Two grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case who have pushed for an opportunity to speak out got their chance Wednesday morning in an interview that aired on "CBS This Morning."
"They didn't give us the charges up front," one said. "They gave us all of that testimony, over 20-something hours, and then just say that these are the only charges that they're coming up with. It's like, 'what did we just sit through?' And that then to be told that we're not charging them with anything else — to me, it was a betrayal."
Grand juror No. 1 is a white man, according to program host Gayle King, while grand juror No. 2 is Black.
There was "an uproar in that room" when grand jurors learned only wanton endangerment charges would be presented, one said. The grand jury was told other possible charges were considered but that nothing else would stick.
The two grand jurors were pushed to speak out after a September press conference by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, which they said misrepresented their position on potential indictments against the three officers who fired their weapons in the raid in which Taylor was killed. The grand jury never considered six possible homicide charges that Cameron referred to in the press conference, grand juror No. 1 said.
"While there are six possible homicide charges under Kentucky law, these charges are not applicable to the facts before us because our investigation showed — and the grand jury agreed — that (Jonathan) Mattingly and (Myles) Cosgrove were justified in their return of deadly fire," Cameron said at the time.
Cameron's press conference, though, one grand juror said, was the first time that "six possible homicide charges" had been discussed. The grand jurors were not presented with any potential murder charges.
"This was all Cameron. This was up to him. We didn't get a choice in that at all," grand juror No. 2 said. "So I was livid. By the time I heard what he was saying, everything that came out of his mouth, I was saying 'liar' — because we didn't agree to anything."
Source: Courier Journal
Follow Me
}
Comments