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Release of Breonna Taylor grand jury recordings poses more questions than it answers

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Early reviews of recordings of the Breonna Taylor grand jury proceedings recordings released Friday portray two contrasting accounts of the event <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Two Louisville police officers testified that they knocked several times and announced themselves as police before entering Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s apt <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Jurors also heard a recording of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker telling police in an interview later that day that the plainclothes officers appeared to be intruders when they stormed the residence without warning<&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron&&num;8217&semi;s office presented evidence to the grand jury last <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>The jurors returned an indictment Sept&period; 23 containing only three criminal&comma; but non-homicide related charges against former Louisville Metro Police officer Brett Hankison <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Hankison was indicted just for the bullets he fired into a neighboring white family’s apartment<&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Significantly&comma; the jurors returned no criminal charges related to Taylor’s death<&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Cameron who declined to give details about his panel presentation&comma; said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the grand jury agreed” that Sgt&period; Jonathan Mattingly and Det&period; Myles Cosgrove &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;were justified in the return of deadly fire” after Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired first <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Subsequently&comma; a juror sued for release of the tapes accusing Cameron of deliberately misrepresenting the jury&&num;8217&semi;s proceedings <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s family also demanded the release of the tapes <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>The AG later admitted he never recommended the panel &&num;8216&semi;even consider homicide charges against the officers involved in Taylor’s death <&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<h1 class&equals;"has-text-color has-normal-font-size wp-block-heading" style&equals;"color&colon;&num;485257"><strong>Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump&comma; who is representing Taylor’s family&comma; called on Kentucky Gov&period; Andy Beshear to &&num;8216&semi;start from scratch with a new investigation&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;strong><&sol;h1>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Breonna-Taylor-grand-jury-recordings-released-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-355841"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Dissatisfaction and protests continue even after recordings from the grand jury investigation into the Breonna Taylor police shooting case have been released in a rare disclosure<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Recordings from the grand jury investigation into the Breonna Taylor police shooting case have been released in a rare disclosure&period;<br>Some 15 hours of audio were made public on Friday&comma; following a lawsuit&period;<br>The recent decision not to charge any officers for Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s March 13&comma; killing renewed outcry over racial inequities&period;<br>Unrest gripped the victim&&num;8217&semi;s hometown of Louisville&comma; Kentucky for days afterward&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;06&sol;Breonna-Taylor-9&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-349613" width&equals;"568" height&equals;"710"&sol;><figcaption><strong>26-year-old an emergency room technician Breonna Taylor&comma; &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; was killed March 13 after three LMPD officers serving a no knock warrant peppered her apt with bullets<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The audio released on Friday highlighted the fact that not all the details have yet been reviewed&comma; but early reviews of the tapes reveal testimony from at least two Louisville police officers who said that they knocked several times and announced themselves as police before entering Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s apartment&period;<br>Louisville Metro Police Lt&period; Shawn Hoover claimed in a recorded interview also played for the panel that the officers knocked a total of three times&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We knocked on the door&comma; said &OpenCurlyQuote;police&comma;’ waited I don’t know&comma; 10 or 15 seconds&period; Knocked again&comma; said &OpenCurlyQuote;police&comma;’ waited even longer&comma;” Hoover said in the interview also recorded later in the day on March 13&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;So it was the third time that we were approaching&comma; it had been like 45 seconds if not a minute&comma;” Hoover said&period; <br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;And then I said&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Let’s go&comma; let’s breach it&period;’”<br>Whether or not the officers announced themselves before entering has been questioned by a number of Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s neighbors and her boyfriend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;breonna-Taylor-and-her-boyfriend-Kenneth-Walker-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-354484"&sol;><figcaption><strong> Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker seen &lbrack;right&rsqb;&comma; with Taylor&comma; said in his police interview later that day that the plainclothes officers appeared to be intruders when they stormed the residence without warning in the early hours of March 13<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>But jurors also heard a recording of Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker telling police in an interview later that day that the plainclothes officers appeared to be intruders when they stormed the residence without warning&period;<br>Walker&comma; 27&comma; said he and Taylor&comma; 26&comma; never heard the cops identify themselves&period; If they had&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;it changes the whole situation because there was nothing for us to be scared of&comma;” he said&comma; according to the redacted grand jury recordings&period;<br>Grand jury deliberations and prosecutor recommendations were not recorded&comma; and so were not included in the released material&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Daniel-Mattingly-left-Brett-Hankison-and-Myles-Cusgrove-right-3-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"This image has an empty alt attribute&semi; its file name is Daniel-Mattingly-left-Brett-Hankison-and-Myles-Cusgrove-right-3-1024x576&period;jpg"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Breonna Taylor&comma; who is black was killed when LMPD officers &comma; Jonathan Mattingly &lbrack;left&rsqb;&comma; Brett Hankison&comma; and Myles Cosgrove &lbrack;right&rsqb; stormed her Louisville home&period; Cosgrove&comma; ballistics found&comma; fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor&period; AG Cameron did not recommend that the jury bring any charges against Mattingly or Cosgrove <&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The death of Breonna Taylor&comma; a 26-year-old emergency room technician&comma; during a police raid in March has been a high-profile case&comma; inspiring protests against police misconduct and racial inequality&period;<br>Taylor&comma; who is black was killed when Louisville Metropolitan Police officers Brett Hankison&comma; Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove stormed her Louisville home&period; <br>They were executing a &&num;8216&semi;No knock&&num;8217&semi; search warrant as part of a drugs investigation&comma; but no drugs were found on the property&period; <br>The facts presented to convince the judge who signed the warrant have been flagged as dubious&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;Brett-Hankison-5-1024x682&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-355848"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Brett Hankison who has been fired&comma; last week &comma; was charged with wanton endangerment for firing shots into an adjoining apartment&comma; but no-one was charged in connection with Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s death<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Last week&comma; Hankison was charged with wanton endangerment for firing shots into an adjoining apartment&comma; but no-one was charged in connection with Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s death&period;<br>The decision not to charge any officer with murder or manslaughter has led to repeated Black Lives Matter protests in Louisville and elsewhere&period;<br>It also prompted questions over the handling of the case by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron&comma; with critics calling for greater transparency&period;<br>Grand jury proceedings&comma; are normally kept secret&comma; but the convention was set aside after the state Attorney General&&num;8217&semi;s office presented evidence to the grand jury last week and the panel of jurors returned an indictment Sept&period; 23 containing only three criminal &comma; but non-homicide related charges against former Louisville Metro Police officer Brett Hankison<br>Hankison was indicted just for the bullets he fired into a neighboring white family’s apartment&period;<br>Notably&comma; the jurors returned no criminal charges related to Taylor’s death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;Daniel-Cameron1-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-355527"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented the grand jury decision<&sol;strong> <strong>to the media following the return of a grand jury investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor&comma; in Frankfort&comma; Ky&period;&comma; Wednesday&comma; Sept&period; 23&comma; 2020<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Announcing the jury findings at a press conference last week&comma; Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron declined to give details about his panel presentation but said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;the grand jury agreed” that Sgt&period; Jonathan Mattingly and Det&period; Myles Cosgrove &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;were justified in the return of deadly fire” after Walker allegedly held up a gun and fired first with Taylor by his side&period;<br>However&comma; a juror sued for their release after Cameron announced last month that none of the officers involved in Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s death would be charged for her killing&period;<br>The unnamed grand juror questioned public comments made by AG Cameron&comma; prompting the lawsuit&period; The juror accused the attorney general of using the proceedings as &&num;8220&semi;a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility&&num;8221&semi;&period;<br>Taylor&&num;8217&semi;s family also demanded the release of the tapes&period;<br>A statement from the family and their lawyers said the grand juror&&num;8217&semi;s actions supported their belief that Cameron had misrepresented the jury&&num;8217&semi;s deliberations&period;<br>&&num;8220&semi;We urge the attorney general to release a complete and unedited copy of the recording&comma; along with any and all evidence&comma;&&num;8221&semi; it read&period;<br>Cameron agreed to comply with a judge&&num;8217&semi;s orders to release the tapes&comma; telling reporters&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Once the public listens to the recording&comma; they will see that over the course of two-and-a-half-days&comma; our team presented a thorough and complete case to the grand jury&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;Reaction-to-Grand-Jury-dismissal-of-Breonna-Taylor-murder-case-against-Louiville-police-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-355125"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Impassioned protests flared up in Louisville immediately following the grand jury decision on sept 23<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>Cameron later admitted he never recommended the panel &&num;8216&semi;even consider homicide charges&nbsp&semi;against the officers involved in Taylor’s death&period; <br>This admission is significant because&comma; while grand juries do have broad power to subpoena&comma; ask questions and return charges&comma; they rarely take control of the process in that way and generally follow the lead of prosecutors&period;<br>According to Cameron’s office&comma; his recommendations to the grand jury were not recorded&comma; so they were not part of the hours of material released Friday&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I’m confident that once the public listens to the recordings&comma; they will see that our team presented a thorough case to the Jefferson County Grand Jury&comma;” Cameron said in a statement Friday&period; <br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our presentation followed the facts and the evidence&comma; and the Grand Jury was given a complete picture of the events surrounding Ms&period; Taylor’s death on March 13th&period; While it is unusual for a court to require the release of the recordings from Grand Jury proceedings&comma; we complied with the order&comma; rather than challenging it&comma; so that the full truth can be heard&period;”<br>Cameron&&num;8217&semi;s office filed a redacted version of the recording on Friday&comma; with the personal information of those involved deleted&period; These edits removed nearly four minutes of audio&comma; according to court documents&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;09&sol;Protests-in-Louisville-KY-after-grand-jury-decision-on-Breonna-Taylor-killing-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-355148"&sol;><figcaption><strong>Police and protesters clash in Louisville following the grand jury decision<&sol;strong><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p>The city of Louisville agreed to pay the Taylor family a &dollar;12m settlement&comma; and Hankison pleaded not guilty to the wanton endangerment charges on Monday&period;<br>If found guilty&comma; the former police officer faces a five-year sentence for each of the three counts&period; He was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in June&period;<br>The two other officers who took part in the raid &&num;8211&semi; Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove &&num;8211&semi; were reassigned to administrative duties&period;<br>Civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump&comma; who is representing Taylor’s family&comma; called on Kentucky Gov&period; Andy Beshear to start from scratch with a new investigation&period;<br>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It’s CLEAR &commat;KYOAG wasn’t an unbiased prosecutor for the grand jury proceedings involving Breonna Taylor&period; Bre’s life mattered&period; She deserves justice &amp&semi; accountability&period; Urge&nbsp&semi;<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;twitter&period;com&sol;GovAndyBeshear">&commat;GovAndyBeshear<&sol;a>&nbsp&semi;to honor her life by reopening her case with a new prosecutor&comma;” he tweeted Thursday&period;<br><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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