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The police officers connected to the tragic shooting death of Breonna Taylor never faced murder charges because the Kentucky Attorney General didn’t give jurors that option. A grand juror has since come forth saying that AG Daniel Cameron misrepresented deliberations in the case thus misleading the public.
The New York Times reports that the juror stated to their attorney Kevin Glogower that they were dismayed by the lack of an indictment to be deliberated upon regarding the officers’ alleged crime. Only former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Brett Hankison was presented to the 12-member panel with possible charges.
From the Times:
Mr. Glogower said the juror came to him last week in a state of turmoil after Mr. Cameron repeatedly said at a news conference that the law did not permit him to charge Sgt. Jon Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove, the two white officers who shot Ms. Taylor, a Black woman, after one officer was shot by her boyfriend — and that the jury had agreed with him.
“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,” Mr. Cameron said, one of several moments in the news conference where he emphasized such a consensus.
The outlet adds in its reporting that Mattingly and Cosgrove were possibly spared from heavier charges due to Kentucky’s self-defense laws considering reports that Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired the first shots and struck an officer, with the police returning fire as Taylor slept.
Cameron has publicly said that the grand jury deliberations will be made public.
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