Tamika Palmer, the mother of the late Breonna Taylor, sent a letter to the Kentucky Prosecutor Advisory Council asking for a new independent prosecutor to be assigned to her daughter’s case. Palmer wants the new prosecutor “to present a full and unbiased case to a new grand jury,” according to a press release from her legal team.
Last month, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that former Louisville Metro Police Department Detective Brett Hankison would be charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for “blindly” shooting into the homes of Taylor’s neighbors. The other two officers — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove — were not charged in the shooting. No one was officially charged for Taylor’s death.
On Wednesday (Oct. 28), Lonita Baker, one of the family’s attorneys, said that “information provided by the brave actions of grand jurors in the case presented by AG Daniel Cameron’s office have confirmed that the presentation was flawed and not in compliance with Kentucky law.”
Earlier this week, both grand jurors spoke out in an interview with Gayle King on “CBS This Morning.” They criticized the way LMPD handled the night Taylor was fatally shot, calling their actions “negligent” and “criminal.” They also said Cameron and his office did not present them with an option to indict Hankison on homicide charges. When the jurors asked questions about additional charges, they were told there would be none because the “prosecutors didn’t feel they could make them stick,” according to grand juror No. 1.
“They were criminal leading up to this in everything that they — the way they moved forward on it, including the warrant was deception,” juror No. 2 said.
“They couldn’t even provide a risk assessment and it sounded like they hadn’t done one,” said juror No. 1. “So, their organization leading up to this was lacking. That’s what I mean by they were negligent in the operation.”
Taylor’s family hopes a new prosecutor will “restore the confidence in the grand jury process to the citizens of the commonwealth.”