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u.s. news Diasabra 3 OctOber 2020

Grand jury audio details raid that killed Breonna Taylor

(AP) — Police said they Taylor’s apartment door and moments after the doors was
knocked and identified announced themselves as broken down he saw dark-
themselves for a minute or police and knocked three ness and then “immediate il-
more before bursting into times. “We knocked on the lumination from fire.”
Breonna Taylor’s apartment, door, said ‘police,’ waited I
but her boyfriend said he did don’t know 10 or 15 seconds. “What I saw at the time was a
not hear officers announce Knocked again, said police, figure in a shooting stance and
themselves, according to waited even longer,” Hoover it looked as if he was hold-
Kentucky grand jury record- said in an interview recorded ing, he or she was holding, an
ings released Friday. In the the same day Taylor was shot, AR-15 or a long gun, a rifle,”
hail of gunfire that ensued, and later played for the grand said Hankison, who was later
the 26-year-old Black woman jury. indicted by the grand jury on
was killed. charges of wanton endan-
“So it was the third time that germent for firing shots that
The dramatic and conflict- we were approaching, it had went into another home with
ing accounts of the March 13 been like 45 seconds if not a people inside. Walker was, in
raid are key to a case that has minute,” Hoover said. “And fact, using a handgun.
set off nationwide protests then I said, `Let’s go, let’s “We didn’t know who it was,”
against police brutality and breach it.’” Walker said in his own police
systemic racism. When police Another officer said they interview shortly after the
came through the door us- waited as much as two min- shooting. “If we knew who
ing a battering ram, Taylor’s utes. Whether or not officers it was, that would have never
boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, announced themselves has happened.” Kentucky Attorney General knowledged that he did not
opened fire. If he’d heard po- been a key issue in the case Hoover said he believed Daniel Cameron has also said recommend homicide charg-
lice announce themselves, “it because Taylor’s boyfriend, Walker and Taylor were lying officers announced them- es for the officers involved.
changes the whole situation Kenneth Walker, said he only in wait for the officers. selves. Cameron said two officers
because there’s nothing for fired at police because he “We were, in my opinion, we One law enforcement officer who fired their guns, hitting
us to be scared of.” The de- feared they were intruders. were ambushed,” Hoover testified that police ultimate- Taylor, were justified because
tails were contained in hours said. “They knew we were ly never executed the war- Taylor’s boyfriend had shot at
of recordings made public Police said they used a bat- there. I mean, hell, the neigh- rant to search Taylor’s apart- them first. The boyfriend has
Friday in a rare release for tering ram to enter the apart- bors knew we were there.” ment. “Were drugs money or said he thought someone was
proceedings that are typically ment, hitting the door three About five minutes after the paraphernalia recovered from breaking in.
kept secret. times before getting inside. gunfire erupted and Taylor apartment 4? ... The answer The grand jury did charge
Detective Michael Nobles was shot, her boyfriend di- to that is no,” said Herman Hankison with three counts
A court ruled that the mate- said officers made so much aled 911. Hall, an investigator for the of wanton endangerment for
rial should be released after noise that an upstairs neigh- According to audio of the state attorney general’s office. shooting into a neighboring
the grand jury did not charge bor came outside and had to call played for the grand jury, “They didn’t go forward with apartment. No one was hit.
the officers with Taylor’s kill- be told to go back inside. Walker told a dispatcher: executing the initial search He has pleaded not guilty.
ing, angering many in Lou- According to the grand jury “Somebody kicked in the warrant that they had for Cameron said there was no
isville and beyond. The ma- recordings, detective Jona- door and shot my girlfriend.” Breonna Taylor’s apartment.” conclusive evidence that any
terial does not include juror than Mattingly got shot as Walker seemed confused Cameron, whose office led of Hankison’s shots hit Tay-
deliberations or prosecutor soon as he leaned inside the when police interviewed him the investigation into police lor.
recommendations and state- apartment. Mattingly said in later. He said he didn’t know actions in the Taylor shoot- Protesters have taken to the
ments, none of which were testimony, some of which why police would knock on ing, did not object to the file's streets to demand more ac-
recorded, according to the was previously released, that Taylor’s door. release. countability in the case. Ac-
state attorney general’s office. he fired four gunshots as he tivists, Taylor’s family and
Louisville police Lt. Shawn fell on his backside. Officer Officers had a “no-knock" Cameron, a Republican and one of the jurors called for
Hoover said officers with a Brett Hankison said in a re- warrant to search Taylor's the state’s first African Amer- the grand jury file to be re-
narcotics warrant approached corded police interview that apartment for drugs. But ican attorney general, has ac- leased.

Another judge steps away from stalled Guantanamo 9/11 trial

(AP) — Another military Keane said he believes he served in a Defense Depart- charges that include terror- lenging statements they made
judge has stepped down from could serve as an impartial ment counter-terrorism task ism and nearly 3,000 counts to authorities as the product
the Sept. 11 war crimes tri- judge in the death penalty force, in which he conducted of murder in violation of the of torture.
bunal at the U.S. Navy base case. But the Marine colonel legal reviews concerning the laws of war. The men include The case also has been stalled
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said he did not want to cause transfer of detainees from Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, by non-legal issues, includ-
a further blow to an already further delays or grounds for Afghanistan to Guantanamo, who has portrayed himself as ing the coronavirus outbreak
long-stalled case. Marine appeal in a case that has been where the U.S. now holds 40 the architect of the Sept. 11 and the departure of the
Col. Stephen F. Keane said in bogged down in pretrial pro- prisoners. attack and other plots. previous judges. The initial
an order issued Friday that he ceedings since the May 2012 He also served as a Marine Their case has been stalled judge, Army Col. James Pohl,
must recuse himself from the arraignment. Corps fellow at the Jus- by the complexity of the trial announced his retirement in
case because of his past work "My continued presence as tice Department, working and the difficulty of staging August 2018 after a long ca-
for the government and per- the military judge in this case on counter-terrorism is- a proceeding that combines reer. The judge who replaced
sonal connections to victims arguably creates an appear- sues dealing with al-Qaida, military and civilian law at him then retired as well. A
of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist ance of bias," Keane wrote, though not on any work di- the remote base, with prose- third judge, also a Marine
attacks. before concluding that his rectly involving the five de- cution and defense teams fly- colonel, left to take another
recusal is “immediately re- fendants in the Guantanamo ing in periodically for pretrial position last year, leaving a
He's the fifth judge to pre- quired.” war crimes case. hearings. senior judge to preside for
side over the trial by military about six months until Keane
commission for five men Keane, describing his pos- Keane said he also has “sig- It has also been delayed over was appointed to the case.
held at Guantanamo who are sible conflicts, noted that he nificant personal connection” legal challenges stemming A trial before a jury of mili-
charged with planning and grew up in New York City to people who were “direct- from the brutal treatment of tary officers had, at one point,
assisting the hijacking plot area and had a close relative ly affected by the events of the five defendants in CIA been scheduled to start in
that killed nearly 3,000 peo- who worked for the Fire De- 9/11,” though he did not pro- custody before they were January but a new date has
ple in New York, Washington partment but retired before vide any details. charged before the commis- not been set. The next pre-
and Pennsylvania. the Sept. 11 attacks. He also The five defendants face sion. Their lawyers are chal- trial hearing is in March.