Benjamin Crump, the renowned civil rights attorney who is currently representing the family of Breonna Taylor, is calling for a new independent prosecutor to investigate the case after a grand juror spoke out about the proceedings.
The anonymous juror released a statement via their label team alleging that Kentucky General Attorney Daniel Cameron never presented the grand jury with the option of homicide charges to file against the officers who were involved in Taylor’s fatal shooting.
The juror added that they “didn’t agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges” for the case, but they were “not given the opportunity to deliberate on those charges and deliberated only on what was presented to them.”
Former LMPD officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment. He faced no charges directly connected to the Taylor’s killing.
Last month, Cameron announced that the other two officers who fired their weapons at Taylor’s apartment, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove would not face criminal charges.
The juror says they were not given the option to charges Mattingly and Cosgrove.
“Attorney General Daniel Cameron took the decision out of the grand jury’s hands,” he said in a statement. “They didn’t allow the grand jury to do what the law says they have the right to do. This failure rests squarely on the shoulders of Daniel Cameron. He then brought Tamika Palmer [Taylor’s mother] in and lied to her, placing the result on the grand jury.”
Crump continued: “Only because a brave member of that grand jury asked for permission to issue a statement and Judge O’Connell ruled on the side of transparency do we have this confirmation of AG Cameron’s dereliction of duties. It is a despicable miscarriage of justice that is disrespectful to the life of Breonna Taylor that AG Cameron whitewashed what his office presented to the grand jury.
“We urge the appointment of a new independent prosecutor to do the work AG Cameron failed to do and seek justice for Breonna Taylor,” he added.
Originally posted 2020-10-21 15:30:05.
