Judge: Nashville police cannot release Covenant shooters' writings

The writings of Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale will not be released by the Metro Nashville Police after a ruling from Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l'Ashea Myles.

Excerpts from the writings have been published in a series of articles from the Tennessee Star after the outlet received those documents from a confidential source. The Star had been suing for the release of the records, along with The Tennessean, Sen. Todd Gardenhire, the Tennessee Firearms Association and several other journalists.

Myles released the ruling early Friday after previously holding a hearing to determine if she would hold Tennessee Star Editor Michael Patrick Leahy in contempt for publishing the stories.

The shooter, a female who identified as a male, shot and killed three children and three school staff in March 2023, prior to being shot and killed by responding police officers.

Myles’ ruling cited copyright protections of the shooter’s writing from the shooters’ parents, saying they have the right to have the writings withheld due to the federal Copyright Act.

“The federal Copyright Act serves as a valid exemption to the Tennessee Public Records Act and thus preempts the disclosure of any original work of authorship in any form created by the assailant Hale which has been collected by Respondent Metro,” Myles wrote. “The Petitioners have no right to any such requested information in the possession of Metro as the disclosure of any original work of authorship.”

Myles also ruled that any documents related to school security at Covenant School would also not be released and documents related to the ongoing investigation into the shooting will not be released until the investigation is complete.

Myles additionally ruled that the Police Department did not willfully withhold documents that should have been public records, so the plaintiffs will not be awarded attorneys’ fees.