/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5f73d6f4963ead7804cc2062/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=7895&cropY1=0&cropY2=5264&w=1200&resize=1200,800&ssl=1 "Kentucky AG Didn’t Recommend Grand Jury Bring Murder Charges In Breonna Taylor’s Death")
Topline
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron acknowledged in a television interview Tuesday that his office did not recommend that a grand jury hearing testimony in the Louisville police shooting death of Breonna Taylor issue charges against the two officers whose bullets hit Taylor, arguing that it would have been “not appropriate,” because Taylor’s boyfriend, who said he feared the couple was facing a home invasion, fired first.
A woman looks at the Breonna Taylor memorial in Jefferson Square Park as people prepare to march for … [+]
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Key Facts
Cameron’s interview came hours before recordings of the grand jury testimony were scheduled to be made public on Wednesday, and it follows days of protests by activists and Taylor’s family after the grand jury did not recommend any charges in the death of Taylor, the only person killed in the incident.
When asked by WDRB reporter Lawrence Smith if he had recommended any charges directly for Taylor’s death, Cameron responded, “basically your question is if we recommended any murder charges against [Detective Myles Cosgrove and Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly] and the answer is no. Ultimately our judgment is that the charge that we could prove at trial beyond a reasonable doubt was wanton endangerment against” fired former Detective Brett Hankison.
He said in the interview that that grand jury was “an independent body,” adding “if they wanted to make an assessment about different charges they could’ve done that but our recommendation was that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their acts and their conduct.”
During a lengthy statement and news conference following last week’s decision of the grand jury to issue only an indictment against Hankison, for shots that went into a neighboring apartment, Cameron put the onus on the grand jury for the charging decisions.
“The response is that the grand jury was given all of the evidence, presented all of the information and ultimately made the determination that Detective Hankison was the one to be indicted,” he said shortly after the indictments were announced, leading to “outrage” among Taylor’s family and attorneys.
Cameron’s office has declined to answer questions from Forbes and after his lengthy statement last week he had been mostly silent about the charges; he moved to release the grand jury recording after an unnamed jury member filed a court motion Monday seeking their release “so that the truth may prevail.”
What To Watch For
The grand jury testimony is scheduled to be released before noon Wednesday, but it was not immediately clear if the testimony would be contained in a transcript or audio recording.
Key Background
Taylor was killed March 13 when police, executing a search warrant in a drug investigation related to her ex-boyfriend, broke down the door. After Walker fired once, and Mattingly was struck in the leg, all three officers fired more than 20 rounds into the apartment and six bullets struck Taylor, who was not armed. After the grand jury decision, Cameron said, “While there are six possible homicide charges under Kentucky law, these charges are not applicable to the facts before us because our investigation showed and the grand jury agreed that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in the return of deadly fire after having been fired upon by Kenneth Walker.” A major dispute between police and Taylor’s family since the shooting has been whether police announced their presence; police say they did, Walker said he and Taylor did not hear an announcement. Cameron said one witness corroborated that the police identified themselves, but he left out that the witness had changed his story and previously said he hadn’t heard anything, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. Cameron said Tuesday the grand jury was “provided all the information about the discrepancies in the testimony of the one neighbor who said he heard it.” In his statement last week Cameron said “they got to hear and listened to all the testimony and made the determination that Detective Hankison was the one that needed to be indicted knowing all of the relative points,” about the statements from at least a dozen neighbors who said they did not hear an announcement.
Further Reading
Prosecutors Have ‘No Concerns’ About Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Tape’s Release (Forbes)
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