Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has admitted that he never recommended the grand jury indict either of the Officers, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly, for shooting and killing Breonna Taylor.
“They’re an independent body,” Cameron said in an interview. “If they wanted to make an assessment about different charges, they could’ve done that. But our recommendation was that Mattingly and Cosgrove were justified in their acts and their conduct.”
Following the shock admission, Cameron requested and was granted a delay in releasing the grand jury’s recordings in case.
Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith allowed Cameron an extension until midday on Friday to release the audiotape. She also ordered Cameron to promptly file an unredacted copy of the recording to be kept under court seal.
“We are complying with the Judge’s order. The Grand Jury audio recording is more than 20 hrs long, & we filed a motion to request additional time, if the court permits it, to redact personally identifiable information of witnesses (addresses and phone numbers),” Cameron said in a Tweet.
The order comes days after a grand jury member filed a motion asking the transcripts to be released and be granted freedom to speak about the grand jury’s decision.
“The citizens of the Commonwealth have demonstrated their lack of faith in the process and proceedings in this matter and the justice system itself,” reads the motion filed by the grand juror. “Using grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability for these decisions only sows more seeds of doubt in the process while leaving a cold chill down the spine of future grand jurors.”
