“They were criminal leading up to this in everything that they — the way they moved forward on it, including the warrant, was deception,” a man identified only as Juror No. 2 told “CBS This Morning” in an excerpt aired Tuesday.
The interview marks the first time the public is hearing directly from the anonymous grand jurors, who had previously commented through their attorney, saying the panel was not given an opportunity to consider homicide charges in the case against police officers who served a no-knock warrant at Taylor’s home during a March drug raid.
Another juror told CBS’s Gayle King the behavior and actions of the police were “negligent.”
“They couldn’t even provide a risk assessment and it sounded like they hadn’t done one,” Juror No. 1 told King. “So their organization leading up to this was lacking. That’s what I mean by they were negligent in the operation.”
CBS said it blurred the faces of the anonymous grand jurors “for their safety.”
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Two anonymous grand jurors make statements about proceedings
“The grand jury did not have homicide offenses explained to them,” the first anonymous grand juror wrote in a statement issued by attorney Kevin Glogower. “The grand jury never heard about those laws. Self-defense or justification was never explained either.”
A second grand juror echoed that statement last Thursday. The second panel member said the jury was only allowed to consider three wanton endangerment charges against one officer.
“No opportunity to consider anything else was permitted,” the grand juror said, adding that they agreed “wholeheartedly” with the first juror’s statement and looked “forward to continuing to help set the record straight.”
The first grand juror said “questions were asked about additional charges” and that members were told “there would be none because the prosecutors didn’t feel they could make them stick.”
“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 first juror said. “The grand jury was not given the opportunity to deliberate on those charges and deliberated only on what was presented to them. I can’t speak for other jurors, but I can help the truth be told.”
Cameron says he asked the panel to indict on charges that could be proven
Cameron, in a statement posted on Twitter last week, said he asked the grand jury for an indictment on charges he thought could be proven in court.
“Indictments obtained in the absence of sufficient proof under the law do not stand up and are not fundamentally fair to anyone,” he wrote.
He also wrote that “causation, justification and (other legal issues) were always at the forefront” of his office’s investigation.
The attorney general has acknowledged wanton endangerment was the only charge his prosecutors recommended to the grand jury. Cameron has said prosecutors presented all evidence, even though the facts showed use of force by two officers not charged was “justified” because they were fired upon.
Sam Aguiar, a lawyer for Taylor’s family, said in a statement last week: “Daniel Cameron should be ashamed of himself. He made a decision based upon a political agenda.”
State argued that allowing jurors to speak could compromise trial
Cameron’s office had requested a stay of any court order allowing the juror to speak out publicly until after a potential state appeal.
The state argued that allowing the grand juror to speak may compromise the right to a fair trial for former officer Brett Hankison.
But O’Connell said Hankison did not join the argument or raise the issue himself, so she ruled that she cannot find that the concern is “founded in reality.”
Hankison was charged with three counts of felony wanton endangerment, but none of the officers involved in the raid was directly charged with Taylor’s death. Hankison has pleaded not guilty to those charges. No other officers were charged.
Cameron has argued that the officers who shot at Taylor were justified in doing so because Taylor’s boyfriend had shot at them first, wounding one of the officers.
Cameron led the investigation into the police killing and presented evidence in the case to a Jefferson County grand jury over two-and-a-half days.
The recordings do not include juror deliberations or prosecutors’ recommendations and statements, Cameron said.