Parents of Nashville school shooting victims fight to keep records out of public view

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The parents of children killed in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville are fighting to keep police investigative records a secret, even after many documents were leaked to a conservative media outlet.

The shooter who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults left behind documents that include journals, a suicide note and a memoir, according to court filings. The Covenant School parents have argued that releasing the documents would be traumatic for the families and could inspire copycat attacks.

In an effort to keep them private, the parents of shooter Audrey Hale, a former Covenant student who was killed by police, transferred ownership of the documents to the victims’ families.

In a Tennessee appeals court on Thursday, attorneys for the parents and the school defended a lower court ruling that determined the writings and other documents are protected by federal copyright law and cannot be released under the Tennessee Public Records Act.

A coalition including a state senator, media outlets and a gun rights group are seeking to have the ruling overturned. Paul Krog, an attorney representing the coalition, told a panel of the state Court of Appeals that, “Congress created a system for enforcing copyrights.”

Usually, parties claiming copyright infringement must register a copyright for the works then file a claim in federal court. But in this case, the parents want public records custodians including the Metro Nashville government to enforce the copyright by withholding records, Krog said. He noted that copyright law includes exceptions for “fair use” for news reporting and research.

He also argued that the lower court's ruling is so broad that it would apply to almost every government document.

“This entire body of the workaday, sausage-making documentation of state government is going to disappear into a black hole” if the ruling stands, Krog said. “The emails, the permit application, the internal memoranda — all of these things that are going to show waste, corruption, favoritism, prejudice in state and local government. Those are the things people aren’t going to be able to get.”

Appeals Court Judge Kristi Davis echoed that concern, asking the Covenant parents' attorney whether the lower court ruling won't lead to a situation where, “Now everything is copyrighted material and we don’t have to release anything.”

Eric Osborne, representing the parents, said he did not believe copyright law would apply to most government records.

“This is an extremely unique situation that came about because of what I have called a stupendous act of grace — something we've never seen before in history — where a shooter's family gave ownership of the writings as a means of trying to help the victims of a crime,” he told the judge.

Those killed in the March 2023 shooting were Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all 9 years old, and adults Cynthia Peak, 61; Katherine Koonce, 60; and Mike Hill, 61.

In the two years since the shooting, the fight for public access to the records has ballooned into a messy mix of conspiracy theories, leaked documents, probate battles and accusations of ethical misconduct. A former Metro Nashville Police officer has been charged with theft, burglary and official misconduct after he was accused of taking case files. The Associated Press is among the groups that requested the records but did not participate in the lawsuit.

The Appeals Court panel promised to rule “within a reasonable period of time.”