LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- An attorney for former Louisville Metro Police Detective Brett Hankison asked a judge to ban the public and media from part of jury selection for his Feb. 1 trial on wanton endangerment charges in the March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor raid.
Cincinnati attorney Stew Mathews, who represents Hankison, argued in a motion that allowing the media and public to watch individual questioning of potential jurors would have a “chilling effect on the candor that is expected of the of the prospective jurors.
“It makes no sense to prevent other jurors from hearing prejudicial answers in the courtroom if at the same time the media is free to disseminate them,” Matthews argued in a Jan. 21 motion.
He also said the media reports could “affect the responses of potential jurors before they are questioned."
But attorneys for three news outlets — The Associated Press, WDRB News and The Courier Journal — filed motions arguing the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled jury selection must be conducted in public.
“When you have such a high-profile case, people need to have confidence that a fair and impartial jury has been chosen,” said Michael Abate, one of the attorneys representing the media outlets. “It’s extremely important for people to have ultimate confidence in the verdict.”
The Kentucky Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting Hankison, also objected to the ban request, arguing there are less restrictive measures that could be taken.
“The Commonwealth recognizes the competing interests between the right to an impartial jury and the right to public and media access,” according to the motion. “Here, the Commonwealth believes the balance favors access, even if the Court decides to place some limitations on that access.”
A hearing is scheduled Wednesday on the issue.
In a hearing last week, Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Ann Bailey Smith was the first to broach the topic of whether the media should be allowed to be in the courtroom for individual voir dire: questioning of jurors one at a time. Smith told attorneys for both sides she had found case law that would allow the exclusion of jurors if there was a hearing on the issue.
In his motion, Matthews refers to a 1983 capital murder case that dealt with excluding the media from individual juror selection. But Abate argued a U.S. Supreme Court case five months later overturning a ruling that closed individual voir dire to the public.
Abate also noted that after Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman excluded the media from jury selection in a high-profile case in 2004, the state Court of Appeals immediately suspended jury selection and sided with The Courier-Journal in allowing press access.
Matthews also argues that given how controversial the case is, jurors have a “huge fear that their identities will be exposed no matter what protections are put in place."
On Sept. 23, 2020, Hankison was charged with firing at a neighboring apartment unit, showing "extreme indifference to human life" for three people inside, a grand jury concluded. He posted the bond that same day. Hankison also shot into another apartment, but it was empty.
Each wanton endangerment charge carries a prison sentence of one to five years, if convicted. His trial is scheduled to last into March.
Neither Hankison nor the two other officers who fired their weapons during the raid — Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly and Detective Myles Cosgrove — were indicted in Taylor's death. Taylor was killed by one of Cosgrove's bullets, according to FBI ballistics findings released by Cameron.
Police shot and killed Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room tech and former EMT, during an undercover raid on her apartment on Springfield Drive as part of a series of raids elsewhere that targeted narcotics trafficking.
No drugs or money were found in her home.
Related Stories:
- Judge returns half of $15,000 bond to former detective charged in Breonna Taylor raid
- Hankison pleads not guilty to charges connected to Breonna Taylor raid
- Former detective charged in Breonna Taylor raid wants trial moved out of Louisville
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