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In a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week, Kenneth Walkerthe boyfriend of 26-year-old EMT Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police in her apartment last Marchalleges that Louisville police flagrantly violated his and Taylors Fourth Amendment rights during the violent raid. To help him make that case, he has retained two Washington constitutional law experts: former US solicitor general Donald Verrilli Jr. and Georgetown Law professor Cliff Sloan.

Its very important for him to get vindicationto get justice and accountability, says Sloan of his client. Its also a way to honor the memory and life of Breonna Taylor, and of trying to ensure that nothing like this happens again.

Taylors death, along with the killing of George Floyd, marked a turning point for the Black Lives Matter movement, and became a primary motivator of last summers racial justice demonstrations. According to Walkers complaint, he and Taylor thought her apartment was being broken into when they were disturbed by loud banging on the door after midnight on March 13, 2020. Walker alleges that Taylor repeatedly called out to the intruders to identify themselves but the officers outside never did. The lawsuit describes how the intruders burst in, and how Walker, a licensed gun-owner who believed armed assailants were in the home, fired a round. The officers, according to the complaint, responded with a fusillade, killing Taylor.

So-called no knock search warrants, says Sloan, are plainly illegal. Its a constitutional requirement that police knock and announce themselves, unless there are special circumstances, like its very dangerous. Not only were there no such circumstances in this case, says Sloan, but police got their warrant for Taylors apartment based on fraudulent information. The lawsuit alleges that a detective obtained the warrant by falsely stating hed verified that packages for a suspected drug-dealer had been sent to the address. (No drugs were found in Taylors apartment.)

Walker has several Louisville attorneys on his team, too. One of them is an old family friend of Sloans, which is how Sloan got involved. Sloan, in turn, recruited his longtime friend, Verrilli. Both DC lawyers are experienced Supreme Court advocates, which could potentially come in handy. We think that the law is clear and settled about the violation of [Walkers] constitutional rights, but were prepared to litigate this vigorously at every stage, including going to the Supreme Court if necessary, says Sloan. He points out that in past Supreme Court cases involving Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, the thing the justices have emphasized including justices like Justice Scaliais that the point of a knock-and-announce is exactly to avoid danger, and this exact situation.

Beyond Walkers specific claims, the lawsuit also alleges a pattern of problematic search warrants within the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department, and a failure to train officers in using reasonable force. Walker does not specify a damages amount.

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Senior Editor

Marisa M. Kashino joined Washingtonian in 2009 as a staff writer, and became a senior editor in 2014. She oversees the magazines real estate and home design coverage, and writes long-form feature stories. She was a 2020 Livingston Award finalist for her two-part investigation into a possible wrongful conviction stemming from a murder in rural Virginia. Kashino lives in Northeast DC.

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Two High-Powered DC Lawyers Have Jumped into the Breonna Taylor Case - Washingtonian