Hearing held after portion of Covenant shooter’s writings leaked
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Another court hearing took place Monday as a part of the ongoing legal process on whether to make the Covenant School shooter’s writings public.
The show-cause hearing came after the Tennessee Star, an online news publication, published a portion of the shooter’s writings. The publication said they obtained at least 80 pages of the writings from a source close to the investigation.
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A recent court filing from a lieutenant with the Metro Nashville Police Department suggests that a whistleblower is tied to the leak of the writings.
During the hearing on Monday, Davidson County Chancellor I’ashea Myles said she was prepared to issue a more than 60-page ruling last week when she learned that some of the documents had been leaked.
In April, Judge Myles spent two full days listening to both sides of the arguments for and against releasing the documents. At the time, only the judge and police department had seen the unreleased writings.
The Tennessee Star and its Editor-in-Chief, Michael Patrick Leahy, have been among the petitioners calling for the release of the documents in the ongoing court case, bringing into question whether the publication is in contempt of court.
RELATED: Metro officer suggests department whistleblower leaked Covenant writings
However, the focus of Monday’s hearing was on whether the judge can still issue her initial ruling or if the leak of the documents would make the case moot.
“This court has worked very tirelessly on the many different opinions presented by all of the parties on this case,” Myles said. “I was ready to issue my ruling when I was informed that perhaps something had come about in this case.”
According to Lora Fox, who is representing the Metropolitan Government in the case, it doesn’t appear that a significant portion of the writings have been leaked yet. Fox said the articles published by the Star only reflect two full pages of the shooter’s journal.
Fox went on to state that Metro “certainly believes the person who leaked the documents has violated the court’s orders,” but that the court’s ruling would still be important to determining what the police department releases at the end of its investigation.
SEE ALSO: Tennessee Star files appeal to cancel Covenant hearing, calls it unconstitutional
Both the petitioners and interveners in the case appeared to agree that with only a fraction of the writings being leaked, the judge should still issue a ruling on whether the entirety of the writings and investigative file should be made public.
“There is so much speculation about where these documents came from,” said Doug Pierce, who is representing Clata Renee Brewer in conjunction with the National Police Association. “These are two separate issues, and it should not slow down the public records case.”
Rocklan King, the attorney for The Covenant Presbyterian Church, suggested that Judge Myles likely has far more than the “80 or more pages that the Star boasts they have in their possession,” adding that her ruling will “provide the first step of clarity.”
Judge Myles, who referred to herself as a “neutral arbiter of the law,” ended the hearing after all parties were given a chance to speak. The judge will soon issue a separate ruling on what the next steps in the case will be.
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There could potentially be a separate hearing regarding the Tennessee Star’s leak of the documents. After the judge’s initial order calling for a show-cause hearing, the publication filed an appeal to cancel the hearing.
In the appeal, the attorney for the Tennessee Star argued that her order was “legally and constitutionally infirm on numerous grounds.” He further stated that the hearing would violate Tennessee’s Media Shield Law, which protects reporters from revealing the source of their information.
“Mr. Leahy cannot lawfully be compelled to participate in a show cause hearing that requires him to disclose ‘any information or the source of any information procured for publication or broadcast,’” his attorney said in the appeal. “Such compulsion would also seriously undermine freedom of the press and newsgathering generally.”
While there has been some speculation around the source of the leak, the judge has not yet asked for the Star to reveal who gave them the documents. A violation of court orders could lead to consequences at the judge’s discretion.
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