A Tennessee judge has ruled against releasing the journals written by the shooter who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville in March of last year.
Parents of the victims asked the judge not to release the killer’s manifesto.
Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles made the ruling on July 4, declaring that The Covenant School children and parents hold the copyright to any writings or other works created by shooter Audrey Hale, a former student and transgender who was killed by police. Hale’s parents inherited the works and then transferred ownership to the families.
Myles said “the original writings, journals, art, photos and videos created by Hale” are subject to an exception to the Tennessee Public Records Act created by the federal Copyright Act.
The ruling comes more than a year after several groups filed public records requests for documents seized by Metro Nashville Police during their investigation into the March 2023 shooting, wanting to expose the motivation behind the attack.
The group of Covenant parents opposed to the writings being released were allowed to intervene in the case and argued that the records should never become public. They said the release would be
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