LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A dozen grand jurors pored over evidence for two and a half days last week as they examined the killing of Breonna Taylor, an inquiry that would usually remain secret forever.
But an audio recording of more than 20 hours of those proceedings is expected to be made public by noon on Friday, an extraordinarily unusual move that could shed light on what evidence the jurors considered. The grand jury ultimately chose to indict one former detective with endangering Ms. Taylor’s neighbors and declined to bring charges against either of the Louisville police officers who shot her during a raid on her apartment in March.
The recording will be a rare window into grand jury proceedings, in which jurors can review evidence, call witnesses and determine which charges to pursue, although they do not always exercise those rights.
The expected release of the recording comes after one of the grand jurors filed a court motion this week that asked for the proceedings to be made public and accused Kentucky’s attorney general, Daniel Cameron, of using the jurors “as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility,” even as Mr. Cameron has insisted that jurors were given “all of the evidence.”
Mr. Cameron said this week that the grand jury was told that the two white officers who shot Ms. Taylor, a Black emergency room technician, “were justified in their acts and their conduct,” but he has insisted that the jurors were free to pursue charges.
A judge gave Mr. Cameron until noon on Friday to release the recording after originally ordering its release earlier in the week. Mr. Cameron had asked for a longer delay to redact personal information about witnesses and other people from the recording, which he said was more than 20 hours long.
After meeting in person for two and a half days, grand jurors indicted Brett Hankison, a former detective, on three counts of “wanton endangerment” last week, saying Mr. Hankison had recklessly fired his gun during the raid after Ms. Taylor’s boyfriend — who has said he thought intruders were entering the apartment — shot an officer in the leg. Mr. Hankison’s rounds did not hit anyone, investigators have said, but some of them flew into an apartment behind Ms. Taylor’s, where a pregnant woman, her husband and their 5-year-old child were asleep, leading to the three charges. Mr. Hankison has pleaded not guilty.
People swarmed the streets of Louisville and other cities after the grand jury’s decision, demanding that the two officers who shot Ms. Taylor face charges. At the height of those protests, a man shot and wounded two Louisville police officers.
Will Wright reported from Louisville, and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs from New York.