Breonna Taylor grand jurors say police actions were 'negligent' and 'criminal'

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Two grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case said the actions of Louisville, Kentucky, police officers the day of the botched raid at her apartment were "negligent" and "criminal."

"They couldn't even provide a risk assessment," one of the anonymous grand jurors, identified as juror one, said in an interview scheduled to air Wednesday on "CBS This Morning." "And it sounded like they hadn't done one."

Taylor was fatally shot by police during a narcotics raid.

CBS News' Gayle King asked the two jurors what they "thought of the police behavior and actions" on March 13, according to a part of the interview released Tuesday. The jurors' faces were blurred. They are the first of the 12 people impaneled for the grand jury to speak publicly.

"So their organization leading up to this was lacking," juror one said. "That's what I mean by they were negligent in the operation."

The other anonymous juror said that police were "criminal" leading up to the raid and that "the way they moved forward on it, including the warrant, was deception."

A spokeswoman for Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron declined to comment Tuesday.

An anonymous grand juror had requested a judge's permission to speak publicly after Cameron announced last month that no officers would be directly charged in Taylor's death. The grand juror said the jury was not given the option to consider homicide charges, the juror's attorney, Kevin Glogower, said in September. The anonymous grand juror accused Cameron of using the grand jury "as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility" and of planting "more seeds of doubt in the process."

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron addresses the media in Frankfort, Ky., on Sept. 23 following the return of a grand jury investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor. Timothy D. Easley / AP file

On Oct. 20, a judge granted grand jurors permission to speak publicly. Cameron, who in court had opposed allowing grand jurors to speak about the proceedings, said he would not appeal the decision.

"As Special Prosecutor, it was my decision to ask for an indictment on charges that could be proven under Kentucky law," Cameron said in a statement Oct. 20. "Indictments obtained in the absence of sufficient proof under the law do not stand up and are not fundamentally fair to anyone."

Cameron had argued that allowing a grand juror to speak could "destroy the principle of secrecy that serves as the foundation of the grand jury system."

"Questions were asked about the additional charges, and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick," the grand juror said in a statement after the judge's decision. "The grand jury didn't agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges in the Breonna Taylor case."

In a separate statement, another grand juror represented by Glogower said they were "pleased" with the judge's ruling and "will be discussing possible next steps with counsel."

The grand jury charged a former Louisville police detective, Brett Hankison, with three counts of wanton endangerment. He is accused of firing blindly into an apartment and recklessly endangering Taylor's neighbors; he has pleaded not guilty.

Hankison was fired in June for "wantonly and blindly" firing into the apartment, according to his termination letter.

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Cameron announced the results of the grand jury investigation Sept. 23, saying "the grand jury agreed" that the officers who shot Taylor, Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, were justified in returning fire after they were shot at by her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker. Cameron said Walker's lone gunshot struck Mattingly in the leg.

Walker fired a shot at the front door, according to police. Walker, who had a license to carry firearms, has said he believed the operation was a home invasion.

Officers opened fire, hitting Taylor six times. Officers insist that they knocked and announced who they were.

KinderKarl on October 29th, 2020 at 02:29 UTC »

Outside prosecutors should be brought in to work on cases where officers are accused of wrongdoing. A local prosecutor needs local police cooperation in order to win their cases for 99% of their job. They're basically on the same team. It's no surprise (but still shameful) that they let police officers off the hook when they murder citizens.

EagleForty on October 29th, 2020 at 00:52 UTC »

What the hell did the AG think was going to happen when he pulled this bullshit?

Opposite_Channel on October 29th, 2020 at 00:07 UTC »

This is a surprise to no one but perhaps the Attorney General.