Tennessee judge denies release of Covenant School shooter's manifesto

Davidson County Judge I'Ashea Myles decided not to publicize Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto, according to a court filing reported by The Tennessean.

The plaintiffs, who included individuals, civic associations and newspapers, had asked the court to demand Nashville Police to disclose materials found in Hale's home and car during the investigation following the Christian school attack that left six dead, including three children. The documents, they claimed, would help shed light on the motives for the attack.

Myles maintained that while the police investigation continues, the documents could not be released to the public. In addition, she assured that any document containing information on school security "shall not be disclosed at any time" to avoid revealing sensitive information and cited federal copyright law as a standard to justify the decision.

On the latter point, it is worth noting that Hale's parents assigned the rights to their daughter's documents to several parents of her victims. Myles acknowledged this transfer and wrote that because the local government does not own the rights to Haley's materials, it lacks legal authority to publish them.

Covenant School parents, whose identities were kept anonymous, the school itself and Covenant Presbyterian Church intervened in the lawsuit as interested parties.

Legal battle continues

One of the plaintiffs, Michael Patrick Leahy, vowed to appeal Thursday's decision. "The judge has erroneously accepted a dubious copyright claim made by intervenors who should not have been allowed to intervene in this case in the first place," he argued in remarks obtained by The Tennessee Star, a newspaper for which he is editor-in-chief.

"The judge’s ruling is clearly not in the public interest and is a subversion of the intent of the Tennessee Public Records Act. We will absolutely appeal."

Leahy and his company Star News Digital Media Inc, parent company of The Tennessee Star, also filed a federal lawsuit demanding the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) turn over the documents.

According to the local newspaper, the FBI reportedly sent a letter to Nashville Metro Police "strongly" recommending that they not release files on killers like Hale.

Pages leaked to the media

The Tennessee Star also published several pages of the writings of the shooter, a biological woman who identified as a man.

Hale wrote about her experience using the name Aiden, about the "torture" of being raised as a woman and learning about being transgender at the age of 20: "I finally found the answer – that changing one’s gender is possible."

Late last year, podcaster Steven Crowder also published a series of photographs with phrases written by the attacker.