Leak of Covenant School shooter’s writings delays judge’s decision in public records case

At the end of the hearing, Judge Myles indicated that she would move forward with releasing her ruling but did not suggest when that might happen.
The legal fight over whether the Covenant School Shooter’s writings should be released to the public was back in court Monday morning.
Published: Jun. 17, 2024 at 5:57 PM CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The legal fight over whether the Covenant School Shooter’s writings should be released to the public was back in court Monday morning.

Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea Myles ordered a show cause hearing in the public records case last week after the Tennessee Star claimed it obtained 80 pages of the shooter’s writings from a source close to the investigation and started reporting on those documents.

Previous story: New hearing ordered over more leaked writings from Covenant School shooter

The Tennessee Star and its Editor-in-Chief Michael Leahy are among the parties who filed a suit wanting at least 20 journals, a suicide note and a memoir written by the shooter released publicly.

However, Judge Myles was unaware of the supposed leak, until WSMV4 Investigates’ Stacey Cameron called the court asking for a reaction to the leak, wanting to know if she was considering holding the Star or anyone else in contempt.

Then, in a sworn declaration filed by Metro Nashville Police Department Lieutenant Alfredo Arevalo, he suggested that a whistleblower, former MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson may have been tied to the leak, claiming Davidson had access to the shooter’s writings and the police investigative file when it was stored in a safe in Davidson’s office.

But Monday’s hour-long hearing took an unexpected turn, when Judge Myles said she was prepared to issue a written ruling that was more than 60 pages long last Friday but held off handing down her decisions when she learned about the reported leak.

In April, Myles heard arguments on whether the shooter’s writings, including journals, a suicide note, and other materials should be turned over to the public by MNPD. Currently, all those materials remain under seal, and are only supposed to have been seen by the Judge and Metro police.

While Monday’s proceeding was initially styled as a show cause hearing, in which the Star and Leahy were ordered to appear to show cause why she should not hold them in contempt for their alleged publication of the documents in violation of her order, the hearing evolved into the judge inquiring whether the most recent leak in the case would render any decision by her moot.

Lawyers on both sides of the argument agreed that the leaks so far only amounted to a small fraction of the shooter’s writings at issue in the case, and therefore a decision was still necessary.

At the end of the hearing, Judge Myles indicated that she would move forward with releasing her ruling but did not suggest when that might happen.

While lawyers for Metro Government suggested former Lt. Davidson should possibly be added as a party to the suit, to potentially compel him to return any of the shooter’s writings that he may possess, Judge Myles did not say whether a contempt investigation would move forward at this point.