Metro Nashville, the Covenant School, parents of some Covenant School students, and the Covenant Presbyterian Church, asked the Tennessee Supreme Court for permission to appeal the transparency victory handed to The Tennessee Star in February by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in the lawsuit to force the release of the Covenant School shooter’s writings.
After the appellate judges determined there was no reason to continue shielding the release of the files, citing the conclusion of the investigation by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), and lack of any ongoing prosecutions, the losing side told the high court that the Court of Appeals decision fails to uphold the Victims Rights Amendment (VRA) of the Tennessee Constitution, and that its decision means the VRA is no longer in effect after a case concludes.
“The court of Appeals’ decision, affirmatively holds that crime victims in Tennessee do not have any constitutional or statutory rights unless there is an actual or pending criminal prosecution,” claimed the attorneys in their filing last Thursday. “Fundamentally, the Court of Appeals’ decision means crime victims who report crimes that a District Attorney decides, for whatever reason, not to prosecute have no constitutional protections.”
In addition to their VRA claim, the filing also asserted the court of appeals’ treatment of the copyright case raised by a group of intervening Covenant parents who assert ownership over the killer’s intellectual property, will cause “confusion and potential liability,” as it could allow members of the media to inspect certain records that are protected by copyright under the Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA).
“Allowing ‘inspection only’ but not copies will lead to confusion and potential liability for copyright infringement,” according to the filing. The attorneys claimed, “There is no substantive difference between allowing only inspection and providing copies – because materials open for inspection may always be copied by the requestor.”
The joint filing was signed by 18 attorneys, including 10 lawyers at the Nashville firm, Sherrard Roe Voigt and Harbison, which is representing the parents in their copyright claim.
Their attempt to appeal to Tennessee’s highest court comes nearly three years after Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, and Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, sued in May 2023 in order to force the release of writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School.
Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles originally ruled against Leahy, SNDM, and the other plaintiffs who sued in July 2024, but the court of appeals largely reversed that decision earlier this year.
Their February decision determined, “No record in Metro’s file should be deemed exempt “simply because it contains some exempt information.”
The appellate court wrote, “we are asked to accept at face value the trial court’s finding that every single item compiled or created by the shooter, for many years before the event at issue, relates to the Covenant School’s security,” and added, “This conclusion strains credulity, and we are neither willing nor able to make the blind logical leap the Covenant Intervenors ask of us.”
While the court of appeals remanded the case to Myles with instructions to determine which redactions were necessary for a full release, the state Supreme Court could take months to announce whether it will take the case. Should the justices decide to hear it, a year or more of arguments and deliberations could pass before they issue their final ruling.
Though Nashville and the intervenors continue their attempts to prevent the release of Hale’s writings, hundreds of pages have already been released by the FBI, which agreed to release redacted versions of her writings in order to settle outstanding Biden-era litigation from multiple plaintiffs, including SNDM and Leahy.
In the latest tranche of writings released by the FBI, the killer listed “hate religion” and “white [people] I hate” as reasons to attack the Covenant School.
Their request to appeal to the high court also comes nearly two years after The Star legally obtained the killer’s final journal, which was ultimately published in its entirety in September 2024.
In 2025, The Star received a Dao Prize nomination for its coverage of the Covenant case.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
copyright law is a federal jurisdiction! Bruce T.
Those parents are afraid of something. The author of the manifesto and other writings is dead. There is no further criminal action pending. Other than state-approved or ordered redactions to protect certain privacies, the texts should be released. Considering the cost to which these parents are willing to carry, I am concerned that there are truths in those writings that could give insight into why and how this debacle occurred. If so, that needs to see the light of day.
Dittos Dittos Dittos!
Release ALL of the information regarding the Covenant shooting. Quit fighting against the open records laws.