Limits of law and calls for justice at odds in Taylor case

“Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor” became a rallying cry this summer, emblazoned on Tshirts worn by celebrities and sports starswhile protesters filled the streets demanding police accountability. In the end, none of the officers were charged with Taylor’s killing, although one was indicted for shooting into a neighboring home that had people inside.

The outcome demonstrates the vast disconnect betweenwidespread public expectation of justice and the limits of the law when police use deadly force.

“Criminal law is not meant to respond to every sorrowand grief,” Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American elected to the job in Kentucky, told reporters after the grand jury announced its decision on Wednesday. “And that is, that is true here. But my heart breaks for the loss of Miss Taylor.”

Taylor, a 26-year-old Louisville emergency medical worker studying to become a nurse, was shot several times in her hallway after three plainclothes narcotics detectives busted down the door of her apartment after midnight on March 13.

Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was with her at theapartmentandfireda shot at Louisville police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly after the door was broken down. Mattingly was struck in the leg and returned fire, along withother officerswhowere outside the apartment.

The officers who opened fire on Taylor were determined by prosecutors to be justified in using force because they acted in self defense.

The grand jury’s decision was swiftly condemned by activists, celebrities and others as a shocking miscarriage of justice. Minutes after the announcement, demonstrators began tomarch down a Louisville thoroughfare, chanting “No justice, no peace.”

“The rallying cries that have been echoing throughout the nation have been once again ignored by a justice system that claims to serve the people,” said attorney Ben Crump.