The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday filed a request to end the criminal case against two former Louisville Metro Police Department officers who obtained the no-knock search warrant used by police in the raid on the home of Breonna Taylor that led to her fatal shooting in March 2020.

J. Katie Neff, who is the acting head of the criminal section of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, told a federal judge in Kentucky that the department was seeking to end a combined criminal case against former detective Joshua Jaynes and former police sergeant Kyle Meany.

"In light of the foregoing proceedings, the Government undertook a further review of this matter," Neff said in the motion. "Based on that review, and in the exercise of its discretion, the Government has determined that this case should be dismissed in the interest of justice pursuant to Rule 48(a)."

A federal grand jury charged the pair together in an indictment in August 2022, alleging Jaynes and Meany deprived Breonna Taylor's rights as a result of the raid on her home. The indictment also alleges Jaynes engaged in a conspiracy and falsified records, and that Meany made a false statement to federal investigators about the incident.

Federal prosecutors in October 2024 filed a superseding indictment outlining the role that Jaynes and Meany allegedly had in the raid on Taylor's home. Prosecutors allege that both officers knew the information in the warrant for Taylor's home was out of date and that police lacked probable cause to search the home.

Michael M. Denbow, a partner in the white collar practice at Stites & Harbison PLLC who represents Meany, read a statement to Law360 over the telephone saying that his client is pleased with the decision from the DOJ officials.

"Kyle is incredibly grateful for today's filings. He is looking forward to putting this matter behind him and moving forward with his life," Denbow said.

Travis B. Lock, an attorney representing Jaynes, told Law360 in a text message that the motion must now be ruled on by a federal judge in Kentucky before the charges against his client are finally dropped.

"We are very happy with this development," Lock said. "Until the court rules on the motion, we are unable to comment further."

The motion to dismiss was also signed by Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, and Robert J. Keenan, an acting assistant attorney general with the division. No prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky, where the case was filed, signed Friday's motion.

Keenan has become heavily involved in cases involving police misconduct, including the federal investigations following the killing of Taylor. Keenan personally signed a memo requesting a one-day jail sentence for former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison, who was charged with firing shots into Taylor's home the night she died.

Federal prosecutors claimed in the October 2024 indictment that Jaynes and Meany were largely responsible for an investigation that led to the raid on Taylor's home. The indictment said that the officers fabricated information in affidavits as part of an investigation into Jamarcus Glover, who they claimed was frequently at Taylor's home.

Prosecutors alleged that Jaynes lied in a warrant affidavit that he had verified with U.S. Postal inspectors that Glover received packages at Taylor's house. The October 2024 indictment said the opposite was actually true, with inspectors telling Jaynes that there was no record of Glover receiving mail at Taylor's address.

The indictment also alleged that Meany had information that could have prevented the killing of Taylor including that there were possibly firearms in her home. Prosecutors claimed that Meany knew that a person with a concealed weapons permit had been around Taylor's home, but failed to disclose this during a briefing prior to the raid, the indictment said.

Ben Crump, who represents the family of Breonna Taylor, said in a statement that the decision by the Department of Justice "sends a chilling message about the value of Black lives in our country."

"The warrant that sent officers to Breonna's door has always been at the center of this tragedy and it deserves no less than the highest level of accountability," the statement said. "We cannot accept a reality where a young woman can be killed in her own home and no one is held responsible under the law. That is not justice. That is injustice compounded."

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Justice told Law360 in a statement that the decision to charge the two officers was inappropriate because they were not involved in the raid, only the drafting of the initial search warrant.

"Neither of these officers was present during the shooting, and a district court has already repeatedly dismissed the most serious charges as completely unsupportable," the DOJ statement said. "These cases represented the kind of inappropriate, weaponized federal overreach that this Department of Justice no longer tolerates."

The government is represented by Robert J. Keenan, Jeri Neff and Michael Songer of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Meany is represented by Michael M. Denbow of Stites & Harbison PLLC.

Jaynes is represented by Thomas E. Clay of Clay & Daniel LLC and by Travis B. Lock of Travis B. Lock Attorney at Law.

The case is USA v. Jaynes et al., case number 3:22-cr-00085, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky.

--Editing by Emily Kokoll.