In a new court filing, attorneys for Star News Digital Media, parent company of The Tennessee Star, argue that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davison County and intervenors in a public records lawsuit have no right to keep the Covenant School killer’s manifesto and related records from the public.
The memorandum of law, filed with Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles, asserts the Metro Nashville Police Department cannot “play ‘hide the ball’ with the reason for denial and come in later, raising wholly new and unrelated denial reasons.”
Myles has set a show cause hearing for Thursday, but that may be subject to change after multiple plaintiffs in the lawsuit demanding the release of the documents appealed the judge’s decision to allow the Covenant Presbyterian Church, its private elementary school and unnamed parents of students attending the school to intervene.
Metro Nashville argues police continue to investigate the March 27 massacre in which Audrey Elizabeth Hale shot her way into Covenant Presbyterian School and killed three 9-year-olds and three staff members. But Hale is dead, fatally shot by Nashville police officers 14 minutes after she began her evil errand.
MNPD has cited Rule 16 of Tennessee’s Rules of Criminal Procedure and Tennessean v. Metro. Gov’t of Nashville, 485 S.W.3d 857 (Tenn. 2016) in support of the denials. The claim is that “state, federal, or other applicable law prohibits” disclosure of the records of an ongoing or underlying criminal proceeding. There appears to be no such proceeding.
Law enforcement officials have said Hale acted alone. They later argued in declarations that the investigation into the incident continued and could take as long as a year to complete.
The consolidated lawsuits, including the complaint filed last month by Star News Digital Media and its CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, asserts Rule 16 and The Tennessean case do not apply because there is no pending criminal proceeding. In short, Metro Nashville has stretched the language of court rulings, Rule 16 and the Tennessee Public Record statues to beyond the breaking point.
“It is clear from the declarations filed by the Respondent, there is no contemplated criminal proceeding. [Metro Nashville] Lt. Gibson’s Second Declaration identifies additional crimes that occurred, but all were committed by the deceased shooter. Effectively, this means that no criminal charges will be forthcoming from those crimes, wrote Nicholas Barry of America First Legal, the law firm representing The Tennessee Star in the lawsuit.
“The Respondent is asking for this Court to create a law enforcement exception that the Tennessee Supreme Court has already declined to create,” the court filing argues. “Alternatively, the Respondent is asking for an extension of Rule 16 from active criminal cases to contemplated criminal cases. But even with a broader standard, the Respondent fails to meet its burden of proof, instead arguing for speculative futures.”
Metro Nashville also denied The Tennessee Star’s request for autopsy and toxicological reports. The statute, however, makes clear that “public reports of the county medical examiners, toxicological reports and autopsy reports shall be public documents.” The only exception is upon the “written petition by the district attorney general.” That is not at issue in this case, the memo to the court states.
The plaintiffs also argue that the Covenant School parents’ “call for an entirely new standard for public records request” must be rejected by the court.
In their request to intervene, the parents argued that Hale’s records should not be made public because they the parents are victims, and under the Tennessee Constitution they have rights that extend to the blocking of documents. They assert they have the “right to be free from intimidation, harassment and abuse.”
But, as the memo notes, the parents’ attorneys omitted a key portion of the constitutional language, that states in full that such rights are tied to “the criminal justice system.”
“Intervenors omitted the bolded text from their brief, which entirely changes the scope of the right asserted,” the court filing states.
“This case does not arise in the criminal justice system,” the memo asserts.
And the constitutional right does not extend to public documents subject to the Tennessee Public Records Act, the memo adds.
“Again, the General Assembly reserved to itself the right to implement these rights, and has never acted to allow crime victims to block TPRA requests,” the document states.
Read the memorandum of law:
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Audrey Elizabeth Hale” by Metro Nashville PD.
Thank you Tennessee Star for not forgetting the obvious here in Nashville. We had a mass murderer who is being shielded by local police and federal agencies for political reasons. I truly regret moving to Nashville. It is nothing more than a cleaned up Atlanta on the spiral downward. Hopefully I can sell and move to Williamson County.
All my friends that were LEO’s in a nasty city known for the best heroin on the East Coast all had the same to say about crime.
Whenever there is an influx of crime. Drugs, Gangs, Burglaries’ etc… Those at the top always know Who, What, Where and Why. Those at the top just look the other way while holding their pockets open for their extra pension funds.
All BS and the old DC two step.
ATTENTION TRIAL LAWYERS – Especially those who are major funding sources for local TV news.
If transition drugs show up in the toxicology reports of school shooters, then you potentially have a related and massive liability target – BIG PHARMA.
It is so obvious that the police are hiding something that would likely reflect badly on the miniscule disturbed transgender group. Why are they doing so?
“Metro Nashville argues police continue to investigate the March 27 massacre”
Yeah, sure they are. I’m sure every available body within the department is painstakingly re-tracing every step. What a farce! Time to release the manifesto. Talk about a protected class – disgusting.