Attorneys For Breonna Taylor’s Family Ask Kentucky Governor To Appoint New Special Prosecutor

The attorneys for Breonna Taylor‘s family have asked Gov. Andy Beshear to appoint a new special prosecutor to reopen the case into Taylor’s death.

Attorneys for Taylor’s family also condemned Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron in a letter sent to Gov. Beshear, who they believe intentionally declined to charge the three white officers who fatally shot Taylor the night of March 13.

The letter was sent to Gov. Beshear a day after Cameron’s office released 20 hours of grand jury testimony over three days on the incident. Cameron announced Sept. 23 only one of the three officers who shot at Taylor would be charged, but not for Taylor’s death.

“Unfortunately, Cameron did not serve as an unbiased prosecutor in this case and intentionally did not present charges to the grand jury that would have pursued justice for Ms. Taylor,” reads the letter addressed to Beshear and posted online by attorneys for Taylor’s family.

In the letter, the Taylor family asks for 10,000 signatures in support of the request and as of Sunday afternoon more than 7,800 people have signed.

“It is past time for Louisville’s and Kentucky’s leaders to honor the value of her life by holding those responsible for her death accountable,” the letter states

Beshear has not responded to the letter as of Monday.

Officer Brett Hankison has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree. Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison. The other two officers. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who fired six shots into the apartment and Myles Cosgrove, who fired 16 shots including the fatal shot, were not charged because Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker admitted he fired the first shot at officers, when he believed they were intruders who broke in.

Several organizations came out against Cameron’s decision to only charge one officer including the NAACP, ACLU and Color of Change.

“When a Kentucky grand jury failed to charge Louisville officers for the murder of Breonna Taylor, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron was quick to absolve himself. Local and national activists demanded accountability and transparency from his office, but Attorney General Cameron insisted that the decision rested with the grand jury and was completely out of his hands,” Scott Roberts, senior director of Criminal Justice Campaigns at Color Of Change said in a statement.

“In the past week, however, we’ve learned that Attorney General Cameron did not only gravely misrepresent the grand jury proceedings; he declined to even consider murder charges for the three officers that killed Bre. These grand jury recordings reveal just how intent he was on protecting these officers from the consequences of their deadly actions — and fooling the American people with a sham trial — instead of pursuing real justice. As police continue to inflict violence on Black people in the streets, in their communities, and in their own homes, these recordings paint a horrific portrait of how Attorney General Cameron let cops get away with murder.