the chest. When I collapsed my lung it was 4 hours from time of injury to the point where I knew something wasn’t right, and a couple hours more before I felt actual pain. Chances are you are what the chest X ray says you are, but every now and again…
HumboldtBlue
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Hope it all ends well. Jealous over the Tattoo. Enjoy, I’ll have to watch online. Again.
Benw
About fucking time
The Golux
@Bugboy:
As noted above, it’s actually one bad apple.
trollhattan
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Dear lord, think I’d rather bungee jump, or wrestle tarantulas. Hope things work out well for you, especially after all that!
Sure Lurkalot
@Litlebritdifrnt: Despite the residual effects from the horrific procedure, it must feel good to have this in the rear view. Enjoy your well deserved travels.
trollhattan
@The Golux:
Did Donny not already educate us on this topic?
https://youtu.be/L4CcgblWC8k
oatler
He’d be elected president during a period of unrest, and that means “to preserve order in Democrat zones I must reluctantly…”
Another Scott
@Redshift:
DeSantis seems to be in hot water about an issue that he can’t MAGA away. RollCall:
(Leads with horrible picture of Crist)
He’s beatable. Here’s hoping that Florida finishes off his political career.
Cheers,
Scott.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Ohio Mom: Yes it’s strange isn’t it. However has to be done, ignoring it isn’t going to make it go away (as we all know) still my respitory doc tells me we shall address it after my hols and so we shall.
Omnes Omnibus
@Benw: Feds defer to states on things like this. They give the state a chance do it.
geg6
@FelonyGovt:
I would alternate.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Han: You win the internet!
prostratedragon
@Steeplejack: The Brazilians seem a fairly mellow people, but I wouldn’t rile them like that.
stinger
@Litlebritdifrnt: Thank you for the update. Not fun at all. Enjoy your well-deserved Tattoo watching/listening and Nessy hunting!
Kirk Spencer
@FelonyGovt: Late to the party but add another vote for abortion etc. Dorothy mentioned timeliness, but for me it’s the fact that pretty close to 100% of your target range has a vested interest in the birth control and abortion issue (even if opposed), while mass shootings are “horrible but happening to others”.
Josie (also)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Glad the tests are over. Enjoy your travels.