The Breanna Taylor Case

 Today, Daniel Cameron, the attorney general of Kentucky, announced that a grand jury had indicted one of the three officers who were involved in the shooting death of Breanna Taylor last March in Louisville. The officer who was charged with reckless endangerment, Brett Hankinson, is alleged to have fired about ten rounds into Taylor's apartment, which, while not striking Taylor herself, traveled through the walls into a neighboring apartment where others were residing. The two other officers involved are not charged since it was judged by the grand jury that they acted in self-defense in firing after Taylor's boyfriend open fire on them and wounded one of the officers. 

The two officers who fired their weapons are Johnathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove. Forensics determined that the fatal wound to Taylor was fired by Cosgrove. Mattingly was the officer who was shot in the leg by Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker.

I am not yet ready to express an opinion on this because it is complex and there are conflicting news reports coming out as to whether the affidavit for a search warrant was truthful, and whether the officers hit the wrong apartment or were looking for a suspect who did not live there. These are important points.

The officers had obtained a "no-knock" warrant for the address, but apparently did knock and announce their identity and purpose. Not receiving any response, the decision was break to breach the door.  All of those steps are lawful under those circumstances.

A "no-knock" warrant is issued upon request by the police when there is reason to believe the suspect is armed and dangerous, there is risk of flight, or evidence being destroyed. It is a decision to be made with extreme caution because if you don't knock and identify yourselves, the suspect is within his right to defend himself if he believes his life is in danger. Of course, once the officers come through the door, they announce, but the tactic increases the suspect's defense if he assaults the officers, purportedly not knowing they are police.

As a DEA agent and Customs agent before that, I am well familiar with "no-knock" warrants. To me, the main consideration is whether you believe the suspect inside is ready to shoot it out with law enforcement. Many are prepared to do just that, while others will submit to police. If they think this is some sort of gang attack or rip off, they will react differently. At any rate, charges against Taylor's boyfriend, for wounding one officer before being shot himself have been dropped.

I also know first hand that once in a (great) while, police can hit the wrong door. I was involved in two such incidents that I  can remember. One involved a hippy commune in Oakland when I was in Customs. In fact, both occasions were when I was in Customs.

What I want to know more about is whether the cops hit the wrong place, was it the right place, but their information was faulty, or just what was the circumstance? A lot of prosecutors would say this case is a mess.