by John Galt » Wed Sep 23, 2020 3:18 pm
putting aside, for a moment, the topic of warrants in the dead of night, i do think the grand jury in the breanna taylor case acted correctly
the facts are:
the cops banged on the door for a minute
one neighbor says that he heard them announce POLICE!
upon forced entry, Breanna Taylor and her boyfreind Kenny Walker were standing in the hallway, and he immediately fired at the police
the 2 police who entered after being hit by bullets, Mattingly and Cosgrove, including one that pierced Mattingly's femoral artery, returned fire.
a third police officer, Hankison, sprayed the apartment with bullets from the parking lot
the police backed off after being hit and it took several minutes for the situation to calm down to the point where they reentered the home and found breanna taylor unresponsive. Cosgrove is the one who fired the fatal shot.
Hankisson was fired in june with some pretty damning language about his actions
the grand jury found no reason to indict the two cops who returned fire, while hankison faces felony wanton endangerment, but none of his bullets actually hit anyone according to the evidence
the grand jury reached the correct conclusion.
Kenny Walker was defending his home from intruders and should not face charges. he did not hear the police announce.
The 2 police in the unit were retuning fire and should not face charges.
the third police officer has been fired and faces charges for outrageously shooting from a parking lot to spray an apartment building.
of course the story that goes around is she was "killed in her bed, asleep". in fact, for months i just accepted this as factual, but it's not at all. the fact is the police returned fire.
now back to the thing i put aside.
first of all, apparently they DID knock, but even still, ending no-knocks (almost entirely) would be a good thing, but its worth noting that if they really did execute a no knock warrant I have the suspicion that breanna taylor would be alive today. instead they were up in the hallway, gun in hand. and also there is no reason to do such a thing in the middle of the night whatsoever. they were looking for money stashed in the house. this was not a matter of life and death. there was no fugitive for murder or something on the run. there should really be reform and this should have never happened, but that doesn't mean the officers should be charged with murder
Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience. -- Theodore Roosevelt
My life has become a single, ongoing revelation that I haven’t been cynical enough.