An audio recording of the grand jury inquiry into the killing of Breonna Taylor was released on Friday (October 2), USA Today reported.
The 20 hours long recording will allow the public to see the evidence Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron presented to the grand jury as well as what led them to charge former officer Brett Hankison with felony wanton endangerment in the March 13 shooting, and not for Taylor's death. No written transcripts have been released.
"The audio recordings contain the entire presentation of evidence," Cameron said in a statement on Friday. "As is customary in the recording of Grand Jury proceedings, juror deliberations and prosecutor recommendations and statements were not recorded, as they are not evidence."
He added, "I'm confident that once the public listens to the recordings, they will see that our team presented a thorough case to the Jefferson County Grand Jury. Our presentation followed the facts and the evidence, and the Grand Jury was given a complete picture of the events surrounding Ms. Taylor's death on March 13th. While it is unusual for a court to require the release of the recordings from Grand Jury proceedings, we complied with the order, rather than challenging it, so that the full truth can be heard."
Earlier this week, Cameron asked for a one-week delay in the release of the grand jury recordings in the Taylor case. Cameron filed a motion with the court on Tuesday (September 29) saying his office needs more time to "redact personal identifiers of any named person, and to redact both names and personal identifiers of any private citizen," NBC News reported.
A spokesperson for Cameron's office told the outlet, "The Grand Jury audio recording is more than 20 hours long, and our office filed a motion to request additional time, if the court permits it, to redact personally identifiable information of witnesses, including addresses and phone numbers.
A day later, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith ruled on the motion by granting an extension on the release of the grand jury recordings until noon on Friday (October 2).
On Monday (September 28), Cameron agreed to release the recordings of the grand jury proceeding that led to no direct charges for the killing of Taylor after an unidentified juror filed a court motion to have the record of the proceedings opened to the public, criticizing the attorney general’s statements about the case and asking to share details so that “the truth may prevail," the Washington Post reports.
"As the special prosecutor, our team has an ethical obligation not to release the recording from the Grand Jury proceedings, and we stand by our belief that such a release could compromise the ongoing federal investigation and could have unintended consequences such as poisoning the jury pool," he said in a statement. "Despite these concerns, we will comply with the Judge’s order to release the recording on Wednesday. The release of the recording will also address the legal complaint filed by an anonymous grand juror."
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