Daniel Cameron files motion to keep Breonna Taylor grand jury files secret

Kentucky's attorney general wants Taylor grand jury testimony and proceedings kept from the public.

Oct 8, 2020

In a new motion filed Wednesday, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is asking a judge to allow him to keep secret the testimony and proceedings of the grand jury in the Breonna Taylor case.

Cameron had until Wednesday to respond to the motion from a member of the grand jury for the transcripts to be released and for the unidentified juror to be able to speak to the public.

The juror has requested a release of the recordings, transcripts and reports related to the case the Republican attorney general presented to them.

In responding to the filing, Cameron wrote that “allowing this disclosure would irreversibly alter Kentucky’s legal system by making it difficult for prosecutors and the public to have confidence in the secrecy of the grand jury process going forward.”

Oral arguments for the case are scheduled for today.

Audio recordings of the proceedings were released earlier this month as ordered by a judge.

In a statement upon their release, Cameron wrote, “I’m confident that once the public listens to the recordings, they will see that our team presented a thorough case to the Jefferson County Grand Jury.”

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaks at the Sept. 23rd press conference to announce a grand jury’s decision to indict one of three Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in the March shooting death of Breonna Taylor. (Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

“Our presentation followed the facts and the evidence, and the Grand Jury was given a complete picture of the events surrounding Ms. Taylor’s death on March 13th,” he contended. “While it is unusual for a court to require the release of the recordings from Grand Jury proceedings, we complied with the order, rather than challenging it, so that the full truth can be heard.”

In his motion, Cameron referenced a similar filing by a grand juror in the case of the police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014. In that case, the court rejected the grand juror’s request to be allowed to speak to the media.

That case is still making its way through federal court.

In response to Cameron’s motion, Breonna Taylor’s family attorney, Ben Crump, released the following statement:

“With each day that passes and with every action of Daniel Cameron, it becomes more and more evident that the Attorney General has something to hide. This motion is a slap in the face to Breonna’s family, and yet another attempt to conceal the corruption of his office. If he has nothing to hide, and he did everything right as he claims, then he should have no problem letting the grand jurors speak to the public. They deserve to have that voice, and Breonna’s family deserves answers.”

One former Louisville officer, Det. Brett Hankison, was charged related to Taylor’s shooting death, and that wanton endangerment charge was for shooting into a neighbor’s home.

The lack of indictments for the other two officers involved, Det. Miles Cosgrove and Sgt. John Mattingly, resulted in continued protests in Kentucky and around the country.

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