Second grand juror in Breonna Taylor case says jury only allowed to consider wanton endangerment charges

Another grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case came forward Thursday saying the grand jury was only allowed to consider wanton endangerment charges against former officer Brett Hankison.
The juror is the second to come forward since Jefferson County Circuit Judge Annie O’Connell allowed those on the grand jury to speak about the case publicly this week.
“The Grand Jury was only allowed to consider the three Wanton Endangerment charges against Detective Hankison,” according to a statement released by attorney Kevin Glogower, the attorney representing the juror.
Glogower is representing another member of member of the grand jury who spoke out Tuesday, saying that Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) never presented homicide charges in the case against police officers involved in Taylor’s death.
Both of Glogower’s clients have chosen to remain anonymous.
“No opportunity to consider anything else was permitted. Anonymous grand juror agrees wholeheartedly with the statement released on behalf of Grand Juror #1 on 10/20/2020 and is looking forward to continuing to help set the record straight,” the statement reads.
New statement from the second anonymous grand juror in the Breonna Taylor case says an opportunity to consider other charges was not “permitted.”
Background, including what the first grand juror has said: https://t.co/KnH20V8hkF pic.twitter.com/0vzCh6AOKw
— Darcy Costello (@dctello) October 22, 2020
Tuesday, the first juror said that they wanted to “get the truth out” about Taylor’s case.
“The grand jury didn’t agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges in the Breonna Taylor case. The grand jury was not given the opportunity to deliberate on those charges and deliberated only on what was presented to them. I cannot speak for other jurors, but I can help the truth be told,” the first juror said.
It’s unclear if the jurors will reveal more information, or if any other jurors will speak out.
Taylor was shot in her home earlier this year when plainclothes officers carried out a “no-knock” warrant, forcing their way into her apartment.
Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into a neighboring apartment during the raid. He was the sole officer indicted in the incident, but none of the three officers were charged directly in Taylor’s killing.
Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, the two other officers involved in the incident, combined hit Taylor six times with bullets in her apartment. However, Cameron said their shots were justified because Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired gunshots first.
Grand juries are secretive by nature, but O’Connell said Tuesday that regular procedures are “no longer relevant” to the case. It is still unclear if the two jurors plan to release other details in the case, or if any other grand jurors are willing to speak out.
Cameron has disagreed with efforts by the grand jury to speak out publicly.
He said Thursday that he’s “fine with the juror speaking and making their position known. But at the end of the day, we had a responsibility to do the job of looking for the facts, and applying that to the law.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.