Two Officers in Breonna Taylor Shooting Receive Termination Letters, Plan to Appeal

Louisville, KY – Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Myles Cosgrove and Detective Joshua Jaynes, two of the officers involved in the Breonna Taylor case, face a hearing this coming Monday to attempt to save their jobs.

Last Tuesday, both officers were served with termination letters from the department’s interim chief Yvette Gentry and they will speak during the pre-termination hearing, with their lawyers present, Monday as a part of their due process to appeal to Gentry and explain why they should not be fired.

If, after that, the chief decides she no longer wishes to terminate them, then they stay employed.

If, however, she decides she still wants to go through with the termination, then an appeal process begins, if the officers decide to appeal within 10 days to the Metro Police Merit Board. After the appeal is filed, a hearing with the board is set within 60 days of that.

During that hearing, the officers’ attorneys can again argue for their client, and the County Attorney’s Office argues why the officers should be terminated.

If the board, which consists of five members- no more than three from the same political party, and including two current police officers voted to sit on the board by their coworkers- votes to terminate, the officers can still appeal, which brings the case to circuit court.

Officer Cosgrove, according to an FBI ballistics report, was in plain clothes the night of the shooting and fired the fatal shot to Taylor. His attorney had no comment on the potential firing.

Detective Jaynes wasn’t even present for the incident, but he obtained the no-knock warrant for the March raid. In November, it was reported that Jaynes said part of the completed warrant was “incorrect,” in what was an “honest mistake.” Apparently, it was written that Taylor received packages for her ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover, who was the main target of the drug investigation connected to the March incident, at her apartment, which was inaccurate.

WFPL reported in November, “James Dilbeck, Jaynes’ lawyer, argued there was still ‘sufficient probable cause’ for the search and that, under precedent, ‘the warrant-issuing judge is not required to attest to the validity of the information provided in the warrant.'”

Jaynes’ other lawyer, Thomas Clay, said this week, “I expect the result has already been pre-determined. I fully expect Mr. Jaynes will be terminated after the ‘hearing’ no matter what the evidence is to the contrary. We will appeal any disciplinary action taken against Mr. Jaynes because I believe the evidence shows he did nothing wrong.”

Gentry said Jaynes’ termination is based on him violating two department policies. First, he allegedly failed to prepare a plan for the execution of the search warrant, saying he created a “very dangerous situation.” She also said he should have been at the apartment when the warrant was served. Attorney Clay, however, said Jaynes was at a different warrant execution and there was no issue with that prior to Gentry’s letter.

Clay said, “The people who attended this briefing, we have sergeants, we had lieutenants, we had a major, and we had a lieutenant colonel who was on the chief’s staff that attended this briefing and nobody said anything about Joshua Jaynes being at [the other warrant location].”

Second, Gentry said Jaynes lied on the search warrant, regarding the packages received by Taylor as mentioned above. Apparently, Clay said, Jaynes obtained the information on the packages being received for Glover by Taylor from Sergeant Mattingly (the officer shot during the raid on Taylor’s apartment). Sergeant Mattingly, reportedly, got that information from officers in Shively.

Shively officers now say that they told Sgt. Mattingly that there was no suspicious packages delivered.

“Whether they actually told Sgt. Mattingly that or not is something that’s between Sgt. Mattingly and the Shively Police Department. And that’s something that PSU or PIU should have looked into,” Clay said. “Somebody made a misstatement here, obviously, but it was not Josh Jaynes.”

Clay also said, “I want the public to know that we’re not going to just sit back and let the chief of police do what she’s already pre-determined is going to happen. He feels like the department’s turned on him, both the department and the mayor’s office.”

Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly hasn’t been fired. He was allegedly shot by Breonna’s boyfriend at the time of the raid, Kenneth Walker, who sued the city and several officers and city officials after being charged with attempted murder of a police officer. The charges against him were dropped.

Sergeant Mattingly counter-sued, saying, according to ABC, “he is entitled to compensatory and punitive damages for battery, assault, and intentional emotional distress. They claim that Mattingly nearly died and needed five hours of surgery for his injury. Mattingly is requesting a trial by jury and all legal costs to be paid by Walker.”

The counter suit states, “Walker did intentionally shoot Mattingly or acted recklessly in firing his pistol in the direction of the Police Officers who were serving a search warrant. Walker’s conduct in shooting Mattingly is outrageous, intolerable, and offends all accepted standards of decency and morality. Walker’s conduct has caused Defendant Mattingly severe trauma, mental anguish, and emotional distress.”

Despite the no-knock warrant, police said they still knocked multiple times and announced themselves. At first, neighbors testified that they didn’t hear this, but later at least one said they did hear the announcement.

Former LMPD Detective Brett Hankison was fired in June for his role in the incident, which also led to criminal charges in September for first-degree wanton endangerment connected to firing his weapon into Taylor’s apartments and the apartment adjoined to hers.

LENN will bring you updates on the hearings for Cosgrove and Jaynes as they become available.