Court to release grand jury record
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, and said he didn’t object to a public release of the grand jur y’s deliberations.
Amid outrage over the jury’s decision last week to not charge any of the officers for Taylor’s fatal shooting, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Monday that he also did not object to members of the panel speaking publicly about their experience.
“We have no concerns with grand jurors sharing their thoughts on our presentation because we are confident in the case we presented,” Cameron said in a written statement.
Cameron also revealed late Monday that the only charge he recommended to the grand jury was that of wanton endangerment. He had previously declined to say what charges he recommended.
The grand jury last week charged Officer Brett Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing through Taylor’s apar tment into an adjacent unit with people inside. No one in the adjacent unit was injured. Hankison, who was fired from the force for his actions during the raid, pleaded not guilty on Monday.
None of the officers was indicted in the killing of Taylor, who was shot five times after they knocked down her door to serve a narcotics warrant on March 13.
In a TV interview Tuesday evening, Cameron also indicated that he had recommended no charges against the other of ficers, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove.
Speaking to WDRB-TV in Louisville, he remarked of the grand jury, “They’re an independent body. If they wanted to make an assessment about different charges, they could have done that. But our recommendation was that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their acts and their conduct.”
At a news conference last week, Cameron said Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in firing their weapons because Taylor’s boyfriend had fired at them first. Mattingly was struck by a bullet in the leg. There was no conclusive evidence that any of Hankison’s bullets hit Taylor, Cameron said.
“For that reason, the only charge recommended was wanton endangerment,” he said.
He also said at the news conference that prosecutors “walked them (the grand jury) through every homicide offense and also presented all of the information that was available to the grand jur y.”
A judge ordered the public release of the grand jur y proceedings during Hankison’s arraignment Monday.
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.”