Judge says Breonna Taylor grand juror can speak about case
This undated photo provided by Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar shows Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Ky. Three months after plainclothes detectives serving a warrant busted into Tylor's apartment on March 13, 2020, and shot the 26-year-old Black woman to death, only one of the three officers who opened fire has lost his job. Calls for action against the officers have gotten louder during a national reckoning over racism and police brutality following George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.[AP/ Taylor family attorney Sam Aguiar]
A judge has cleared the way for grand jurors to speak about the proceedings in the case against the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor.
An anonymous grand juror who sat on the panel last month had sued to speak publicly. None of the officers were charged directly in Taylor’s death, but one officer was charged with endangering Taylor’s neighbors.
"This is a rare and extraordinary example of a case where, at the time this motion is made, the historical reasons for preserving grand jury secrecy are null," Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Annie O’Connell wrote in the ruling.
More from KSTP:
Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend recounts her shooting by police
Police release details of Breonna Taylor investigation
Grand jury audio details moments before Breonna Taylor died
She wrote that any individual grand juror who wishes to identify themselves as a participant in the proceedings could do so, but was not compelled to do so.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, whose office led the investigation, had opposed letting grand jurors speak about the proceedings. Cameron has said he did not introduce any homicide charges against the two officers who shot Taylor, because they were justified in returning fire after Taylor’s boyfriend shot at them.
It wasn’t immediately known whether Cameron would appeal the ruling.
A Black woman, Taylor was shot five times in her home on March 13 by white officers executing a narcotics warrant.