While the Covenant School killer’s parents consider their daughter’s deadly manifesto “intellectual property” and suggest anyone who publishes the documents could face legal damages, records experts say the threat is more legal posturing in a nationally watched public records lawsuit.
But the latest legal twist in the court battle over Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s journals, written notes, memoirs and related writings is an attempt to take a “wrecking ball” to Tennessee’s public records law, one open government expert told The Tennessee Star.
Hale’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, claim they are the rightful owners of their deceased daughter’s records that reportedly detail her plans before she stormed into the Covenant Presbyterian School on March 27 and shot dead three 9-year-olds and three staff members. Hale was fatally shot by police 14 minutes after she began her deadly errand.
The Hales argue that, under the laws of intestacy, they are the rightful owners of the records, and as such, they seek to turn them over to the parents of Covenant School students. And the parents and the private elementary school have made it clear that they don’t want the records released.
Hale’s writings remain in the possession of the Nashville Metro Police Department (MNPD) and the FBI, both refusing to make the documents public. The law enforcement agencies argue in lawsuits filed by the parent company of The Star and other organizations that they do not have to release the records, citing ongoing criminal procedures. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit assert the Tennessee Public Records Act requires Hale’s writings to be made public and that there is no ongoing criminal procedure because the shooter is dead.
In their legal transfer filing in the Chancery Court for the 20th Judicial District, Davidson County, Hale’s parents claim they are turning over ownership to protect the Christian school’s students from any further harm. And the Hales’ attorney puts all on notice that the rights to the Covenant killer’s writings come with “all rights to and claims for damages, restitution, and injunctive and other legal and equitable relief … for infringement or misappropriation of any of the Intellectual Property Right …”
In short, those who make public Hale’s manifesto could face a lawsuit.
Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the legal maneuver is a clear threat, but it’s not a winning legal argument. There is a fair use exception in copyright laws that favors news reporting. Hale’s manifesto and related writings are part of the criminal investigation file and are subject to release under public records law.
“The intent is to convince people not to publish them, anybody not to publish them, a news organization, maybe even the government,” Fisher said. “But I don’t think if it went to court a court would agree that you can copyright a piece of police evidence. I think it’s just more legal posturing and we’re seeing a lot of that in this case.”
John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Metro Nashville, agreed that the presumption under the Tennessee Public Records Act is that documents in the possession of a government entity are open to public inspection.
“It is quite likely that ownership in the copyright of the record is completely irrelevant,” Harris said.
If Hale were still alive she would not have the power to keep her manifesto out of the public eye, Harris added. Her surviving family members do not have that power, either. To extend the argument that an individual who committed a crime could shield documents related to the crime in the police file from news organizations in particular “raises some serious questions” about the validity of the argument, Harris added.
He said it’s clear from the intervenors in the lawsuit — The Covenant Presbyterian Church, its school and the parents of students at the Christian school — have “some compelling reason why they want whatever these records contain to be barred and never seen by the public, regardless of how the investigation ends.”
Hale, a 28-year-old woman who reportedly identified as a transgender male, had planned for “months to commit mass murder at The Covenant School,” police said in citing her journals. She was a former student at the elementary school.
Brent Leatherwood, a Covenant parent of three, said the families have asked their attorneys to leave no stone unturned as they fight to keep the records out of the public eye.
“We as Covenant parents and families are resolute in our commitment to one, protect our children and families including those who were killed and all those who survived. Two, to protect our beloved school moving forward, and three, do our utmost to shield any future communities from having to endure this nightmare,” Leatherwood said at a press conference last week.
Fisher said the move to transfer Hale’s writings to the parents and the legal threats on copyright infringement appears to be part of the “leave no stone unturned” strategy.
“In my view, I think it’s reckless,” the open government advocate said. “Whether they intend to or not they are taking a wrecking ball to the public records law.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Background Photo “Audrey Hale Video” by Metro Nashville Police Department.
Citizens don’t need to read all of her radical ravings. We SHOULD KNOW THE PRIMARY REASON SHE KILLED CHILDREN AND TEACHERS. TELL US THAT AND DESTROY HER GARBAGE WRITINGS.
Time for the parents to be sued and charged with Accessory to Murder after the Fact.
The parents raised this POS terrorist.