An attorney representing the family of Breonna Taylor unearthed a document that shows Louisville law enforcement tried to offer a plea deal to an ex-boyfriend of Taylor’s in exchange for naming her as a co-defendant in a drug crime.
According to Wave 3 News, lawyer Sam Aguiar posted a photo of the document to Facebook on Monday, and accused officials involved with Taylor’s case of a smear campaign against her.
On Wednesday, August 26, court documents were released to the media connecting Taylor to ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, who was the target of the March 13 police raid that resulted in her killing.
Aguiar told WDRB that the two dated until mid-February.
"Just because a woman has an off-and-on relationship with a bad guy doesn’t mean she deserves a death sentence, or give law enforcement a reason to beat down her door in the middle of the night with no probable cause," Aguiar said of the late EMT.
The lawyer said the offer asked Glover to name Taylor as a member of an organized crime syndicate that trafficked drugs into the local community. The July 13 deal, which Glover rejected, was offered exactly four months after the 26-year-old was killed.
“Umm…when was Breonna Taylor ever a co-defendant? And oh by the way, the cops killed her a month and a half before April 22 and four months to the day before the date of this effort to get a plea deal (which was rejected). This goes to show how desperate Tom Wine (in case anyone was wondering whose office distributed one-sided information…) is to justify the wrongful search of Breonna Taylor’s home, her killing and arrest of Kenneth Walker,” Aguiar wrote on Facebook.
Read this bullshit. Commonwealth Attorney Tom Wine tried to give the Elliott Ave. defendants a plea deal on July 13…
Posted by Sam Aguiar on Monday, August 31, 2020
Glover said in a video interview with The Courier-Journal last week that Taylor was not involved in any drug operation and questioned police procedures that would see them raid her home.
"There was nothing never there or anything ever there, and at the end of the day, they went about it the wrong way and lied on that search warrant and shot that girl out there," he said.
Prosecutor Tom Wine released a statement calling the offer a “draft” and said he specifically asked Taylor’s name be removed from the final document, WDRB reports.
"When I was advised of the discussions, out of respect for Ms. Taylor, I directed that Ms. Breonna Taylor’s name be removed. The final plea sheet provided to Mr. Glover’s counsel is attached and clearly does not include Ms. Taylor as a co-defendant," he said.
Aguiar has rebutted that the plea wasn’t designated as a draft, because it was “obviously presented to Glover and his attorney.”
Other attorneys who spoke to WDRB said that all plea deals are drafts until signed. However, Louisville defense attorney Ted Shouse said it appears the strategy is to destroy the narrative around Taylor’s character “because she is destroying them. And they want Jamarcus Glover to do it for them because their efforts have failed. So they offer him a bribe, basically. All you have to do is smear her.”
On Monday afternoon, Wine told WDRB Aguiar “mischaracterized” how his office handled the plea offer and was critical of the lawyer’s post on social media.
“Ms. Taylor was never a co-defendant. We don’t indict people posthumously," he said. "She was certainly involved in the actions. We know [that] from the search warrant.”
According to CBS News, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron convened with the FBI Monday to discuss the findings of the ballistics report which was just finalized and sent to him on Sunday.
"That is a critical piece of this investigation," Cameron said. "It's not the end-all-be-all. There are still some witness testimony and interviews that have to be conducted. But we do have that ballistics report."
The officers present during the March 13 raid, Sgt. Jon Mattingly and detectives Myles Cosgrove and Brett Hankison, were each placed on administrative duty following the incident. Hankison was fired by the department in June for “blindly” firing 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment, Blavity previously reported.
Cameron’s office is currently investigating whether or not to levy criminal charges against the three officers, per the Courier-Journal.