Kentucky attorney general takes aim at lawyer for Breonna Taylor’s family: ‘This is the Ben Crump model’

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) on Tuesday criticized civil rights lawyer Ben Crump for citing allegations of bias as reasoning for a special prosecutor to reopen the case surrounding Breonna Taylor’s death, with Cameron saying it was “irresponsible” for Crump “to push such narratives, such falsehoods.” 

Cameron’s response came after Crump, who is representing Taylor’s family, shared an open letter to Cameron claiming that the attorney general was “biased throughout the process and intentionally deprived justice for Breonna and her family.” 

Last week, Cameron revealed that he did not present any murder charges to the grand jury that heard the case of Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed during a police drug raid on her apartment. 

In a Tuesday interview on “Fox & Friends,” Cameron said the claims made in the open letter did not accurately reflect the reality of the investigation. 

“This is the Ben Crump model. He goes into a city, creates a narrative, cherry picks facts to establish, to prove that narrative, creates chaos in a community, misrepresents the facts, and then he leaves with his money and then asks the community to pick up the pieces,” Cameron told Fox News host Steve Doocy. “It is terribly irresponsible on his part to push such narratives, such falsehoods.”

“As the attorney general, I don’t have the luxury of falsehoods,” Cameron continued. “I have the responsibility to the truth, the law, and justice. Ben Crump can make wild accusations and — and ask for ridiculous things, but at the end of the day, we have dispensed with our responsibility and duty to present the information to the grand jury.” 

“We did that in a manner consistent with what the facts and the law are,” he added. “That’s, again, my responsibility as the attorney general of the commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The officers involved in Taylor’s killing were executing a warrant for a case involving her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover in March. Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought intruders were entering the apartment and fired his gun at the officers, leading them to shoot back and kill Taylor.

While state procedures recommended that the attorney general appoint a separate special prosecutor to handle the case, Cameron said he ultimately decided to oversee it himself. 

“Given the importance of the case and the resources required to complete the investigation, the Attorney General’s Office of Special Prosecutions proceeded with handling the investigation and prosecution,” a spokeswoman for Cameron said in an email to The Hill last week following Cameron’s admission that he did not recommend murder charges. 

Last month, a Kentucky grand jury decided to not bring any charges against police in connection with Taylor’s death, although it announced three counts of wanton endangerment against former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison. 

In Tuesday’s interview, Cameron reiterated his argument that officers were “justified” in returning fire after Walker fired on them. 

“The tragedy here, and, again, I’ve said this from the beginning, is that Breonna Taylor was in that hallway next to Kenneth Walker when they returned fire and they hit her,” Cameron said. “No one disputes that this is a tragedy, but sometimes our criminal justice system, our criminal law is inadequate to respond to a tragedy. That is the case here.”

Cameron added that his “heart goes out to Breonna Taylor’s family, Ms. Palmer, all those connected to Breonna Taylor. That should certainly be everyone’s sentiment.” 

The attorney general said that the Louisville police department will be working with federal officials to conduct a civil rights investigation into Taylor’s death.