Second Grand Juror In Breonna Taylor Case Demanding To Be Able To Speak
Last week, an anonymous juror sued for the grand juror recording to be released and for the gag order to be lifted. The recordings were released but the jurors are still not allowed to speak freely about the case. Now, a second grand juror is said to be looking to speak out.
“It was obvious that not only the original grand juror who filed is feeling something,” Louisville activist Christopher 2X, who says he received a call "in connection with a second grand juror" said at a press conference on Sunday (Oct. 4), according to the Louisville Courier-Journal. “Now we've got a number, and who knows ... how many more want to feel freely to say, 'Here's my version of what happened with the Breonna Taylor evidence that we were presented with.’
“Until we can have real-life individuals who studied the situation as it relates to their civic duty and then allow them to do — what we would think would be the unthinkable — is to describe to the community how they felt about it,” he continued. “Deeper than any tapes that can be released.”
On Sept. 23, the grand jury returned three counts of “wanton endangerment” in the first degree against former officer Brett Hankinson for firing into another apartment. A $15,000 cash bond was also attached to the charges. The other two officers, Sgt. John Mattingly and Det. Myles Cosgrove, were not charged and remain on the force. Hankinson was fired in July.
After midnight on March 13, Hankison, Cosgrove and Mattingly executed a botched “no-knock” warrant at Taylor's apartment which she shared with her boyfriend Kenneth Walker. Believing they were intruders, Walker fired his weapon and gunfire from the officers ensued. The 26-year old Taylor was struck six times and died. Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron claimed the warrant was not a no-knock and the police announced themselves prior to entering the apartment.
The police raid found no drugs at Taylor’s apartment and she was not the target of the investigation. Rather, it was her ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover who police were after. Glover had been arrested earlier that same night.
BET has been covering every angle of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other social justice cases and the subsequent aftermath and protests. For our continuing coverage, click here.
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An earlier version of this story erroneously said Christopher 2X was the grand juror. In actuality he is an activist who got a message regarding one of the grand jurors in the Breonna Taylor case.
