Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed in her home by plainclothes Louisville, Kentucky, police officers (Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove) in March, has become a national symbol of the vulnerability of Black women and police impunity in the deaths of Black people. Louisville prosecutors, meanwhile, have been working hard to prosecute Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover. According to The Washington Post, Glover’s “suspected drug trafficking led police to raid her apartment and fatally shoot her,” even though Glover didn’t live with Taylor.

Reports The Post:

Taylor’s family and lawyers have insisted she had nothing to do with Jamarcus Glover’s alleged crimes. With little evidence against her and no previous criminal record, they say, she was only pulled into the case through her ties to Glover, whom she had cut off before her killing.

In spite of these facts, Louisville prosecutors offered Glover a plea bargain that would potentially allow him to turn a 10-year sentence into probation, according to The Post. That agreement stated that “Taylor had participated in his ‘organized crime syndicate,’ according to records first reported by WDRB television on Monday.”

Scott Barton, Glover’s attorney, told The Post prosecutors later agreed to provide an alternate agreement that didn’t name Taylor. Barton also said they never suggested that removing Taylor’s name would impact the deal. 

The Post reports:

But Glover told the Louisville Courier-Journal in a Monday night interview that officials wanted him to falsely impugn Taylor, and Sam Aguiar, a Louisville attorney representing Taylor’s family in a wrongful-death lawsuit, slammed the offer, calling it part of a smear campaign.

Aguiar said the offer shows local officials are “desperate” to justify Taylor’s killing: “Shame on that office,” Aguiar wrote on Facebook. “She’s dead. Way to try and attack a woman when she’s not even here to defend herself.”

Tom Wine, the Jefferson County commonwealth’s attorney, told The Post that the initial offer was just a draft and that Taylor would have never been indicted as a “co-defendant,” even though that is how she is under “Facts of the case,” according to The Post. 

According to The Post:

Glover, 30, who has vouched for Taylor’s innocence, failed to show up to court to accept any plea deal. But news of the offer has inflamed tensions as Glover’s case—and by proxy, the events that led up to Taylor’s killing—continues to make its way through the courts, and protesters continue demanding accountability. 

As Colorlines previously reported, Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker III, was with Taylor when she was fatally shot and fired back at officers in what he claims was self-defense. Walker, 27, “was arrested and charged with assault and attempted murder on a police officer.” On Tuesday (September 1), Walker filed a $10.5 million lawsuit that says he "lives in constant fear" since his “wrongful” arrest, CNN reports. 

"The charges brought against me were meant to silence me and cover up Breonna’s murder," CNN reports Walker saying.

Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend sues Louisville police, accusing them of false arrest https://t.co/SfXW69Ez3S

rn— Courier Journal (@courierjournal) September 1, 2020

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Reports CNN:

Walker, 28, who according to the lawsuit is a licensed gun owner, should not have been arrested for allegedly shooting Sgt. Jon Mattingly in the thigh, according to [Walker’s attorney Steven] Romines. Walker was charged with attempted murder, but that charge was later dropped, pending the outcome of what Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine called "additional investigation" by the state and FBI.

"Kenny was clearly acting in self-defense, that he had every right to do, and they knew that yet they charged him anyway because if he’s convicted it justifies their actions," attorney Romines told CNN.