The Davidson County chancellor overseeing the public records case over the Covenant School shooter's manifesto has moved the initial hearing in the case five weeks to June 8. Police say in their motion that this would allow time for parents of students at The Covenant School to intervene and that some parents have said they oppose release of the shooter's writings.
A Hendersonville resident has filed a lawsuit to force the Nashville Police Department to release the Covenant School shooter's manifesto and other writings, saying that Tennessee law does not allow police to withhold material that is not part of pending or contemplated criminal action.
School shooter Audrey Hale's manifesto would not fall under the so-called "investigative exemption" to Tennessee's public records law because this exemption is only available when there is an investigation into possible criminal charges. Here, the shooter is dead. Police have said she acted alone. So if there are no other suspects to charge, there is no investigation that could lead to criminal charges against someone.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals in a ruling on Friday put much-needed limits around the so-called investigative exemption that has been used by the state to cloak otherwise public records. "We hold that public records created in the ordinary course of business, which are non-investigative in nature, and which are otherwise accessible by Tennessee citizens under the TPRA (Tennessee Public Records Act), do not subsequently become exempt from disclosure because of the initiation of a criminal investigation in which those records become relevant," the Court ruled in Scripps Media, Inc. v. Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Williams requested travel, other ordinary public records from state News [...]
Several news organizations and the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government have filed an amicus brief in a case under appeal in which ordinary public records were swept into an investigative file and then deemed confidential. The case, Scripps Media, Inc., v. Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and TBI, arose after Nashville NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams requested travel records, phone logs and credit card purchase summaries from the two state agencies. The agencies denied the request, citing the law enforcement "investigation" exemption. The records, they explained, had been requested by the district attorney as part of an investigation into potential misuse of funds. NewsChannel 5 [...]
