Breonna Taylor
First there were two. Now there are three. A third grand juror who reviewed the police raid of Breonna Taylor’s apartment has stepped forward, claiming that the grand jury was not allowed to consider other charges.
“After much reflection, Anonymous Grand Juror #3 has joined Anonymous Grand Jurors #1 and #2 in promoting truth and transparency regarding the Breonna Taylor case,” said a statement released through the office of Kevin Glogower, attorney for the grand jurors. “Anonymous Grand Juror #3 firmly supports the fact that no additional charges were allowed at the conclusion of their service. The legal team for the three Grand Jurors will continue to protect their anonymity and aid them in their courageous efforts.”
Louisville police shot and killed Taylor during a botched nighttime raid on March 13 at her apartment, in connection to a drug case against her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover. Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker opened fire on police. He said that he believed they were intruders. Walker shot Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly in the leg, according to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R).
Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove, and now-fired Detective Brett Hankison fired back. Walker was not shot. Taylor was. Only Hankison was indicted by the Jefferson County grand jury, and that was for three counts of wanton endangerment because he allegedly fired into a neighboring apartment occupied by other people. He has pleaded not guilty.
No evidence against Taylor was discovered in the drug case, or against Walker for that matter. Cameron called Taylor’s death a tragedy, but he supported no charges against Mattingly and Cosgrove. He maintained they were acting in self-defense and that the grand jury agreed.
Two of the grand jurors, however, soon stepped forward after Cameron’s public announcements on the case, calling out the attorney general.
“They never gave us the opportunity to deliberate on anything but the charges for Hankison,” Juror 2 told CBS This Morning‘s Gayle King in an interview that aired Wednesday. “That was it. As a matter of fact, when they announced that those were the only charges, it was an uproar in that room. There were several more charges that could’ve gone forward on all of those officers. Or at least the three shooters.”
Juror 1 said that “almost the entire room” wondered if there were options other than the wanton endangerment counts.
“Basically, in a nutshell, they said there were other possible charges that we considered, but nothing we could make stick,” he said.
Cameron told WDRB in a follow-up interview that the grand jurors could have make a decision about other charges, but the two jurors said they were not given the chance.
“I really felt that this was all Cameron,” said Juror 2. “This was up to him. We didn’t get the choice in that at all. So I was livid. By the time I heard what he was saying, everything that came out of his mouth, I was saying ‘liar.’ Because we didn’t agree to anything. We never met Cameron.”
[Image via office of Ben Crump]
