A former police officer blamed for instigating a conflict that led to the fatal shooting of a Black barbecue restaurant owner during the Breonna Taylor protests has pleaded guilty in federal court.
Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly is writing a book about the botched raid, during which he shot into Taylor's apartment after being wounded. Post Hill Press says it will move forward with its plans to publish.
Detective Joshua Jaynes, who secured the search warrant for Taylor's apartment, and Detective Myles Cosgrove, who federal investigators said fired the shot that killed her, have been terminated.
Taylor's killing, along with that of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, sparked national protests calling for an end to systemic racism and police brutality. Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly denied he is racist.
"The Grand Jury is meant to be a secretive body," Attorney General Daniel Cameron says in a statement. "It's apparent that the public interest in this case isn't going to allow that to happen."
Demonstrators took to the streets of Atlanta overnight in the wake of the decision not to charge officers directly in Taylor's death. Candidates for a Georgia Senate race weighed in.
Brett Hankison, who was terminated in June, has been charged with three counts of wanton endangerment. None of the three men face state charges directly over Taylor's death.
Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron is poised to announce whether his office will bring charges against the police officers who shot and killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in March.
Tamika Palmer says she wants the officers who killed her daughter to be charged. "Even in the very beginning of this year, she kept saying 2020 was her year," she said. "And she was absolutely right."
