Kentucky AG Ordered to Release Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Tapes After Juror Demands 'Full Story and Absolute Truth'

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Monday night that his office will comply with a judge's order to release the recording of the grand jury's proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case by noon on Wednesday after an anonymous grand juror filed a lawsuit Monday afternoon with the Jefferson County Circuit Court demanding that the transcripts and tapes be disclosed to the public so "the truth may prevail."

"The full story and absolute truth of how this matter was handled from beginning to end is now an issue of great public interest."
--Kevin Glogower, attorney for unidentified grand juror

On Monday night, Washington Post journalist Radley Balko shared via Twitter a scanned copy of a motion (pdf) filed by a member of the Breonna Taylor grand jury asking a judge to release the complete proceedings of the case.

According to Balko, the motion "strongly suggests that Attorney General Cameron's public comments contradict what was presented to the grand jury" and "essentially accuses Cameron of hiding behind grand jury secrecy while misleading the public about evidence the grand jury actually saw."

"The Attorney General publicly made many statements that referenced what the grand jury heard and decisions that were made based on what certain witnesses said," the motion filed by the anonymous grand juror and written by attorney Kevin Glogower states. "He further laid those decisions at the feet of the grand jury while failing to answer specific questions regarding the charges presented."

Glogower continues: "Attorney General Cameron attempted to make it very clear that the grand jury alone made the decision on who and what to charge based solely on the evidence presented to them. The only exception to the responsibility he foisted upon the grand jurors was in his statement that they 'agreed' with his team's investigation that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their actions."

Last week, the grand jury indicted former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison with three counts of "wanton endangerment" for firing bullets into the apartments of Breonna Taylor's white neighbors--but not her equally endangered Black neighbors--while neither sergeant Jonathan Mattingly nor detective Myles Cosgrove, the officers who fatally shot the 26-year-old emergency room technician in her home, were charged for murder.

Many commentators decried the grand jury's "outrageous and offensive" decision to only charge the one officer who missed a real human being while hitting real estate, which was described as a manifestation of valuing property over people and a racist miscarriage of justice that is one more example of a "criminal legal system... rotten to the core."

Since the grand jury failed to charge any police officers for killing Breonna Taylor, protesters across the country have taken to the streets to declare that "the whole damn system is guilty as hell," a fact not lost on the anonymous grand juror who requested that all of the transcripts and tapes be released.

Grand jurors "do not get to hide behind any entity, person, or office," the motion states, so AG Cameron's decision to use them "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 spine of future grand jurors."

Glogower argues that the nationwide expressions of a "lack of faith in the process" in the Breonna Taylor case and in "the justice system itself" render it necessary, as a matter of justice, to transform the details that AG Cameron repeatedly said would remain secret into public information through a full disclosure of the grand jury records.

"When the highest law enforcement official fails to answer questions and instead refers to the grand jury making decisions...there is a compelling public interest for these proceedings to be released," the motion states.

Louisville Courier Journal reporters Darcy Costello and Tessa Duvall shared via Twitter AG Cameron's statement written late Monday night in response to Glogower's filing, in which he reiterates that "our prosecutors presented all of the evidence" and also confirms that "the only charge recommended was wanton endangerment."

As the Courier Journal explained, the motion filed by the unidentified grand juror specifically requests that the court allow grand jurors "to discuss what didn't take place in the grand jury proceedings--including 'any potential charges and defendants presented or not presented.'"

Watch Glogower's Tuesday morning press conference, in which he explained his client's desire for both transparency and anonymity among other issues, here:

Lonita Baker, an attorney for Taylor's family, on Tuesday said: "The grand juror is limited to what they are able to say at this point, but reading between the lines, it is obvious that Daniel Cameron lied to Tamika Palmer, the citizens of Kentucky, and the world when he said the grand jury agreed that officers Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified to kill Breonna."

"The public deserves better than the word games Daniel Cameron is playing to avoid telling the truth," Baker added.

"The full story and absolute truth of how this matter was handled from beginning to end," Glogower states in the motion, "is now an issue of great public interest."