Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Proceedings Released by Judge

(Bloomberg) -- A court in Louisville, Kentucky, took the unusual step of releasing recordings of three days of testimony presented to the grand jury that decided not to bring murder charges against police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, in her apartment.

The decision by the 12-member grand jury not to indict the two officers who shot Taylor while serving a warrant in March sparked outrage and widespread protests. A third officer, Brett Hankison, was charged with firing shots that endangered Taylor’s neighbors.

While grand juries normally review cases in secret, one juror asked a judge to release the recordings of the proceedings. The juror said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, at a Sept. 23 press conference, had laid the decision not to charge the officers at the feet of the grand jury and that Cameron had failed to answer questions about what possible charges the jurors were presented.

Among the recordings released Friday was testimony related to whether police announced themselves before breaking down the apartment door. Taylor’s boyfriend, who was with her during the raid and fired his gun at police, says they had no idea officers were there because no one responded when they asked who was knocking.

An investigator for the Attorney General’s office told grand jurors last month that he interviewed 15 to 20 individuals who were at the apartment complex the night of the shooting, the recording show. Of those, the investigator only mentioned one who remembered hearing police announce themselves. But in other interviews with authorities, that witness didn’t say police identified themselves, the investigator said. There also appeared to be a language barrier with the witness, who had some events mixed up, the investigator said.

Officer’s Testimony

In separate testimony, Hankison told grand jurors both he and other officers knocked and announced themselves repeatedly, according to the recordings. He said they waited about “30 to 45 seconds of banging and announcing, knocking and announcing” and did not hear a response.

Hankinson faces three counts of first-degree “wanton endangerment” for firing his weapon into neighboring apartments but not specifically for shooting Taylor. He has pleaded not guilty.

Recordings released Friday also showed Herman Hall, a detective with the attorney general’s office, testified on the last day the grand jury proceedings. Hall was asked if any drugs, money or paraphernalia were recovered from Taylor’s apartment. He said the officers “did not go forward with executing” the search warrant.

When asked whether there was any formal plan among the officers executing the warrant on Taylor’s apartment, Hall said, “I’m not aware of one.” Hall also was asked why no body cameras were activated during the encounter. “I can’t answer that,” Hall said, the recordings show. “I don’t know why body cams weren’t activated for that.”

Audio Released

A judge ordered the audio released, but gave Cameron’s office until noon Friday to first redact information from the recording, including names and addresses. In a court notice Friday, Cameron said the redactions amounted to 3 minutes and 50 seconds.

Taylor had been the center of the #SayHerName campaign highlighting police brutality against women. Protesters took to the streets of Louisville, which had been placed under a state of emergency, shortly after the decision was announced.

On Sept. 23, Cameron said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probing the sufficiency of the warrant that brought officers to Taylor’s door. He’s also reviewing the process by which search warrants are issued in Kentucky.

Last month, the city of Louisville agreed to pay Taylor’s family $12 million and enact a series of reforms to improve relations with the community and prevent future shooting incidents to settle a lawsuit over her death.

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