[Breonna Taylor]
Glogower: “The attorney general undid secrecy the moment he stepped to the microphone and began to discuss the grand jury’s decision.”
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In a case without precedent in Kentucky, a Jefferson Circuit Court judge heard forceful arguments Thursday in a grand juror’s motion to talk freely about the handling of the Breonna Taylor case.
Following a 90-minute hearing, Judge Annie O’Connell said she would rule as soon as possible on the motion by Anonymous Juror No. 1.
The juror had sought a declaration of his right to speak about the case — including Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s recommendations and about witnesses and evidence that may not have been presented.
The grand juror’s attorney, Kevin Glogower, said: “Grand jurors asked pointed questions. They asked very good questions. But they were shut down. There was a dereliction of duty by the prosecutors.”
Assistant Attorney General Victor Maddox said allowing the grand juror the “unfettered right” to speak would run counter to two centuries of law and custom in Kentucky that say grand jury proceedings are secret.
But Glogower said Attorney General Daniel Cameron “opened the door” to talking about “all things grand jury” when he held a news conference and said the grand jury “agreed” that Louisville Metro Police Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove were justified in the returning deadly fire after having been fired upon by Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.
The two officers’ bullet struck the unarmed Taylor six times, killing her in her hallway.
Glogower also said Cameron has twice discussed the case on Fox News programs and issued press statements about it since the Sept. 23 decision to indict fired Officer Brett Hankison on charges of wanton endangerment for firing into an occupied apartment next to Taylor’s.
“The attorney general undid secrecy the moment he stepped to the microphone and began to discuss the grand jury’s decision,” Glogower said.
He also said “future grand jurors won’t want to serve if the prosecutor is allowed to throw them under the bus, as happened here.”
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