THIRD juror in case against Breonna Taylor cop confirms the jury were never presented with murder charges
A third anonymous juror has come forward to accuse the attorney general of Kentucky of misleading the public when he described the jury's findings in the Breonna Taylor Case.
Daniel Cameron, the attorney general, said on September 23 that the grand jury had decided to charge one of the three officers involved in the shooting with wanton endangerment.
He announced that the officer could not be charged with homicide because their actions were found to be in self defense after Taylor's boyfriend opened fire on police first on the night of March 13.
On Wednesday two jurors spoke out to contest his version of events, saying that the panel was not even given the option to consider homicide charges.
On Friday a third member of the jury joined them in expressing concern at Cameron's implication that murder charges were ruled out by the jury.
Breonna Taylor, 26, was shot and killed in her own home by Louisville police on March 13
The Louisville home of Breonna Taylor, strewn with bullet casings after the shooting
'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 the law firm representing all three, the Glogower Law Office.
They said that the third juror agreed with her colleagues, and 'firmly supports the fact that no additional charges were allowed'.
Calls for the grand jury records to be released to the public are growing after jurors disputed Cameron's assessment of the case.
The three were all driven to speak out following Cameron's summary of their findings, at the September 23 press conference.
He had hoped to draw a line under the initial investigation into Taylor's killing, but his remarks have only heightened concern in Kentucky that the three officers involved were somehow being shielded.
The three Louisville Metropolitan Police Department (LMPD) officers fired their guns during a drugs raid on Taylor's Louisville apartment in March, leaving the 26-year-old bleeding to death on the floor of her hallway.
The jurors dispute Cameron's claim that more charges than the three counts of wanton endangerment against former Detective Brett Hankison were available to them.
They also said homicide charges were not explained to them, contradicting Cameron.
Two jurors spoke out against the grand jury's decision not to directly charge any of the Louisville officers with Breonna Taylor's death in an interview with CBS This Morning
The jury members described the officers' actions as 'criminal' and 'negligent'
The juror said the panel was only presented with wanton endangerment charges against one of the three Louisville Metro Police Department officers who served a no-knock narcotics warrant at Taylor's apartment on March 13. That officer, Brett Hankison (left), was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighbors home during the botched raid. The other officers, Myles Cosgrove (center) and John Mattingly (right), were not charged
#EXCLUSIVE: Two of the grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case are speaking out for the first time with @GayleKing.
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) October 27, 2020
Watch more on @CBSThisMorning Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/S1kLvE9e6t
Juror No. 1 said the jury was told the homicide charges would not be included because 'the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick.'
He described the officers' actions as 'negligent', saying they 'couldn't even provide a risk assessment and it sounded like they hadn't done one.'
'So their organization leading up to this [the raid] was lacking - that's what I mean by they were negligent in the operation,' he told CBS's Gayle King.
Juror No. 2 said he believed the officers' actions leading up to the shooting were 'criminal.'
'The way they moved forward on it, including the warrant, was deception,' he said.
Cameron had argued that the officers were justified in firing into Taylor's apartment because her boyfriend Walker (left with her) shot at them first
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (pictured) has acknowledged wanton endangerment was the only charge recommended to the grand jury but said prosecutors 'walked the grand jury through every homicide offense'
Cameron previously acknowledged wanton endangerment was the only charge recommended to the jury.
He claimed, however, that prosecutors 'walked the grand jury through every homicide offense'.
He also said 'the grand jury agreed' that the officers who shot Taylor were 'justified' in returning fire after they were shot at by Kenneth Walker, Taylor's boyfriend.
The first anonymous grand juror challenged Cameron's comments, saying: '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.'
'Questions were asked about additional charges and the grand jury was told there would be none because the prosecutors didn't feel they could make them stick'.
Members of the grand jury panel were given the green light to speak publicly under a ruling from Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Annie O'Connell.
In the same ruling, O'Connell ordered the release of grand jury records, citing the need to show if 'publicly elected officials are being honest'.
'This is a rare and extraordinary example of a case where, at the time this motion is made, the historical reasons for preserving grand jury secrecy are null,' O'Connell wrote in the ruling.
O'Connell said she made her decision after considering 'the interest of citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky to be assured that its publicly elected officials are being honest in their representations'.
Cameron had opposed allowing grand jurors to speak about the proceedings in court, but said he would not appeal the judge's ruling.
Grand juries are typically secret meetings, though earlier this month the audio recordings of the proceedings in the Taylor case were released publicly.
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