A Louisville police detective accused of providing false information to get the search warrant of Breonna Taylor‘s home told investigators he did not intend to mislead a judge, according to court documents released Wednesday. Detective Joshua Jaynes said he could have worded the affidavit “differently.” Sgt. Jason Vance, an investigator at the Louisville police department’s Public Integrity Unit, disagreed, calling Jaynes’ working “misleading” and concluded that Jaynes “should be reviewed for criminal actions,” reports WDRB.
Jaynes told investigators he did not personally get information from a U.S. postal inspector, even though he said he did in the search warrant. The police were previously told there were no suspicious packages delivered to Taylor’s home during their investigation of Jamarcus Glover, who was believed to be selling drugs from a home 10 miles away and Taylor’s ex-boyfriend. However, on March 12, the day before Taylor was killed, Jaynes wrote a warrant affidavit claiming he had “verified through a US Postal Inspector that Jamarcus Glover has been receiving packages” at Taylor’s home, court documents show. In the affidavit, Jaynes also wrote it was “not uncommon for drug traffickers to receive mail packages at different locations to avoid detection from law enforcement.”
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On May 19, Jaynes told the Public Integrity Unit in an interview he did not personally contact the postal inspector but instead spoke with Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly about Glover possibly receiving mail at Taylor’s home. Jaynes said he saw Glove leave Taylor’s apartment on Jan. 16 with a “suspected USPS package in his right hand” and he took several photos. In February, Mattingly told Jaynes Glover received Amazon and other mail packages at Taylor’s home, but nothing was considered “suspicious” by the postal inspector, Jaynes told investigators. The interview was made public as part of the investigation into Taylor’s death.
In his interview, Jaynes said Mattingly also never spoke directly with the postal inspector. Instead, Mattingly had to contact the Shivley Police Department to contact the postal inspector because of “bad blood” between the postal service and Louisville police. Two Shivley police officers confirmed to Louisville investigators they got a text from Mattingly on Jan. 17, but they later told LMPD Taylor was not receiving packages from Glover. After Taylor’s death, the Shivley police officers said they were concerned about Jaynes’ affidavit.
During the interview with the Public Integrity Unit, “Jaynes emphasized that he did not write that Glover was receiving suspicious packages but was making the point that Glover was receiving … mail at that location,” according to the summary. The unit investigators asked Janyes if it was his “intent to mislead” the judge signing off on the warrant. Jaynes said it was not, adding, “And like I said, I could have – I – I could have worded a little bit differently in there.”
About a month after Taylor died, the Shivley police officers were surprised to receive texts from Jaynes, they said. He asked them again to check if Glove received packages at Taylor’s home. One of the officers was “was confused as to why Detective Jaynes contacted him almost a month after the shooting incident inquiring about packages being delivered to the address,” according to the summary. The office thought it “seemed odd” Jaynes was asking about the packages. “It looks like you’re trying to cover your ass is what it appears to me,” the officer told investigators. Jaynes said he only contacted them to find more details while he was writing his final report on the raid of Taylor’s home.
Taylor, 26, was shot six times at around 1 a.m. on March 13, when Mattingly and Detectives Brett Hankinson and Myles Cosgrove bust into her apartment to search a no-knock search warrant. Taylor was inside with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker, who fired at the officers because he thought they were being robbed, Walker’s attorney said. Late last month, a Jefferson County grand jury charged Hankinson with three counts of wanton endangerment, but no officer was charged in Taylor’s death.
