Courier Journal sues Louisville police for investigative file into Breonna Taylor's death

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Courier Journal reporter Darcy Costello talks with Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer about the Breonna Taylor case. Louisville Courier Journal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Courier Journal is suing the Louisville Metro Police Department, seeking the immediate release of the department's investigative file regarding the fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.

The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday afternoon, argues LMPD's internal investigation into the shooting is final and therefore should be released under the state's open records laws.

The findings related to Taylor's death are compelling and contain details that the public has a right to know, said Richard Green, The Courier Journal editor. 

"This charade of secrecy at LMPD must stop. The public deserves more; it deserves answers," Green said.

"The Taylor case has drawn national scrutiny and with good reason. At this unsettled time, LMPD wants to keep private its finished investigation and pretend its work does not belong to the public and to taxpayers. We disagree, which is why we are taking our case directly to the court for a ruling." 

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced May 20 that the department's Public Integrity Unit investigation had been turned over to the state attorney general's office for review. The Courier Journal requested a copy of the file the same day, but the department denied the request the following day.

"Prematurely releasing records for an open and ongoing investigation in a public forum could result in prejudice to the potential witnesses and has the potential to adversely color a witness’ recollection of the events," a department spokeswoman said in an email.

Also: Louisville council members move to limit no-knock warrants after Breonna Taylor shooting

Taylor, 26, was shot and killed by police in her apartment just before 1 a.m. on March 13. Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he fired one shot in self-defense after police used a battering ram to enter the apartment, leading police to return more than 20 rounds. Taylor and her home were named on a search warrant as a part of a narcotics investigation, though no drugs were recovered.

An LMPD spokeswoman said Tuesday evening that she was not yet aware of the lawsuit but would not comment on pending litigation.

Jon Fleischaker, an attorney for The Courier Journal, pointed out that Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine released a portion of evidence from the investigation on Friday, playing audio snippets of statements from Taylor's boyfriend and LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly. To withhold those records, he said, is "absurd."

"My consistent experience is when (government agencies) don't release everything, they're hiding something," Fleischaker said. "If they have nothing to hide, why are they hiding it?"

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Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine announced his office will move to dismiss all charges against Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend. Louisville Courier Journal

The Courier Journal also filed an appeal with the state attorney general’s office earlier this month to object to open records decisions made by Louisville public agencies regarding records underlying the Taylor case.

Key public records from the fatal police shooting, including the recording of a 911 call made by Taylor's boyfriend, police incident reports and Taylor’s autopsy report, were withheld by LMPD, the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office and Louisville MetroSafe, despite records requests from The Courier Journal. 

Michael Abate, attorney for The Courier Journal, said the public's right to know details of the investigation is why the newspaper is taking take the appeal over the investigative file straight to court.

"LMPD has put up these exact same objections to every single response in hopes, I guess, that the requesters will just go away," Abate said. "This lawsuit is an important signal that the public has a right to know what's going on, and the agency has a clear legal burden to beat if it wants to withhold records."

Abate said LMPD is incorrect in denying all requests related to Taylor's case because of a pending investigation. Instead, the department should outline any specific harm that would be caused by disclosing a document, he said.

"They have done exactly what the Supreme Court said they can't do, which is to adopt a blanket policy of non-disclosure in a presumption that anything related to an ongoing investigation has to be kept secret," Abate said.

Fischer also said he would send the internal investigation findings to the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office, in addition to the state attorney general’s office, amid pressure for a third party to conduct the investigation. 

He declined to call for a special investigation, but the FBI has since announced it opened its own independent investigation. Fischer said in a Friday video that he “welcomed" the probe.

Also: Protesters demand Mayor Greg Fischer fire police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor

He also claimed that, despite turning the findings over to third parties, the Public Integrity Unit investigation is “not complete.”

“As other work is finished, we will share that material with other agencies,” he said. 

It’s not clear what material in the investigation is outstanding. Findings are typically shared with prosecutors upon Public Integrity Unit cases’ completion.

However, The Courier Journal legal team and editors maintain that once a report leaves an agency, it is considered final and therefore subject to open records laws.

The suit alleges LMPD "willfully violated the Open Records Act" and is seeking an injunction ordering LMPD to release the records. Additionally, the suit asks for an expedited hearing given the importance of the records.

Reporter Darcy Costello contributed to this story. Reach Tessa Duvall at tduvall@courier-journal.com and 502-582-4059. Twitter: @TessaDuvall. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/subscribe. 

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