Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles on Tuesday filed an order in the ongoing case seeking to compel the release of the manifesto written by the Covenant School killer that warns all involved in the multi-plaintiff lawsuit that they could be sanctioned or held in contempt if they “usurp” materials submitted to her for review.
Star News Digital Media Inc., the parent company of The Tennessee Star, is a plaintiff in the lawsuit seeking to compel law enforcement to release the manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who reportedly identified as a transgender man before she was fatally shot by police.
Myles (pictured above) specified in her order that “supplemental filings, declarations and/or affidavits” filed in the case, including amicus briefs, which contain “direct information, no matter how obtained, which is the subject matter of this case” shall not be filed with Myles’ court but instead will be “submitted for in camera review following procedures delineated in this case.”
In camera review involves the direct review of materials by the judge.
Myles further declared that any “supplemental filings, declarations, and/or affidavits” filed with the court clerk which contain “direct information” “shall not be part of the record and shall be submitted to this Court for in camera review.”
The judge further warned, “‘[a]ny efforts to usurp” her orders “regarding the matters currently under in camera review shall be sanctioned to the fullest extent of the law, including contempt of court.”
Myles’ order comes as she retains access to the manifesto written by Hale, who fatally shot three students and three faculty members at the Covenant School last year.
Though both the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have refused to release the manifesto by Hale, who identified as a transgender male before her death, three pages of the document were leaked to comedian and commentator Steven Crowder, who then published the pages last year.
The media has widely disseminated those pages, including by two plaintiffs in the lawsuit, The Star and The Tennessean. Additionally, The Star filed a lawsuit seeking to compel the FBI to release Hale’s manifesto last year.
Myles’ order came just one day after a motion to intervene in the lawsuit was filed by Austin Davis, who claims to be a former Covenant church deacon who was instrumental in founding the school. Davis claims to have reason to believe Hale was motivated by an alleged coverup of child abuse that began at Covenant in the early 2000s and led to his departure.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “I’Ashea Myles” by I’Ashea Myles.
As I understand according to reports, the TBI has a copy of the Covenant murderer’s manifesto. Why doesn’t Governor Lee order it released in compliance of Tennessee’s Open Records Law? Do it Governor!
Why do these unelected officials get to withhold such info IN VIOLATION of the law? What about “the equal protection of the laws” clause of the 14th Amendment? It applies to EVERYONE !!
Does not the Tennessee Open Records Law mandate the release of this information? Are not all officials withholding it IN VIOLATION of the law? And “the judges in every State are bound thereby” (Article VI, Section 2).
“As for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs to Bedlam; so judges should be withdrawn from their bench whose erroneous biases are leading us to dissolution. It may, indeed, injure them in fame or in fortune; but it saves the republic, which is the first and supreme law.” –Thomas Jefferson
and the coverup continues…….
Sounds like FOIA time for communications between her Honor and the Covenant lawyers regarding this case.