A hearing in the public records lawsuit against the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County related to release of records from The Covenant School shooting took place before Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles on Monday.
Audrey Hale, who identified as transgender, shot and killed three adults and three students at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27. Despite three pages of the manifesto that were leaked by Steven Crowder in November, the rest of its contents have been kept under wraps.
Monday’s hearing will determine if the manifesto written by Hale and other records should be released to the public.
Star News Digital Media, the parent company of The Tennessee Star, is a plaintiff in the multi-party lawsuit seeking to compel the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the shooter’s manifesto.
Other plaintiffs in the lawsuit include The Tennessean, The Tennessee Firearms Association, former Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, a private investigator associated with the National Police Association, and Tennessee State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga).
The plaintiffs argue Metro Nashville, through MNPD, “violated the Tennessee Public Records Act by failing to provide the records.”
Metro Law Director Wally Dietz has maintained that a court order prohibits the release of the shooter’s manifesto, however, Nicholas Barry, a senior attorney for America First Legal, which represents The Star in the lawsuit, has denied this claim.
Barry clarified in November, “The Court has not ordered that these records remain sealed until the Court decides whether they should be released. The decision to release records is Metro’s decision, and it is Metro’s burden to prove that there is a valid justification for their nondisclosure.”
“At a minimum, those records should be released immediately,” Barry added.
The Tennessee Public Records Act states:
[A]ll state, county and municipal records shall, at all times during business hours, which for public hospitals shall be during the business hours of their administrative offices, be open for personal inspection by any citizen of this state, and those in charge of the records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A). Accordingly, the public records of [Name of Governmental Entity] are presumed to be open for inspection unless otherwise provided by law.
The Star is also a plaintiff in the separate lawsuit seeking to compel the FBI to release the shooter’s manifesto.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
If the shooter had been a Trump supporter, all of their journals, manifestos, online profiles, etc, would’ve been released to the public within hours of the incident. The Democrats don’t want this information released.
“[A]ll state, county and municipal records shall, at all times during business hours, which for public hospitals shall be during the business hours of their administrative offices, be open for personal inspection by any citizen of this state, and those in charge of the records shall not refuse such right of inspection to any citizen, unless otherwise provided by state law. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A). Accordingly, the public records of [Name of Governmental Entity] are presumed to be open for inspection unless otherwise provided by law.”
Except the General Assembly…..