Two grand jurors who presided over the case of Breonna Taylor’s death are speaking out in a new interview with CBS News, saying they found fault with actions of the Louisville, Ky., police officers involved.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) announced last month that none of the officers — Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove — would be charged over Taylor’s killing after she was shot to death inside her home in a no-knock raid in March.
Hankison was the only officer charged, receiving lesser counts of wanton endangerment after three bullets hit the wall connected to the apartment next door.
Two of the grand jurors in the case, choosing to go by Juror No. 1 and Juror No. 2 to protect their identities, are seen in a CBS News preview of the interview telling Gayle King they thought the officers involved were “negligent.”
“They couldn’t even provide a risk assessment and it sounds like they hadn’t done one,” said Juror No. 1.
Juror No. 2 added, “They were criminal leading up to this — in everything that — the way they moved forward on it, including the warrant, was deception.”
The faces of both jurors were blurred out as requested for their safety.
The raid was conducted in search of drugs believed to be related to Taylor’s ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover. No drugs were found at the scene.
Kenneth Walker, Taylor’s boyfriend, as well as neighbors who heard the police have said that the officers did not identify themselves before shooting. This detail has been disputed by the officers involved.
Last week, an anonymous grand juror said in a statement, “The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them. The grand jury never heard about those laws. Self-defense or justification was never explained either.” It is not known if this juror is among the two who spoke with CBS News.
The juror also pushed back against Cameron’s assertion that the officers’ actions were justified.
“The grand jury didn’t agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges in the Breonna Taylor case,” the juror said.
In early October, audio recordings of the grand jury proceedings were released on the orders of a judge who said the public had a right to know what was on the tapes. Cameron had initially fought their release, citing the secretive nature of grand juries.
Mattingly told ABC News in an interview last week, “This had nothing to do with race. Nothing at all.” He stated in the interview that Taylor did not deserve to die but said that officers were not there by “happenstance.”
The interview with the two jurors will air Wednesday on “CBS This Morning.”