Asking the court to “shield” Covenant Presbyterian School students from a “lifetime of abuse and harassment by the shooter from beyond the grave,” a new court filing lays out why parents of the children don’t want the Covenant Killer’s manifesto and other writings made public.
Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles last week ruled that the Covenant Presbyterian Church, its private elementary school and the parents of the schoolchildren may intervene in a lawsuit seeking the manifesto and related writings of mass shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale.
Star News Digital Media, Inc., parent company of The Tennessee Star, The Tennessee Firearms Association, The Tennessean and the National Police Association are plaintiffs in the suit alleging the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County is breaking Tennessee public records law in refusing to release the records.
The church, school, and parents have argued against public disclosure of the writings surrounding Hale’s March 27 rampage in which she shot her way into the Christian school and killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members before being fatally shot by police.
In their latest court filing, the attorneys for the parents argue, “There is no compelling state interest in giving voice to a horrendous criminal.”
The parents, like the school and church, do not want building details of the properties released, such as schematics. Nor do they want records of security protocols to be made public. And they’ve asked the judge to block the release of any photographs or identifying information of the students.
While attorneys for the intervenors have argued against the release of any of Hale’s manifesto and related writings, the parents’ latest court filing suggests they would agree to the unlocking of limited police reports and summaries of Hale’s activities as a way to inform the public about her motive while silencing the killer’s voice.
“We are in ‘uncharted waters’ because we have a unique opportunity following a mass murder at an elementary school to prevent the shooter’s writings and anything else that is likely to inspire future attacks from being released and causing pain and suffering to the victims,” the filing asserts.
But the plaintiffs argue that locking up Hale’s documents, even to respect the wishes of the families of the victims, is a dangerous legal slippery slope that could damage Tennessee’s public records laws and, ultimately, the public’s right to know.
Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition of Open Government, agrees that the parents and the other intervenors do have have a compelling interest, and she’s sympathetic to those interests. But so does the public, and so do the news outlets that are trying to inform the public, and the lawmakers and activists concerned with public policy.
“[Mass shootings] are definitely crimes against the people who are victims, but they are also crimes against our laws, the public,” she told The Star. “They are our laws. They are of public interest.”
“I think it’s not wrong that the news media reports on crime,” Fisher added. “If you keep secret all crime because it’s painful, I just think that it would not be a safer society, it would be a secret society…Is that the kind of place where we want to live, where we don’t have a true sense about what our government is doing?”
Myles has set a show cause hearing for June 8. Metro Nashville will have to defend its decision to block the release of the records at that hearing.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Fox News:
“A 4-year-old girl was in critical condition after being shot while she was riding with other children in the back seat of a car that was deliberately attacked, Metro Nashville Police said in a statement.
The attack happened Tuesday evening in Nashville, as three young children, including the 4-year-old, sat in the back seat of a black sedan. The driver, a 22-year-old man, was shot in the arm, the statement said.
The two other children, 2-year-old twins, were not seriously hurt, the statement said. A photo released by police shows one side of the car peppered with bullet holes, and at least two tires shot out.”
Looks like the Nashville Ner-Do-Well’s are getting an early start on the Aug 13 Mayhem. What is happening to Nashville? It used to be a nice town. Now it is a town to be avoided.
Fortunately East-West Travelers can take I-840 and avoid Nashville entirely. Might keep you from getting shot up in the Nashville Traffic.
Isn’t the secrecy about the Manifesto all about it being a
Left Wing Gay manifesto?
If the Manifesto had been a Right Wing Cis type it would have been released immediately after the shootings.
It is a cover up pure and simple. The government doesn’t want the real culprit identified – which is mental illness – and is willing to put all our children at risk to surpass the truth. Once again we find the government really doesn’t give a hoot about protecting innocent people….
I don’t buy the excuse from the Metro Govt officials & FBI that parents do not want the Killers writings released to the public because it’s too painful. Yes they are suffering & extremely vulnerable right now. My heart aches for their pain. I am of the opinion that the FBI has been very influential in taking advantage of those victims pain. They are well trained in manipulation techniques, & are quite capable of putting these vulnerable individuals in the state of some kind of fear of the “unknown”.
Someone or somebody with influence is terrified if the truth being made public. Someone or something that will be damaged due to their direct or indirect involvement in the killers path of destruction. It could be anything or anyone from a therapist to a hospital to the FBI itself.
How many female mass Shooters in our history that you of in Tennessee?
How many young women are going to carry 3 or 4 deadly weapons into a public place?
Something stinkscinvthis entire Cover Up.
I hope the Judge is capable of sniffing out the real motives behind this Cover Up.
She is tasked with a decision that could go against
Tennessee State Law. No doubt the next step will be the Tennessee Supreme Court, maybe even the U S Supreme Court .
Just do the right thing & turn over every document, every shed of evidence, including the diturbed young womans autopsy & tox screen. This is not going away like the FBI Investigation in Las Vegas, where the only witness was shot & killed. That investigation was taken from the local law enforcement in Las Vegas immediately just like this case. It got buried so fast you’re head was spinning. Maybe you don’t see a pattern but I do.