The Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled in Nashville on Thursday that a group of parents can intervene in the lawsuit seeking to compel the release of the manifesto written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, affirming a lower court’s ruling. The parents wish to prevent the manifesto’s release.
In a 17-page order released Thursday afternoon, the appeals court ruled to “affirm the trial court’s judgement allowing intervention,” and sent the case back to the Davidson County Chancery Court for further proceedings. That court’s previous decision to allow the parents to intervene prompted the appeal.
Michael Patrick Leahy, who is one of the plaintiffs in the case, and is also the CEO of Star News Digital Media Inc., which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, said, “The Chancery Court ruling to allow the intervention was a clear violation of Tennessee statutes, as was today’s ruling by the Court of Appeals. We are evaluating our options, which may include directly appealing this faulty decision to the Tennessee Supreme Court.”
Plaintiffs on the appeal included Leahy, Star News Digital Media Inc., The Tennessean, the Tennessee Firearms Association, former Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond, a private investigator working with the National Police Association, and Tennessee State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga). The appeals court also required the plaintiffs to pay costs incurred by the appeal.
Following the recent leak of three pages of Hale’s manifesto by individuals reportedly associated with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD), and subsequent publication by conservative comedian and pundit Steven Crowder, Star News Digital Media Inc. asked a federal judge to compel the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to confirm the authenticity of the manifesto writings by ordering limited discovery.
While the FBI has refused to confirm the pages released by Crowder are authentic, MNPD confirmed their authenticity the evening Crowder released them. The Star was among the first outlets to independently verify the pages were Hale’s authentic writings.
In a prior July ruling, the FBI claimed the release of even one page would jeopardize “active and ongoing” investigations regarding “potential federal crimes” reflected in the manifesto. It also suggested the manifesto could provide evidence of “underlying bias” for those crimes. The release by Crowder of three pages from Hale’s manifesto that do not reference other crimes or name specific individuals contradicts this claim.
In the agency’s response, the FBI refused to confirm the authenticity of the writings and asked U.S. District Court Judge Aleta A. Trauger to reject the Star News Digital Media Inc. request for limited discovery.
Hale, a biological woman who identified as a transgender male, fatally shot six people at the Covenant School in March, including three 9-year-old students and three staff members. Hale was shot and killed by responding police officers.
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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].
IMO…..there is definitely something in those documents that incriminates someone and they do not want the pubic to know who it is or what they did to provoke or encourage this disturber woman.
Aleta Trauger’s entire judicial career has been legislating from the bench since Clinton appointed her given her husband’s relationship with Bredesen.
She’s doing what she was appointed to do. Namely, undermining America through the courts.
Destroying Primus finance despite there being no evidence of discrimination? That was her. Same leftist judicial activism that gave us the 2008 housing crash.
This is garbage. Release the docs to the public like the law requires.
It is unfortunate that even here in TN we have to deal with this sort of Judicial nonsense.
Release all of it, it should be a hate crime if ever their was one.