A lawyer for Breonna Taylor's family has called the grand jury proceedings a "sham" that has shown racial inequalities in the US justice system. Ms Taylor, a black hospital worker, was shot six times and killed aged 26 when police raided her home on 13 March.
Breonna Taylor's attorney has slammed the Kentucky grand jury's Wednesday decision to indict one out of three officers involved in the police-involved shooting death of Breonna Taylor as "outrageous and offensive."
In June, Senator Rand Paul ( R - KY) introduced the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act, which would prohibit federal law enforcement from carrying out a warrant "until after the officer provides notice of his or her authority and purpose". It would also apply to state and local law enforcement that receive funding from the Justice Department.
“Breonna was a woman who was figuring everything out in her life, who had turned a corner,” said Sam Aguiar, a lawyer representing Ms. Taylor’s family. “Breonna was starting to live her best life.” Why did the police fire their weapons?
Ben CrumpBen Crump, attorney from Ben Crump Law, PLLC, the firm representing Taylor's family, characterized the grand jury's decision as “outrageous and offensive.”
Breonna Taylor's Family to Receive $12 Million Settlement From City of Louisville. In the aftermath of the botched police raid in which Ms. Taylor was killed, the city also agreed to institute changes aimed at preventing future deaths by officers.
Federal judge won't dismiss Kenneth Walker's lawsuit against officers in Breonna Taylor raid.
Lumberton, NCBenjamin Crump / Place of birthLumberton is a city in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of Robeson County, which is the largest county in the state by land area. Located in southern North Carolina's Inner Banks region, Lumberton is located on the Lumber River. Wikipedia
5) Taylor Armstrong admits that Russell Armstrong paid $250,000 to MMR “to settle all disputes” but alleges that she was forced to sign the agreement under duress and threat of physical harm: “I was under the threat of physical abuse from my late husband if I did not sign the settlement agreement … and my late husband ...
Kenneth WalkerKenneth Walker was Taylor's boyfriend, who was present with her in the apartment at the time and fired the shots at what he thought were intruders. Jonathan Mattingly is an LMPD police officer who joined the department in 2000, became a sergeant in 2009, and joined the narcotics division in 2016.
Michigan State RB Kenneth Walker III Declares for NFL Draft, Won't Play in Peach Bowl. Michigan State running back Kenneth Walker III announced Thursday he will enter the 2022 NFL draft. Walker will not play for the Spartans in their matchup against Pittsburgh in the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30.
21 years (October 20, 2000)Kenneth Walker III / Age
William KunstlerBornWilliam Moses KunstlerJuly 7, 1919 New York City, New York, U.S.DiedSeptember 4, 1995 (aged 76) New York City, New York, U.S.EducationYale University (BA) Columbia University (LLB)OccupationLawyer, civil rights activist3 more rows
Genae Angelique CrumpBenjamin Crump / Wife
Crump attended Florida State University and received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice in 1992, and his Juris Doctor in 1995. He is a life member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
The former officer was terminated by the department on June 23. In a letter informing Hankison of his firing, Louisville Police Chief Robert Schroeder told him, "I find your conduct a shock to the conscience."
An appeal has also been filed for Hankison to get his job back, according to Mark Dobbins, an attorney for the merit board which handles the appeals process.
Protests in Louisville reached a boiling point Saturday when one person was shot and killed in Jefferson Park during a demonstration demanding justice in Taylor's death. As a result of the shooting, LMPD announced in a statement Sunday that the park would be closed from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.
The grand jury announced Wednesday its decision to indict a former Louisville police officer Brett Hankinson on three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree – but not to indict the two other officers – six months after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in March. Benjamin Crump tweeted shortly after the decision ...
Grand jury announced decision to indict one officer on charges of wanton endangerment, six months after Breonna's death. By Stephanie Pagones | Fox News.
The grand jury decided not to indict the two other officers who fired their weapons. The family’s co-counsel, Lonita Baker, wrote in a statement posted to her Facebook page that could not make sense of the decision. “I can’t make it make sense in my head,” she wrote, in part.
The Grand Jury may have denied Breonna justice, but this decision cannot take away her legacy as a loving, vibrant young Black woman who served on the front lines in the midst of a devastating pandemic," reads a subsequent statement released by Crump and his co-counsel.
April 26, 2021. The death of Breonna Taylor, a Black medical worker who was shot and killed by Louisville police officers in March 2020 during a botched raid on her apartment, has been one of the main drivers of wide-scale demonstrations that erupted in the spring and summer over policing and racial injustice in the United States.
What to Know About Breonna Taylor’s Death. Fury over her killing by the police in Louisville, Ky., fueled protests, and questions persist about how the botched raid unfolded. A memorial to Breonna Taylor at Jefferson Square Park in Louisville, Ky., on Wednesday. Credit... Xavier Burrell for The New York Times.
Taylor was not given any medical attention. It was not until 12:47 a.m., about five minutes after the shooting, that emergency personnel realized she was seriously wounded, after her boyfriend called 911.
A grand jury in September indicted a former Louisville detective involved in the raid, Brett Hankison, for wanton endangerment of neighbors whose apartment was hit when he fired without a clear line of sight into the sliding glass patio door and window of Ms. Taylor’s apartment. He pleaded not guilty.
No drugs were found in the apartment, a lawyer for Mr. Walker said. Jamarcus Glover, Ms. Taylor’s ex-boyfriend whose alleged packages led the police to her door that night, was arrested on Aug. 27 in possession of drugs, according to a charging document.
A Kentucky judge on Oct. 20 granted grand jurors permission to speak publicly. That led to a statement from an anonymous juror, who said the group “didn’t agree that certain actions were justified, nor did it decide the indictment should be the only charges in the Breonna Taylor case.”.
A subsequent police report contained errors, including listing Ms Taylor's injuries as "none" and saying no force was used to enter, when a battering ram had been used.
A judge had granted a warrant to search Ms Taylor's home because investigators suspected her ex-boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer, was using the address to receive packages. Ms Taylor had no criminal record.
Ms Taylor, a black hospital worker, was shot six times and killed aged 26 when police raided her home on 13 March.
Ms Taylor's relatives and activists had been calling for the three officers, who are all white, to be charged with murder or manslaughter.
The individual indicted in the Taylor case is Brett Hankison, who was fired from the force in June. He faces three counts of "wanton endangerment in the first degree".
He said Mr Cosgrove and the third officer, Jonathan Mattingly, had been "justified to protect themselves and the justification bars us from pursuing criminal charges".
Ms Taylor's family had called for the arrest of all three officers, but the grand jury - a panel drawn from members of the public to determine whether there is enough evidence to pursue a prosecution - has declined to do so.
The Kentucky attorney general who investigated the Breonna Taylor case says the decision not to charge any police officers in her death was “ultimately” in a grand jury’s hands
Cameron, Kentucky's first Black attorney general, said he was proud of the work by his team, which spent months poring over evidence and presented the case to the grand jury. The outcome, though, was in the hands of the grand jury, he said.
Cameron's investigation did not look into the procurement of the warrant that the officers used to enter the home. Federal investigators with the Department of Justice are reviewing the warrant.
“Today is a good day to arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor.” This phrase started as a call for the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office to hold accountable the officers that shot and killed the 26-year-old Louisville resident in her home in March 2020. In the months after Taylor’s killing, social media influencers and celebrities adopted the phrase to draw attention to her death as a way to disrupt the picturesque and cavalier digital culture of platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok . Oprah Winfrey even gave up her coveted spot on the cover of O Magazine by putting a picture of Taylor, an emergency medical technician, on the cover. Winfrey also placed billboards around the city of Louisville (one of which were vandalized) to demand the arrest of the officers involved.
Nonetheless, earlier this week, a Kentucky grand jury voted not to bring charges against the officers—Brent Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove— accused of participating in Taylor’s killing.
Melissa Brown is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and an incoming Assistant Professor of Communication at Santa Clara University. Rashawn Ray is a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at The Brookings Institution and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland.
The online activism in support of Breonna Taylor did not appear to motivate the same public outcry as the protest activity that continues following the May 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. While some argue that video evidence makes the difference in the killings of Floyd and Taylor, the 2014 video in the beating of California resident Marlene Pinnock would seem to undercut that argument.