March 13th, Louisville police officers entered the residence of Breonna Taylor and killed her.
On that night, plainclothes police, executing a search warrant, forced their way into the apartment where Breonna Taylor was in bed with her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shortly after midnight. Her death sparked outrage across the country and calls for defunding the police.
Exactly 1-year since her death, what has actually transpired since her needless death at the hands of police officers?
The End of No-Knock Warrants
The officers who entered her residence that night, did so without notice with a no-knock warrant. The no-so popular tactic came into play in the 80’s and 90’s during “war on drugs.”
Already controversial, the no-knock policy jumped into the national spotlight after her death. So what’s happened since?
Several states including Oregon and Virginia have banned the use of the tactic. The city of Louisville would vote unanimously to end no-knock search warrants. Most of these laws were passed over the last few months, so there’s no way to really tell if changes to the laws has had any real impact.
There are those who feel like the laws aren’t doing close to enough.
Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association told CNN this past October:
“It’s not even near enough,” he said of effort to ban no-knock warrants. “In fact, it would be one more exercise in symbolic politics where everybody gets to parade around and say, ‘We passed Brianna’s law’ and nothing substantive changes.”
Charges Dropped Against Her Boyfriend
During the raid, a police officer was shot.
Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, believing the officers were intruders coming into the home, shot in self defense. Police claimed they made it clear they were officers before Walker began to shot. Officers returned fire, sending out 32 shots, 6 of which killed Breyonna Taylor. Walker would be charged with attempted murder.
Walker would be cleared of the attempted murder charge two months after Breonna’s death, but prosecutors were able to bring the charges back if new evidence came up.
This month he was officially cleared of attempted murder.
No officers were ever charged in the shooting. Two were fired for use of force, and failed to use a body camera in the search.
Senate Or Impeachment?: Daniel Camron’s Next Move
Prior to the shooting, I doubt anyone who didn’t live in Kentucky would’ve known who the hell Daniel Camron was. The newly elected attorney general was also thrown in the national spotlight after the murder of Breyonna Taylor.
Camron officially took office January 2020, becoming the first African-American to hold the office after winning in after defeating former Kentucky AG Greg Stumbo. Only in office a short amount of time, prior to the Taylor case his biggest political claim to fame have been attempting to halt abortions during COVID and attempting to halt the Governor of the state for enforcing COVID-19 guidelines.
His real moment in the sun came during the investigation.
After announcing the wanton endangerment charges against the officers charged in the shooting death of Taylor, he said “My heart breaks for the loss of Miss Taylor.”
Daniel Camron became a fan-favorite of the Republican party for his stance during the controversy over the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. There were even rumblings that he would be in line for a Supreme Court nomination.
Not sure that would happen now, even if Trump was in office.
On September 28, 2020, a grand juror filed a court motion stating that Cameron had mischaracterized the grand-jury proceedings and was “using grand jurors as a shield to deflect accountability and responsibility” for charging decisions. That moved forced the release of the grand-jury proceedings. A day later he would claim that he did not recommend murder charges to the grand jury, but maintained that he presented “a thorough and complete case” to the grand jurors.
As of right now, Camron has to worry about possible impeachment. Talk about a whirlwind year.
Still Free: Say These Names Too
Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove. Three names that probably don’t roll off the tongues of many, but they should.
Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove are the officers who came in plainclothes, with a no-knock warrant inciting the shooting that led to the murder of Breonna Taylor.
Her death sparked outrage, not just in the city of Louisville, but across the nation. Calls for the officers involved to be charged with her murder grew everyday. After protests, media outrage, and a grand jury, all that came from it were charges of wanton endangerment and the firing of two officers.
Not one was charged with her murder.
When Daniel Cameron, the Kentucky attorney general, announced Hankison’s indictment during a press briefing, he said that Cosgrove, who fired the fatal shot, and another officer, Jonathan Mattingly, “were justified in their use of force.”
Still No Justice: Breonna Taylor
One year later, there has been no charges, no arrests for anyone of the officers accused in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. The family did receive a $12 million dollar settlement from the city after raid.
With protests planned in the city and across the country on the anniversary of her death, its clear that there still is no sense of peace. So, the only thing that really has changed in this whole entire situation is it’s a new year.
So I guess nothing has changed.
