The audio recordings from the secret grand jury deliberations about Breonna Taylor’s death have been released. After requesting a one-week extension, a judge instead mandated that Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron release the tapes by noon on Friday (Oct. 2). According to CNN, Cameron produced almost 15 hours of recordings, despite him previously saying the tapes were over 20 hours long.
Protests broke out last Wednesday (Sept. 23) after the grand jury indicted ex-officer Brett Hankison on three counts of wanton endangerment for firing his gun into Taylor’s neighboring homes. The two other cops who fired their weapons — Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly — were not indicted. None of the involved officers were directly charged with Taylor’s killing.
The outcome has prompted activists to question what evidence Cameron’s team presented the grand jury. Earlier this week, one juror sued for the audio recordings to be released and for the right to speak publicly about the case. At first, Cameron refused to release the tapes, but a judge agreed with the juror. Then, Cameron asked for an extension to redact jurors’ personal information, but was only given until Friday.
“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,” the AG previously said, adding that he has “no concerns” about the public listening to the tapes.
The highly anticipated audio arrives after Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear accused Cameron of providing “contradictory statements” about the interviews conducted during the investigation and the evidence presented to the grand jury.
Similarly, Kevin Glogower, the attorney of the juror who sued for the release of the tapes, said Cameron was using the jury as a “shield”.
“The full story and absolute truth of how this matter was handled from beginning to end is now an issue of great public interest and has become a large part of the discussion of public trust throughout the country,” he said.
Glogower also stressed the importance of the public knowing what charging options were presented to the jury. Cameron has said that his investigation found no criminal charges could be pressed against Cosgrove and Mattingly, due to Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker firing his gun and Kentucky’s self-defense law. At the time, Cameron said that Walker’s warning shot hit Mattingly in the leg. However, this claim has since been contested by new evidence.