October 9, 2020
Kentuck AG Daniel Cameron Files Motion To Keep Grand Juror in Breonna Taylor Case Quiet
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a motion Wednesday asking to dismiss a grand juror’s request to speak publicly about the proceedings in the Breonna Taylor case.
The motion comes after the juror filed a motion to grant them permission to publicly disclose some parts of the proceedings. Cameron said he filed the motion to protect the safety and anonymity of the jurors.
“As I’ve stated prior, I have no concerns with a grand juror sharing their thoughts or opinions about me and my office’s involvement in the matter involving the death of Ms. Breonna Taylor,” Cameron said in a statement announcing the motion. “However, I have concerns with a grand juror seeking to make anonymous and unlimited disclosures about the grand jury proceedings.”
“The grand jury process is secretive for a reason, to protect the safety and anonymity of all the grand jurors, witnesses, and innocent persons involved in the proceedings,” Cameron added. “Allowing this disclosure would irreversibly alter Kentucky’s legal system by making it difficult for prosecutors and the public to have confidence in the secrecy of the grand jury process going forward.”
Late last month, the juror accused Cameron in a legal filing of “using the grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility for these decisions.”
The jurors filing asked the court to release a recording of the entire proceeding and allow jury members to comment on parts of the case. The juror acknowledged they are legally forbidden from discussing what was said during the recorded proceedings and asked if jurors can be given the ability to discuss “details surrounding the actions outside of those recorded proceedings and anything that did NOT happen in the grand jury proceedings.”
According to The Daily Mail, the juror said Cameron never gave them the option to indict the two other cops involved in Taylor’s killing and that Cameron misrepresented the case. Hours after the jurors filing, Cameron announced he would release the tapes, which he did last Friday.
The recordings do not include the charging recommendations that were presented to the grand jury because they are not considered evidence, Cameron’s office told CBS. Cameron added his office did not recommend murder charges against the other two officers involved in Taylor’s death.