Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a motion Tuesday requesting the delay of grand jury recordings in the Breonna Taylor case, claiming the unedited recordings compromise witnesses’ privacy.
According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Cameron asked Jefferson County Circuit Court to allow them an extra week to redact names and any other identifying information. Cameron’s office filed the motion before Wednesday’s deadline; The judge is expected to rule on the motion sometime Wednesday.
The prosecutor’s spokesperson told the Courier-Journal that the grand jury recording is approximately 20 hours long. Cameron’s office said a lawyer representing Hankison — the only officer charged in connection with the deadly March 13 raid — agreed with the delay.
On Tuesday, a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge ordered the release of the recording in response to a motion filed by an anonymous grand juror. The grand juror also asked the court to allow other jurors the option to relinquish their anonymity so they could speak about the case on the record, according to the news outlet.
Cameron admitted that he only recommended wanton endangerment charges against Louisville Metro Detective Myles Cosgrove, then-officer Brett Hankison, and Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly. Hankison was ultimately charged with wanton endangerment for shots he allegedly fired into Taylor’s neighbor’s home. Mattingly and Cosgrove were not charged.
KentuckY AG Daniel Cameron said Tues that he never recommended murder charges against police officers for Breonna Taylor's death. That’s different than what he said before when he said only that grand jury choose not to indict to any officer in her death. https://t.co/ZhLAkzvS06
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) September 30, 2020
In the motion, the unidentified juror accused Cameron of using the panel “as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for those decisions.” The juror also said Cameron refused to answer specific questions regarding the charges he was presenting.
On March 13, Cosgrove, Hankison, and Mattingly reportedly fatally shot Taylor, 26, while executing a search warrant at her home. The warrant was one of five police issued as they investigated Taylor’s former boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover. Glover was found 10 miles from Taylor’s apartment the same night as her shooting death, according to multiple reports.
Louisville Metro police claimed the officers announced themselves and returned gunfire to Walker. Walker was initially charged with the attempted murder of a police officer and first-degree assault, but prosecutors dropped the charges due to a lack of evidence.
In late June, Louisville Metro police Interim Chief Robert Schroeder fired officer Hankison in connection with the deadly raid. Schroeder said Hankinson “blindly” fired 10 rounds into Taylor’s apartment and the unit next door. Hankinson is in the process of appealing his termination.
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[Featured image: Breonna Taylor/Instagram]
