Taylor case records to be public
Judge orders release of grand jury deliberations; AG weighs in
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky’s attorney general acknowledged that he never recommended homicide charges against any of the police officers conducting the drug raid that led to Breonna Taylor’s death.
His comments came as a judge ordered the record released during the arraignment hearing for Officer Brett Hankison, the lone officer indicted by the grand jury.
Amid outrage over the jury’s decision last week not to charge any of the officers for Taylor’s fatal shooting, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Monday that he doesn’t object to the public release of the proceedings or to public statements by any members of the panel about their experience.
Cameron said the grand jury is meant to be a “secretive body,” but “it’s apparent that the public interest in this case isn’t going to allow that to happen.”
The attorney general said a record of the proceedings would be released Wednesday.
An attorney for Taylor’s family reiterated the need for release of the complete record.
“Since the grand jury decision was announced, we’ve been saying that Daniel Cameron clearly failed to present a comprehensive case that supported justice for Breonna,” attorney Ben Crump said in a news release Tuesday.
In his statement Monday, Cameron also revealed that the only charge he recommended to the jury was wanton endangerment. He had previously declined to say what charges he recommended.
The public also deserves to know whether any other criminal charges were explored by the grand jury aside from that recommendation, said attorney Kevin Glogower, who is representing a grand juror who sued on Monday to have the recordings released and have the panel’s members be allowed to talk publicly about their experiences.
The motion filed by the grand juror to release the panel’s proceedings accuses Cameron of “using the grand jury to deflect accountability and responsibility for (the indictment) decisions.”
The grand jury charged Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing through Taylor’s apartment into an adjacent unit with people inside.
None of the officers were indicted in the killing of Taylor.