![Kentucky judge ends case against Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
Jefferson County Circuit Judge Olu Stevens granted a motion to dismiss all charges against Kenneth Walker on Monday. Walker, who was Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, was originally charged with assault and attempted murder after shooting Louisville Metropolitan Police Officer Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg on the night that Taylor was killed in her apartment.
The charges against Walker focused around debate over whether Walker was aware that the LMPD officers who knocked down the door with a battering ram and opened fire into the apartment were police when he discharged his weapon. Walker’s attorney, Tom Wine, argued that he was acting in self defense in accordance with Kentucky’s self-defense statute when he fired a single “warning shot,” striking Mattingly.
Stevens dismissed the charges with prejudice, meaning that they will not be able to be brought against Walker in the future. In May, the charges against Walker were dismissed without prejudice, leaving open the possibility that Walker could be indicted on the same charges if the prosecution gathered more information and wished to prosecute him again. This motion now permanently closes the case against Walker in the Kentucky judicial system.