Kentucky attorney general requests to delay release of grand jury recordings in Breonna Taylor case
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has requested additional time before his office releases grand jury recordings in the controversial Breonna Taylor decision, which has sparked demonstrations for racial equality nationwide.
Cameron’s office initially agreed Monday that it would release the recordings by Wednesday at noon before filing for a motion for a one-week delay some time late Tuesday evening, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
The Kentucky attorney general specifically cited the need to protect the interest of witnesses, “in particular private citizens named in the recordings.” He added that his office would like an additional week to sort through the 20 hours of recordings “redact personal identifiers of any named person, and to redact both names and personal identifiers of any private citizen.”
Elizabeth Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office, told the newspaper in an email early Wednesday that some of those details include “addresses and phone numbers.”
Earlier on Wednesday, 13 witnesses interviewed by the LMPD Public Integrity Unit and the Attorney General’s Office filed a motion to have their names and other identifying information redacted from the public case file.
In the motion filed by F. Scott Lewis, an attorney for the witnesses, he alleged nationwide backlash sparked by the case has already put his clients at risk. The LMPD is “providing extraordinary protection in response to these threats,” including up to 400 hours of security each week to protect officers, public officials and their families, according to Lewis' filing.
Taylor, 26, died March 13 after three plainclothes Louisville Metropolitan Police officers used a battering ram to burst into her apartment after midnight while executing a “no knock” search warrant connected to a narcotics investigation. No drugs were found at the home.
The City granted Taylor’s family a record $12 million settlement, but none of the officers involved have been charged with her death.
