Ownership of Covenant shooter's writings will transfer to parents of students

Ownership of the writings of the Covenant School shooter will soon be transferred to the families at the school.

Attorney David Raybin, on behalf of the parents of the shooter, appeared at a hearing in a lawsuit seeking the release of the records Thursday morning to make the unexpected announcement.

Raybin told the courtroom that ownership of the writings found in shooter Audrey Hale's car and residence, which transferred to Hale’s parents after Hale’s death, will be transferred by the end of the week to the group of parents of Covenant students who intervened in the case.

The physical papers will remain in the custody of the Metro Nashville Police Department and will be unaffected by the change of ownership, Raybin said.

Raybin said transferring ownership of the records to the parents solidifies their standing to intervene. While Chancellor I’Ashea Myles has already granted the parents’ intervention in the lawsuits, petitioners seeking the records — including The Tennessean — have appealed that ruling.

“If they own the papers, then they have standing over whether they will be released or not,” Raybin argued outside the courtroom.

Thursday’s hearing was over whether to continue with the lawsuit or pause proceedings while the issue of intervention is before an appellate court. Myles denied the motion to stay proceedings on June 12, meaning the case will continue despite the pending appeal.

Myles also scheduled the show cause hearing in the case for July 12.

Deborah Fisher, executive editor of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the move could mark a change in strategy for the intervenors in the case.

Fisher said she worried if that argument eventually succeeds, it may set a precedent where fewer records are made public.

“If that happens, I think that the public, lawmakers, … the governor, we’re all going to be in the dark,” Fisher said.

Brent Leatherwood, parent of three Covenant School students, was at the hearing on Thursday and called the move to transfer ownership to the parents “extraordinary by any definition,” but added that their attorneys need to process what it means for the case.

“But you should know, the parents and the families have asked our attorneys to leave no stone unturned as we pursue our objective to keep all of these writings out of the public domain,” Leatherwood said.

The Tennessean is one of several groups that have sued Metro Nashville seeking various records relating to the Covenant School shooting, where three 9-yeard-old students and three adults were killed by a former Covenant student on March 27. The lawsuits have been consolidated and are being heard as one case.

Tennessean reporters requested several records from MNPD within a day of the shooting, including the shooter's writings and calls for service to The Covenant School. Police investigation records are generally pubicly available and regularly reviewed by The Tennessean.

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at emealins@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanMealins.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Covenant School parents to own Nashville shooter's writings