Kentucky’s attorney general Daniel Cameron has filed a joint motion with former Louisville Metro Police Department officer Brett Hankison, asking a judge to revoke a previous order to release evidence to the public in the case of Breonna Taylor.
Hankison was the only officer charged in connection with the raid, in which Taylor was shot and killed in her own home on March 13. He is facing three counts of wanton endangerment and has been fired from the department. No officers were charged directly with her death.
Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith ordered that the evidence be unsealed but that names be redacted in the ruling. Cameron and Hankison argue that the order would still endanger others involved in the upcoming trial.
“The parties submit that filing discovery in the record would allow said materials, many of which may never be admitted as evidence in court, to be published by the media, and permanently taint potential jurors for trial of this matter. Redaction of personal identifiers does not remedy the problem,” the motion read according to ABC News.
The Lousiville Metro Police Department has claimed Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired the first round. In an interview with Gayle King last week, Walker disputed their account. He said officers did not identify themselves — he was unaware that he was firing at police officers.
“If it was the police at the door and they just said ‘we’re the police,’ me or Breonna didn’t have a reason at all not to open the door to see what they wanted,” Walker said.
When King further pressed him as to how he did not consider such a “heavy knock,” could be the police, he responded: “That’s why I never thought it was the police because why would the police be coming here?”
