UPDATE (4:30 p.m. ET): The release of grand jury recordings in the Breonna Taylor case will be delayed until noon Friday (October 2), CNN reports.
"The Judge [Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith] ruled on the motion today and granted an extension until noon on Friday to give us proper time to redact specific personal information of witnesses," Elizabeth Kuhn, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky attorney general, said via email.
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Original Story:
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has asked for a one-week delay in the release of the grand jury recordings in the Breonna Taylor case.
According to NBC News, 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."
A spokesperson for Cameron's office told the outlet that a judge is expected to rule on the request on Wednesday. "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," the spokesperson said in a statement.
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.
"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."
Cameron's decision to release the recordings came hours 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.
“There is a compelling public interest for these proceedings to be released of a magnitude the city and Commonwealth have never seen before that could not be confined, weaving its way across the country,” read the juror’s motion to release information, per the WP.
The motion additionally suggests that Cameron used jurors “as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility.” It added that the juror fears the AG “would attempt to utilize the court’s contempt powers … if there was a public disclosure that contradicted certain things that he stated happened during the proceedings, characterized the singularity of the decision in a different light, or raised doubts about charges that were presented during the proceedings.”
Last week, a grand jury announced that none of the three officers involved in Taylor's death would be charged for her death. Instead, former officer Brett Hankison was charged with recklessly endangering Taylor's neighbors. The grand jury's decision came more than six months after Taylor, a 26-year-old Black emergency room technician and aspiring nurse, was shot to death by Louisville police officers, who broke down the door to her apartment while executing a "no-knock" warrant on March 13.
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