Grand juror calls AG’s ‘actions’ a ‘mystery’
Court filing seeks OK to speak on Taylor case
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The only information still “shrouded in mystery” in the Breonna Taylor case are the “actions and statements” of Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s prosecutors during grand jury proceedings, according to the latest court filing in a grand juror’s quest to speak openly.
The anonymous grand juror asked Jefferson Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell to deny the state’s request to delay any potential disclosure the judge might grant until Cameron’s office has an opportunity to appeal.
O’Connell hasn’t ruled on either motion.
Kevin Glogower, the grand juror’s attorney, said in his motion that Cameron “cannot choose to part from the rules in disclosing information and then use his position to prevent others from responding to his misleading remarks.”
Though Cameron’s office argues the secrecy of grand jury proceedings is “wellfounded and based on centuries of history, practice and custom in the country and the commonwealth,” Glogower said the attorney general “opened the door” to talk “all things grand jury” when he opined about the justification of Taylor’s shooting, held a news conference and then spoke openly on news broadcasts about it.
Although audio recordings of the evidence presented to the grand jury have become public, neither the grand juror’s recommendations nor the deliberations were recorded. Those recordings indicate “conspicuous omissions” during the presentation, the motion said.
“They have placed much of the proceedings into the public realm without a fight while clinging to this antiquated application,” Glogower’s motion Sunday said.
It also points to statements about the case Cameron has made that contradict information recently released to the public.
At a Sept. 23 press conference hours after the grand jury’s decision, Cameron said that his investigation didn’t include how the no-knock warrant for Taylor apartment was obtained and that the three officers who fired their weapons at Taylor’s apartment the night police killed her had “no known involvement” in the “preceding investigation” or warrant process, Glogower wrote in the motion.
Cameron’s statement was “misleading, if not outright false,” the motion said.
Since the lawsuit was filed Sept. 28, the Louisville Metro Police Department’s internal investigation has become public and indicates that Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who was shot at Taylor’s apartment, was involved in the probe before the night she died.
Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove shot Taylor six times and killed her after her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired at them first, saying later he thought someone was breaking in.
Former Detective Brett Hankison was indicted by the grand jury on three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into an apartment next to Taylor’s that was occupied.
No one was charged in Taylor’s death.
Glogower noted Cameron’s statement about grand jurors being able to “steer the conversation in a different direction” continues to “expose” the grand jurors to public condemnation by laying responsibility for the results at their feet, the motion said.
Jurors asked questions about evidence they never got to see, according to the motion. Terms such as “reckless” and “manslaughter” weren’t stated in the 15 hours of recorded proceedings, words like “murder” and “homicide” were mentioned only a few times, and all were outside the context of Taylor’s death.