In a new twist in the legal battle over the release of the Covenant School killer’s manifesto, the attorney for the parents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale notified the court on Thursday his clients intend to assign rights to those documents over to the children of the school.
Attorneys for Star News Digital Media, parent company of The Tennessee Star, and the other plaintiffs suing the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department to release the records related to the March 27 mass shootings at Covenant Presbyterian School, were in court Thursday arguing against multiple parties intervening in the lawsuit.
The Covenant Presbyterian Church, its school and an unidentified group of parents of the children who attend the private Christian elementary school have sought to have a seat at the table in the public records lawsuit. They want to block the release of the writings of Hale, who stormed into the school and shot dead three 9-year-olds and three staff members before police fatally shot her.
Hale’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, are claiming intestate possession of their daughter’s documents. The laws of intestacy establish a specific order of priority for the distribution of assets. Typically, a surviving spouse and children are given priority, followed by other close relatives, such as parents and siblings. If there are no surviving relatives, the assets may be turned over to the state.
The Hale’s legal counsel, David Raybin, argues they have the rights to their daughter’s manifesto and related writings about her bloody crimes. That argument would effectively bypass Tennessee Public Records laws that have long held such records are a matter of public interest.
The Hales argue that police took the documents from their home, where Audrey Hale resided, and from the vehicle she drove, a vehicle the parents own. And as the owners of their deceased daughters property, they can assign the records to whomever they wish. And they wish to assign the documents to the Covenant School children, who would be certified as a class in the case. No one else would.
Raybin argued his clients would not financially benefit from the transaction.
For now, the documents are in the hands of the MNPD and the FBI. Both law enforcement agencies have denied requests for the records from multiple parties, including The Tennessee Star, The Tennessean, the Tennessee Firearms Association, the National Police Association, and State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga). Each filed a lawsuit demanding the release of the records. Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles, who is hearing the lawsuit, consolidated the complaints into one suit. She had set a show cause trial for Thursday, but that has been delayed as the plaintiffs appeal her ruling allowing the church, school and parents to intervene.
Metro Nashville 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.
Now, the move by Hale’s parents adds a new wrinkle to a nationally watched public records case.
BREAKING: the attorney representing The Covenant School shooter’s parents says they want to hand over all rights and ownership of the writings to the children of the school— however these are in police custody currently @nc5
— Alexandra Koehn (@NC5_AKoehn) June 8, 2023
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Covenant Presbyterian School Students” by Covenant Presbyterian School and “Covenant School Shooting” by Metro Nashville Police Department.
Denying the Public the right to know the motivations of an adult mass murderer is likened to denying all the facts in ANY case, its to protect somebody responsible from deserved punishment over criminal behavior.
CAN YOU IMAGINE ….denying the World information pertaining to the motivations behind 9/11, the assassinations of JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King ?!!!
The Covenant School shooting is right up there now with Conspiracy theorists about the motivations of a Transgender woman with obvious evil directed at those related to her former school. What were her reasons for killing children and Staff whom she’d never met or did she have a relationship with any of her victims ? There are vital lessons herecto be learned. And thexPolicecChief abs DA of Davidson County, who are a part of the Democrat party leadership are leading the effort to block access to answers to these questions.
Why aren’t these basic questions answered ???!!!
You can bet with confidence that there is a huge amount of pressure being exerted by our corrupt, immoral federal government, as well as local democrats to keep this out of the public eye. This woman had multiple cell phones and laptop computers in her possession. How many different groups was she in contact with? This heinous crime reeks of federal involvement.
This whole gender fluid, gender reassignment, drag shows for children, and teaching sexual perversion to minors; which is being whole heartily pushed by the federal government, is beyond belief. And now we find out that Instagram has a hidden network that supports pedophilia. This madness must come to an end!
It keeps society aware of the mindset of mass murderers for awareness and research.
Leaving victim children, which is really their parents, to decide what the public should see over a shooting which was directly aimed at the Christian community is foolhardy and could be construed as minimizing the true aim of the radical fringe left, destroying God’s people.
their stated goal is to keep this out of the public domain in any way possible. At first it was to protect the children….since then it has changed several times. This doesn’t pass the smell test or any other test……release the writings……it just makes the public want to see it more…..what do they have to hide? Inquiring minds want to know…..
If it’s a how-to guide, that would be a reason
Okay this woman acted alone, the police have said this repeatedly. So, what criminal investigation can there be, that involves this manifesto? The woman is dead. Who are they gonna sue? Who are they going to arrest?
If this Manifesto was a screed against President Trump and the Republicans, it would have already been leaked and out in public.
So there is something fishy going on here, because it probably shows the Democrats as being responsible for her call to arms. She probably wanted to let Democrats know she was doing this for them.
I see no other reason to keep this out of view of the public.