By Erik Ortiz - NBC News
The death of Breonna Taylor, a black woman shot to death by Louisville police in March, has put Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron at the center of the national media scene just months after taking office.
In May, when the Louisville Police Department turned over its files to Cameron as an independent special counsel, scrutiny began around how he would handle such a high-profile incident
after months of protests on the streets to "arrest the cops. that they killed Breonna Taylor
.
"
Many wondered if it could satisfy a community divided by race riots and accusations of police brutality.
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He eventually brought the criminal case to a grand jury this week, but Wednesday's ruling not to press charges directly against officers in Taylor's murder fueled resentment, disappointment and a wave of criticism against Cameron, the first black attorney general. from the state, as he tried to quell outrage and what he called "mob justice."
"People are not happy right now," according to Dewey Clayton, a political science professor at the University of Louisville.
"There is a lot of anger, frustration and sadness. People feel that they have not received justice
.
"
Based on the evidence presented by Cameron's office, the grand jury decided to indict a single officer involved in the police raid that led to the death of Taylor, who was killed in her Louisville apartment.
The agent, Sgt. Brett Hankison, was fired in June and faces three counts of
"reckless recklessness," or willfully putting people in danger, and having "extreme disregard for human life,"
Judge Annie O'Connell announced Wednesday. , although he is not accused of shooting or killing the young woman.
Neither were charges brought against the other two police officers who were involved in the incident that killed Taylor last March.
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Taylor's family had asked for manslaughter charges.
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O'Connell also issued an arrest warrant for Hankison and bail was set at $ 15,000 in cash.
"Justice is rarely easy," Cameron told a news conference in the state capital, Frankfort, on Wednesday to explain the grand jury's decision.
"It doesn't fit the mold of public opinion and it doesn't fit the changing standards."
Police came to the home as part of a narcotics investigation linked to a suspect, Taylor's ex-boyfriend, who did not live in the apartment.
When officers broke into the home around 12:30 a.m. on March 13, Taylor's current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a gun and wounded an officer in the leg, police said after the shooting.
Walker, who was licensed to carry firearms, told investigators that he believed the raid was an intrusion into his home.
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Officers fired more than 20 shots in a matter of seconds, Cameron said Wednesday, and Taylor was hit six times.
He added that officers who showed up at the home announced they were law enforcement officers when they knocked on the door, questioning
The New York Times
' reports
that nearly a dozen neighbors testified that they never heard the police knock
on the door.
door.
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Although Taylor, 26, was not wanted by the search warrant and was killed,
the grand jury found that the officers who participated in the raid had "ultimate justification for the use of force
," Cameron said.
"I know that not everyone will be satisfied with the charges announced today," Cameron clarified before criticizing celebrities, influencers and activists, specifically those outside of Kentucky, who "will try to tell us how to feel, suggesting that they understand the facts of this case, that they know our community and the Commonwealth better than we do, but they don't. "
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Kentucky actor George Clooney issued a statement Wednesday that said he was "ashamed of this decision."
"I was born and raised in Kentucky. I cut tobacco on Kentucky farms. Both my parents and my sister live in Kentucky. I own a home in Kentucky and I was there last month," Clooney explained.
“The justice system that I was raised in holds people accountable for their actions.
Her name was Breonna Taylor and she was shot to death in her bed by three white police officers, who will not be charged with any crime for her death.
I know the community.
And in Kentucky schools and churches they taught me what is right and what is wrong, "he added." I am ashamed of this decision.
At a press conference Wednesday, President Donald Trump described Cameron as "a star" and read the attorney general's statement that "justice is not easy."
"Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is really brilliant, he's done a fantastic job
," Trump said.
"I think he's a star ... I listened to his words and said write that for me, please, because I think it was an excellent statement. He's handling it very well. You know who he is. I think everyone now knows who he is."
Brian Butler, a former deputy federal prosecutor currently practicing as a criminal defense attorney in Louisville, said Cameron had the unenviable task of handling a complicated case that became a symbol of how black Americans say police ignore their lives.
Achieving what many want in the community is not easy for prosecutors who have to work with the available evidence, he said.
"Often times, what is in the public sphere does not come close to what is the evidence in a real case," Butler said.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron speaking at the Republican National Convention in Washington on Aug. 25.Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file
Unlike other states, like Missouri, where prosecutors have the discretion to file criminal charges, Kentucky requires a grand jury to step in to file felony charges, he said.
"There is always room for debate about whether or not what the grand jury decided was correct," he added.
"
But I think the most important thing is the perception that the process was fair and that the information was presented in the most objective way possible.
Any good prosecutor wants people to feel that it was a fair process."
Cameron declined to discuss certain details of the case Wednesday, saying he did not want to compromise the investigation or pending trial against Hankison.
He also did not disclose the racial and gender composition of the grand jury and avoided a question about whether murder charges were considered for each officer who fired his gun.
He also clarified that,
while his "heart is broken over the loss" of Taylor, "the criminal law is not meant to answer all pain and sorrow."
Similarly, he explained that the grand jury decided that the murder charges against the officers, including the one who fired the fatal bullet, "are not applicable to the facts before us."
The public attention for Cameron, the first Republican in 70 years to serve as Kentucky's attorney general, has risen in recent weeks after he spoke at the Republican National Convention, addressing himself directly to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden by saying: "You can't tell me how to vote for the color of my skin."
Trump also recently named Cameron on a list of people he could nominate to the Supreme Court.
Protesters shout their slogans in front of police in Louisville, Kentucky.AP Photo / Darron Cummings
Cameron, 34, has been a protégé of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, after defeating his Democratic opponent with nearly 58% of the vote.
His handling of the Taylor case could cement his future as a rising star in the Republican Party
and catapult him to higher political office, Clayton said.
"If you can convince people and argue that 'what happened was not up to me, it was up to the grand jury,' you can defuse any criticism," according to Clayton.
"He's very young and he's starting his career, so he doesn't have a real track record," he added.
During his press conference, Cameron was moved when he addressed the public and recalled that it is a time of criticism and protest over systemic racism and the deaths of black people in police actions.
"As a black man I understand how painful this is ... that's why it was important to make sure that we did everything possible to clarify the facts," he
said excitedly.
He said it was difficult to tell Taylor's family what the grand jury had decided and that he was thinking of his own mother's pain if she received such a call.
"My mother, if something happened to me," she said while she seemed to hold back tears, "I would consider it a very difficult situation."