AG to Release Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Recordings After Juror Alleges He Misrepresented Deliberations

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron agreed to comply with a court order to release the grand jury recordings in the Breonna Taylor case after an anonymous juror accused him of misrepresenting the deliberations, The New York Times reports.

"The Grand Jury is meant to be a secretive body. It's apparent that the public interest in this case isn't going to allow that to happen," Cameron said in a statement.

“We have no concerns with grand jurors sharing their thoughts on our presentation because we are confident in the case we presented,” the statement said. “Once the public listens to the recording, they will see that over the course of two-and-a-half days, our team presented a thorough and complete case to the Grand Jury.”

Cameron said the evidence showed two of the officers were shot at by Taylor’s boyfriend, meaning their use of force was justified. The AG acknowledged that jurors were not given the option of charging the two officers.

“For that reason, the only charge recommended was wanton endangerment” for Det. Brett Hankison, Cameron said.

Juror raises concerns:

The release comes in response to a petition filed by an anonymous juror alleging Cameron misrepresented the deliberations.

“There is a compelling public interest for these proceedings to be released of a magnitude the city and Commonwealth have never seen before that could not be confined, weaving its way across the country,” the petition said, adding that Cameron used jurors “as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility.”

The motion said the juror fears Cameron “would attempt to utilize the court’s contempt powers … if there was a public disclosure that contradicted certain things that he stated happened during the proceedings, characterized the singularity of the decision in a different light, or raised doubts about charges that were presented during the proceedings.”

Jurors weren’t given the option of indicting officers:

Kevin Glogower, the juror’s attorney, told the Times that the juror was “unsettled” by Cameron’s claim that the grand jury agreed that the officers could not be charged with homicide, noting that they were not given the option to charge the other two officers at all.

The petition said it was "patently unjust" that Cameron "attempted to make it very clear that the grand jury alone made the decision."

"Using the grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for these decisions only sows more seeds of doubt in the process while leaving a cold chill down the spines of future grand jurors," the petition said.

 

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