LOUISVILLE, Ky. — One of the witnesses former officer Brett Hankison is calling for his trial might not answer.
According to court documents, former officer Jonathan Mattingly is invoking his 5th Amendment right to not speak as a defendant in Hankison's trial.
Court documents say that he will use blanket privilege and refuse to testify at Hankison's trial "on grounds his testimony could incriminate him for purposes of future proceedings, specifically, an ongoing investigation by the United States Department of Justice."
Even though Mattingly has spoken to law enforcement agencies, given interviews to national media and written a book about the night Breonna Taylor died, he is refusing to testify as a witness for Hankison's defense, court documents say.
Mattingly could become an unavailable witness, court documents say.
The documents do say, however, evidence he gave in a different proceeding can be used instead as long as "the party whom the testimony is offered had an opportunity and similar motive to develop the testimony by direct, cross, or redirect examination." This is to fight against hearsay according to the documents.
Hankison said in response, while he wishes Mattingly would testify as a witness, he understands Mattingly's reasons and will defer to the court additional documents say.
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