Hours of audio recordings of grand jury proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case were released publicly on Friday, following demands for transparency by activists and Taylor's family. Grand jury proceedings are typically kept secret. The decision last week not to charge anyone directly in Taylor's death has led to outrage and renewed protests over police brutality and racial injustice.
The grand jury did indict now-fired Louisville officer Brett Hankison on wanton endangerment charges in the March police raid that killed the 26-year-old Black emergency medical worker for endangering Taylor's neighbors.
The grand jury issued their ruling after a two-and-a-half day presentation of investigative findings by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Cameron has described Taylor's death as a tragedy, but not a crime. He had initially declined to release the recordings, but filed them in the public court file on Friday following a judge's order. CBS News is reviewing the recordings and will update this story with what they reveal about key questions remaining in the case.
What charges did the Kentucky attorney general's office recommend to the grand jury?
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron
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The grand jury recordings are expected to confirm no murder charges were recommended against the two officers who opened fire down Taylor's hallway, killing her. Cameron had previously said in public statements and interviews that his grand jury presentation included evidence about the actions of the two officers, Det. Myles Cosgrove and Sgt. Jon Mattingly, but did not recommend charges against them. That's because Cameron said his investigation concluded Cosgrove and Mattingly were justified in opening fire because they were returning a shot fired by Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker. Walker has said he did not hear police announce themselves and opened fire because he thought someone was trying to break in.
Cameron has said he felt the only charges that could be proven in court were three counts of wanton endangerment against former officer Brett Hankison for firing shots blindly from outside Taylor's apartment, endangering her neighbors when bullets flew into their unit.
The decision not to charge anyone directly in Taylor's death has led to outrage and renewed protests over police brutality and racial injustice. Cameron has described Taylor's death as a tragedy, but not a crime.
But questions have been raised about Cameron's public depiction of what happened during the grand jury proceedings, most notably by a grand juror who in a rare move petitioned a judge to speak publicly about evidence Cameron left out. The anonymous grand juror accused Cameron in a legal filing of "using the grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for these decisions."
Following the indictment against Hankison last week, Cameron said that while there are six possible homicide charges under Kentucky law, "these charges are not applicable to the facts before us because our investigation showed -- and the grand jury agreed -- that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in the return of deadly fire after being fired upon."
Cameron initially refused to say whether he had recommended any charges against Mattingly and Cosgrove. But in an interview days later with local television station WDRB, Cameron said he did not recommend murder charges and appeared to walk back his assertion that the grand jury agreed that Cosgrove and Mattingly were justified in their actions. He implied the grand jury could have taken issue with his interpretation of the evidence if they disagreed.
Breonna Taylor
" I suppose... you know, again, the grand jury had two and a half days to ask questions, you know I suppose if they wanted to push...they're an independent body," Cameron told the station. "If they wanted to make an assessment about different charges they could have done that. But our recommendation was that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their acts, in their conduct, and that officer Hankison at least it was appropriate at this stage to charge him with wanton endangerment."
But for a grand jury to issue an indictment outside the scope of the options they are given by a prosecutor would be rare, said Cortney Lollar, a University of Kentucky College of Law professor. In Kentucky, like elsewhere, prosecutors have sole purview over what evidence and witnesses a grand jury hears, and the panel need only determine probable cause that the case against the defendant should move forward. It's a "pretty low standard," Lollar said, which is one reason for the saying that a grand jury would "indict a ham sandwich." In a jury trial, a judge would determine what evidence could and couldn't be introduced, the defense would have a chance to put on a case and the standard of conviction is guilty "beyond a reasonable doubt."
Grand jurors do have the opportunity to ask questions, and may decide not enough probable cause exists to return an indictment recommended by a prosecutor. But they typically wouldn't have knowledge of the law to the extent that they would question the indictment options a prosecutor presents and recommend more serious charges, Lollar said.
"Most grand jurors are not lawyers, they aren't experts with the legal process," Lollar said. "They're going to take a look at the evidence and the law presented to them and decide whether there's enough to charge based on what's presented to them."