Attorneys for the Covenant Presbyterian Church have filed a motion to intervene in Star News Digital Media Inc.’s lawsuit seeking the immediate release of the manifesto and related documents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender killer behind the March 27 mass shootings at the private elementary school.
The 20th Circuit Court-Davidson County will hold a hearing on the motion to intervene, which seeks to protect the Covenant Presbyterian Church’s “interests relating to the release of records sought in this matter.” The court set a hearing for 9 a.m. May 26.
Records sought by Star News Digital Media, parent company of The Tennessee Star, “may include and/or relate to information owned by Covenant Church, including, but not limited to, schematics of church facilities and confidential information pertaining to Covenant Church employees,” the school’s attorneys, Nashville-based Adams and Reese LLP state in the motion.
“Covenant Church is so situated that the disposition of this action may impair or impede its ability to protect its interests and the privacy of its employees. Therefore, intervention by Covenant Church in this action is warranted,” the motion added.
Star News’ records requests seek:
[A]ll written records and documents, including written manifestos. journals, written notes, memoirs, and school yearbooks obtained by the Metro Nashville Police Department from search warrants executed on Monday March 27, 2023 and throughout the week of March 27, 2023 at the residence of Audrey Hale in Nashville and the car driven by Audrey Hale and left at the Covenant Presbyterian School parking lot on March 27, 2023 related to the investigation of the murder of six people at Covenant Presbyterian School by Audrey Hale on Monday March 27, 2023.
The Tennessee Star also has requested autopsy and toxicology information.
In both cases, the Metro Nashville Police Department rejected the records request, unlawfully as Star News has argued in its lawsuit.
“Star News Digital Media Inc. is not seeking the schematics of the school, nor are we asking for personnel information that would violate employee privacy expectations. We are seeking the relevant writings of a killer who shook the public’s sense of safety to its core,” said Michael Patrick Leahy, chief executive officer of Star News Digital Media, resident of Tennessee, and plaintiff in the lawsuit.
“Our hearts go out to the church, the school, and the families of the victims of this heinous crime. But the public has a right to know what motivated this monster to carry out her violent crime spree so that the public can protect itself from such murderers in the future,” Leahy added. “Informing the public is the most crucial role of a free press, and we are committed to that journalistic duty.”
Star News also has sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation in federal court, alleging that the FBI, too, has violated the Freedom of Information Act by refusing to disclose Hale’s manifesto – writings the FBI has routinely and quickly released in other mass shooting cases.
The school’s attorneys have sought to intervene in two separate lawsuits filed by the Tennessee Firearms Association and the National Police Association, each seeking the release of Hale’s writings. Those complaints have been consolidated in state court.
Monday marked seven weeks since Hale, a 28-year-old woman who reportedly identified as a transgender man, completed her deadly errand at the Christian elementary school. She was fatally shot by Nashville police before she could take more lives. While federal and local government officials have claimed public records laws exempt them from having to turn over records from an ongoing criminal procedure, Hale is dead and there appears to be no ongoing criminal procedure.
The delay in the release of the Hale manifesto has led to speculation, including theories that President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice is playing politics with the investigation — and the records attached to it. As someone who identified as transgender, Hale doesn’t fit the left’s usual narrative of a school shooter, critics say.
State Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) said with the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session on proposed gun bills set for Aug 21, “it is imperative that @MNPDNashville release the manifesto from the Covenant shooter.”
“We must be equipped with all the facts related to the horrific evil committed at Covenant. The MNPD has been incredible through such difficult circumstances. We as state lawmakers need their cooperation and transparency in providing us with the manifesto, which may contain insight in to what led to the murder of 6 Tennesseans at Covenant,” the lawmaker wrote in a tweet Friday.
Zachary added that the General Assembly will need to consider legislative steps on transparency during the special session “if the manifesto is not yet released.
Read the Covenant Presbyterian Church motion to intervene in the Star News Digital Media, Inc. v Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County Government case here:
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Audrey Hale” by Metro Nashville Police Department.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect the court filing is by Covenant Presbyterian Church attorneys.
Regardless of what anyone wants there are laws about this stuff. I don’t believe it’s even legal to keep it secret if there is no open investigation. Everything is better when things aren’t kept in the dark but open to the light of day. I find it disturbing that this was even momentarily withheld from public view. Has that ever been done before? As one commenter says what are they hiding? Is it damaging to the school or to the transgender movement?
I also find it odd that they keep mentioning that she was a former student of that school but also state that it wasn’t her first choice for her target but that her first choice had armed guards so she chose her secondary target. Was she a former student of her first choice for a target?
There are just so many unanswered questions that to make this information available to a small select group is a disservice to the public and a detriment to the public good.
On one hand, I’m in favor of keeping these sicko butthead’s “manifestos” buried, but on the other hand, when the authorities seem to keep one covered up, I have to ask myself “what are they hiding?” Almost all “news” reporting seems to have an agenda now.
Come on man! Be honest here. We all know why they won’t release this woman’s manifest as they promised. It’s because it is unfavorable to the Democrats. If she had blamed Trump, it would be headline news non stop.
These records should have been released already. Seems like maybe someone has been discussing the contents with the church while keeping the contents from the rest of the general public.