FRANKFORT, Ky (AP) - Jumping into the turmoil over Breonna Taylor’s death, Democrat Amy McGrath called on Kentucky’s attorney general to release details from his investigation or turn over the case to someone else.
McGrath said Friday that 100 days have elapsed since Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron took over the investigation, following the recusal of another prosecutor. Cameron is a protege of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, McGrath’s opponent in November.
“With more than 200 employees, including some of the top investigators in the state, why, after 100 days, don’t we have a final report by the AG’s office?” McGrath said in a statement.
McGrath called on Cameron to release his findings or hand the case over to an independent counsel who can ensure a “fair and timely process,” her release said.
Cameron replied that McGrath should “stop disrespecting” investigators working on the case.
“As I’ve said before, we are committed to a thorough and complete investigation, and we continue to work with our federal partners to leave no stone unturned,” he said in a statement. “That takes time, and it takes the use of the best investigators, prosecutors and labs we can access.”
In another counter-jab, Cameron accused McGrath of showing a “fundamental misunderstanding of the criminal justice system, the investigation process and even the size of our office.”
Cameron has avoided setting timelines for the investigation. He recently met with Taylor’s mother, acknowledging the enormity of her loss as he asked her to be patient. Cameron revealed recently that he’s waiting for information on ballistics tests being conducted by the FBI.
McGrath criticized Cameron for “outsourcing” part of the investigation to the federal government. She suggested he could have worked with Kentucky crime labs to expedite the testing.
“Kentuckians deserve a truly independent investigation that they can trust, but he has abdicated responsibility to Washington and is using that as an excuse to further delay a case that is so important to so many Kentuckians,” McGrath said.
Cameron will decide whether three Louisville police officers will be criminally charged for their actions in the March shooting death of Taylor.
The 26-year-old Black emergency medical technician was killed when officers entered her apartment with a no-knock warrant during a drug investigation. No drugs were found.
Since then, demonstrators nationwide have demanded justice for Taylor, as her death has become part of a national reckoning over racism and police actions.
McConnell recently expressed his “total confidence” in Cameron, saying the attorney general “will go where the facts take him.”
“My guess is that this investigation is more complicated than it appears, and that probably is the explanation for the lengthy period of time” to review the case, McConnell said during a recent interview with WBKO-TV in Bowling Green.
McGrath, facing an uphill campaign against McConnell, is trying to reclaim progressive and minority voters who didn’t back her in the June Democratic Senate primary. Despite a huge fundraising advantage, she barely defeated Charles Booker, a progressive Black lawmaker from Louisville.
McGrath recently unveiled a racial justice plan that calls for closing the nation’s wealth gap, overhauling the criminal justice system, expanding voting rights, creating health care equity and closing the funding gap between majority white and majority nonwhite school districts.
Booker criticized McGrath during the primary while playing up his participation in demonstrations over police brutality. One of his campaign ads showed a segment from a debate in which McGrath was asked if she had been with protesters in Louisville. She replied she had not. Asked to explain, McGrath said: “Well, I’ve been with my family and I’ve had some family things going on.”
During the debate, McGrath referred to Taylor’s death as tragic and said leaders need to listen to the demonstrators. McGrath later attended a vigil for Taylor and a prayer march, her campaign said.
Booker has endorsed McGrath since the primary but hasn’t campaigned with her.
Cameron on Friday accused McGrath of showing “sudden interest” in the Taylor death investigation, saying other political leaders “have been concerned and interested from the beginning.”
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