LEXINGTON, Ky. — A judge gave Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron until noon Eastern time Friday to release grand jury recordings in the Breonna Taylor case after he asked for a longer delay.
After Cameron agreed to release an audio recording of the grand jury hearing that resulted in the indictment of one of three officers involved in the shooting death of Taylor, he asked for a week delay — until next Wednesday — so his office could redact the names and information about witnesses.
Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith said Wednesday that Cameron could produce the recording Friday with personal information about witnesses, including names and personal identifiers of any minor children, omitted. An unredacted copy was supposed to be filed under seal for the court.
The order to release the recording was part of proceedings in the criminal case against former Louisville Metro Police Department Officer Brett Hankison. Hankison was indicted last week by a grand jury with three counts of wanton endangerment. The charges were in response to bullets he fired that went into a neighboring apartment, which was occupied by three people.
Protesters in Louisville and around the country were shocked and outraged that none of the three officers involved in the shooting death of 26-year-old Taylor was charged directly in her death.
In Tuesday’s motion, Cameron asked to “redact personal identifiers of any named person, and to redact both names and personal identifiers of any private citizen,” according to the motion. Cameron also wrote that attorneys for the defendant, Hankison, had “expressed agreement” with the request. It’s not clear if the officers — Hankison, Myles Cosgrove and Jonathan Mattingly — testified before the grand jury.
In a tweet Wednesday, Cameron accused the Louisville Courier Journal of publishing a misleading story about the request for an extension and proceeded to explain the reason for the request. The Courier Journal story already included all of the information in his explanation.
The moves to release the recording occurred after a request from an anonymous grand juror in Jefferson County who filed a motion that also asked that grand jurors be allowed to speak out about the hearing. Grand jury hearings are often secret, but the grand juror expressed concern that Cameron had laid so much responsibility for what happened at grand jurors’ feet, attorney Kevin Glogower said.
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