Juror on Taylor grand jury speaks out

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The grand jury never deliberated whether homicide or other charges were justified against the police officers in the Breonna Taylor case because they were never given the chance, an anonymous juror said in a statement Tuesday.

“The grand jury was not presented any charges other that the three Wanton Endangerment charges against Detective Brett Hankison,” the grand juror said. “The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them. The grand jury never heard anything about those laws.

“Questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn’t feel they could make them stick.”

The statement was released by the Glogower Law Office after Jefferson Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell issued a 10-page ruling on a motion allowing the grand juror to speak.

O’Connell officially dismissed a grand juror’s motion to publicly speak about Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s handling of the investigation.

But Jefferson Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell’s 10-page ruling left the door open to the grand juror refiling the motion.

O’Connell also rejected Cameron’s argument that releasing a copy of the grand jury proceedings would “destroy the principle of secrecy that serves as the foundation of the grand jury system.”

She noted that another judge, Ann Bailey Smith, already ordered the grand jury recordings to be made public in the case against fired Louisville Metro Police Detective Hankison.

O’Connell also said Cameron has made “multiple public statements and characterizations about the grand jury and the resulting indictment” of Hankison.

Neither Cameron’s office nor attorney Kevin Glogower, who represents two grand jurors who want to speak out, immediately responded to requests for comments.

Cameron decided for the grand jury that the two other officers involved in Taylor’s March 13 death – Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove – acted in self defense when they returned fire after Mattingly was hit once by a shot fired by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.