Louisville, KY – The Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) released the contents of the internal investigation on the death of Breonna Taylor. Materials include investigative reports, a narcotics case file summary, interview transcripts, lab reports, copies of search warrants, interview videos, court documents, and police training modules.
What is not released are materials from Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office and the FBI’s independent investigations. The FBI allegedly claims that one of the plainclothes officers on the scene, Detective Cosgrove, shot Taylor. Some of the released documents are blurred or redacted for privacy reasons.
The audio recordings reflect conflicting testimony over the series of events that transpired. Taylor’s neighbors also describe the violent night while speaking among other witnesses.
During his interview, Det. Cosgrove is heard saying, “I just sense that I’ve fired. It’s like a surreal thing. If you told me I didn’t do something at that time, I’d believe you. If you told me I did do something, I’d probably believe you, too.”
What the audio files do not include are instructions from the prosecutors to the grand jury as well as a transcript of juror deliberations. Cameron claims that these items were not recorded, because they don’t hold any evidentiary value.
According to the attorney general, all evidence was released, freeing jurors to pursue additional charges. Some jurors allege that Cameron is deflecting blame away from his office by saying it was the jurors who opted not to indict the two officers who shot Taylor.
Jeff Cooke, Director of Communications for the Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney told Current Affairs Times that the judge has to now decide whether members of the grand jury who heard the case, get to speak or not. His office does not have that information at this time.
With the assistance of the moderating juror, the grand jurors are asking many questions that remain unanswered. Jurors want to know about available evidence in the case and whether the search warrant included Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.
Jurors are also seeking details on what the officers saw upon entering Taylor’s apartment and whether they were aware that authorities had already located the whereabouts of Jamarcus Glover, the key suspect who police were initially investigating. Additionally, jurors are asking why there are no diagrams of the crime scene and why Det. Cosgrove’s body camera was not on. The police confirmed to the jurors that Taylor’s apartment has not yet been searched for drugs or paraphernalia. Taylor’s family attorneys remained unavailable for comment.
Mayor Greg Fischer is calling the contents in the case files “traumatic and painful.” With so many grand jury members posing unanswered questions on this case, were the investigations biased?
Image Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Sources:
- KY Attorney General Press Release
- The Current Affairs Times has the original copies of the released investigation documents
- Jeff Cooke, Communications Director to Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney, Thomas Wine
- “Breonna Taylor Grand Jury Audio Reveals Conflicting Accounts of Fatal Raid”
- “Breonna Taylor: LMPD releases all of its internal investigation files”
Afia is a lawyer, journalist, an avid traveler, an avid reader, a foodie, and an amateur singer. She enjoys instrumental music with her glass of wine ?
