Breonna Taylor's Mom Slams 'Inexperienced' KY AG as Her Lawyer Demands Release of Grand Jury Transcripts
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The family of Breonna Taylor, as well as their lawyers, continue to demand justice for the deceased 26-year-old EMT.
At a press conference in Louisville, Kentucky, on Friday, Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, read a statement on behalf of her sister and Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, after the grand jury failed to file homicide charges for Taylor's killing.
In the message, Palmer criticized Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who presented the grand jury with evidence that informed their decision.
"I never had faith in Daniel Cameron to begin with. I knew he was too inexperienced to deal with the job of this caliber. I knew he had already chosen to be on the wrong side of the law," Austin read near an emotional Palmer.
"I knew Cameron would never do his job. But what I do know is that him and countless others will go to bed sleeping with Breonna's face... Cameron alone didn't fail her. But [the] lack of investigation failed her," the statement continued.
"You didn't just rob me and my family. You robbed the world of a queen — a queen willing to do a job that most of us could never stomach to do. A queen willing to build up anyone around her. A queen who was starting to pave her path… I hope you never hear the sounds of hearing someone cry and beg for your child to get help and she never receives help. Those cries were ignored."
"I hope you never know the pain of your child being murdered 191 days in a row," the statement concluded.
In a statement read by Breonna Taylor's aunt, Breonna Taylor's mother Tamika Palmer says she "never had faith" in Kentucky AG: "What he helped me realize is that it will always be us against them, that we are never safe when it comes to them." https://t.co/phgHA3RjYQ pic.twitter.com/zBshIyR9yZ
"I hope you never know the pain of your child being murdered 191 days in a row."
Breonna Taylor's aunt, Bianca Austin, reads a statement on behalf of Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer: "The system as a whole has failed her." https://t.co/MYUYIFGNuJ pic.twitter.com/D7n2EVQz8d
Family attorney Ben Crump also spoke at the press conference and demanded that the grand jury proceeding transcripts be released.
"There seems to be two justice systems in America — one for Black America and one for white America," Crump said.
"What did Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron present to the grand jury? Did he present any evidence on Breonna Taylor's behalf?" Crump questioned. "Or did he make a unilateral decision to put his thumb on the scales of justice to help try to exonerate and justify the killing of Breonna Taylor by these police officers? And in doing so, make sure that Breonna Taylor's family never got their day in court."
"Release the transcript so we can have transparency," Crump continued. "And if you did everything you could do on Breonna's behalf, you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever, Daniel Cameron, to release the transcript to see you fought for all of Kentucky's citizens."
Lonita Baker, another one of Taylor's family lawyers, also demanded that a special prosecutor be appointed to present to a grand jury on Taylor's behalf.
On Wednesday, former police officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into an apartment near Taylor's.
At a press conference that day, Cameron said the two other officers involved, Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, were "justified in returning fire," as he said Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker "admitted that he fired one shot and was the first to shoot."
Citing FBI ballistics analysis, Cameron said Cosgrove fired the fatal shot that killed Taylor but also mentioned that a second analysis by a state lab was inconclusive.
While noting that Hankison "fired his weapon 10 times" — the reason why he was also fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department in June — Cameron said, "there's no conclusive evidence that any bullets fired from Detective Hankison's weapon struck Ms. Taylor."
On Thursday, Palmer broke her silence on the indictments by sharing a painting of her daughter with the message, "It's still Breonna Taylor for me #ThesystemfailedBreonna."
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