A Tennessee judge has taken the “unusual” step of allowing families of Nashville’s Covenant students to weigh in on whether school shooter Audrey Hale’s manifesto should be made public.
Several politicians, a newspaper and gun-rights groups are seeking the release of Hale’s writings, with some arguing that any potential changes to firearm regulations based on the shooting would not be fair without knowing more about Hale’s motives and mental state.
But a lawyer representing 100 of The Covenant School’s 112 families told Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles last Monday that his clients have a “real fear” the release of the manifesto could motivate future similar attacks.
Judge Myles said Wednesday that she would further consider arguments early next month from the families’ camp.
Barry Nelson Covert, president of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, told The Post that the jurist’s move is “unusual” and, “I would hope that the judge applies the same standards and First Amendment criteria to the instant situation regardless of the understandable emotions of the fellow students, the school and the church.
“She has to put their feelings and emotions aside and focus upon … whether the manifesto or diary — are they privileged materials?”
Covert, who is based in Buffalo, New York, said the families “really do not seem to be appropriate parties to the litigation as to whether the diary manifesto should be released to the media, to the public.”
Hale, 28, blasted her way into the private elementary school on the morning of March 27 and wreaked havoc and bloodshed on the property for 14 minutes before Metro Nashville Police Department officers quickly stopped her.
The transgender killer was pronounced dead at the scene, but not before fatally gunning down three 9-year-old students and three school staffers as she unleashed 152 rounds.
“We don’t block the publication of serial killer books about serial killers.”
Barry Nelson Covert
Students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney were killed, as well as school janitor Mike Hill, substitute teacher Cynthia Peak and headmistress Katherine Koonce, who reportedly ran toward the shooter to try to protect the kids.
Police have said Hale’s writings are part of an ongoing investigation that could take another year.
The Tennessean newspaper, the Tennessee Firearms Association Inc., the National Rifle Association and Republican state Sen. Todd Gardenhire are among the groups seeking the public release of the manifesto.
A letter to MNPD Chief John Drake – signed by 66 Tennessee state House Republican Caucus members earlier this month – also called for “the release of the perpetrator’s writings as well as relevant medical records and toxicology reports.”
State Rep. Jeremy Faison, House Republican Caucus Chair, has told The Post that his group doesn’t “understand the apprehension” over releasing the material and pointed out that legislators are being asked to consider new gun-control legislation since the shooting without knowing the totality of Hale’s circumstances.
“It’s incumbent on us to understand all the ins and outs of what drove Audrey Hale to do what she did,” Faison said.
But a lawyer for the families, Eric Osborne, told the judge last week, “Writings like this tend to inspire additional school shootings.”
He further argued that the release of the manifesto could violate his clients’ rights as victims.
But Covert told The Post that simply a fear of copycat-type attacks is “not really an accepted criteria” to rule against the release of the writings.
“The fact that someone could be motivated by this — could you imagine the application of that?” he said. “Then we could say that any Jack the Ripper books could cause someone to want to do copycat crimes.
“We don’t block the publication of serial killer books about serial killers,” he said.
CJ Griffin, a longtime lawyer with a focus on public-records litigation, told The Post that Myles’ decision to even consider the families’ position likely means she feels they should at least have the chance to be heard.
But “I don’t think this seals the fate of the litigation at all,” the expert said.
“In my experience, it does not mean the Court will automatically rule against disclosure simply because victims are against it,” Griffin wrote in an email to The Post.
“A decision to allow the families to participate and express objections is not an indication of how the court will rule on the merits of whether the manifesto must be released.”
Griffin, a partner at the New Jersey-based firm Pashman Stein Walder Hayden and director of the Justice Gary S. Stein Public Interest Center, pointed to two cases in New Jersey where judges allowed interested parties to become involved but ultimately still ruled against their interests.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee had announced one month after the tragedy that police officials told him documents and information related to Hale would “be released to the public very soon.”
But MNPD reversed course after lawsuits over the release began pouring in.
Police blamed the recent litigation for their lawyers’ decision to delay the release.
Gov. Lee had cited the Covenant shooting when urging new gun-control legislation, which would include background checks on mental health.
Last month, Lee announced his support of legislation calling for law enforcement and courts to temporarily confiscate guns from those found to pose “current and ongoing” risks of harm, The Tennessean reported.
“To be specific, I’m proposing that we improve our state’s law so that it protects more Tennesseans and reaches more individuals who are struggling and in need of mental health support,” Lee said.
Under the proposed law, people deemed risks to others or themselves would have their firearms taken for up to 180 days.