The death of Breonna Taylor has made headlines for months and this week two Kentucky jurors from the case have spoken out against the decision to not charge the three police officers with her death, characterizing the officers’ actions the night of the raid as “criminal” and “negligent.”
The jurors broke their silence for the first time since the September 23rd ruling by appearing anonymously in an interview with CBS This Morning. The full interview is set to air Wednesday.
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This comes in the midst of an ongoing public outcry for the grand jury records to be released to the public after jurors disputed Attorney General Daniel Cameron‘s assessment of the case.
While speaking with Gayle King, the two jurors – identified only as No. 1 and No. 2 – were asked to share their assessment of the police’s “behavior and actions” on the night of March 13. Taylor was shot five times and killed during a botched no knock raid in her Louisville home.
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“Negligent,” said one grand juror in a clip. “They couldn’t even provide a risk assessment and it sounded like they hadn’t done one. So their organization leading up to this was lacking. That’s what I mean by they were negligent in the operation.”
Grand juror No. 2 agreed, stating the officers were “criminal” in their actions.
“They were criminal leading up to this in everything that they [did],” the juror said. “The way they moved forward on it, including the warrant, was deception.”
The two grand jurors also called out Cameron for stating last month that the police could not be charged with homicide because their actions were found to be in self-defense after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire. But the jurors are now pushing back by pointing out that they were in fact not given the chance to consider murder or manslaughter charges.
As theGrio previously reported, former officer Brett Hankison was fired from the force due to his actions. The grand jury charged him with three counts of wanton endangerment which he pleaded not guilty.
Officers Jonathan Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Taylor’s boyfriend, and Myles Cosgrove, who Cameron said appeared to have fired the fatal shot at Taylor, according to ballistics tests, remain on the force.
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