Date set for case determining if the public will see Covenant School shooter’s writings

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Attorneys in the Covenant School public records case will finally head to trial court on April 16th and make their arguments on whether a Davidson County Judge should order the public release of the school shooter’s writings and other investigative police records and communications.

The case had been on hold for several months when a ruling allowing Covenant parents, the church and the school to join the case and argue against the writings’ public release was appealed to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

After that decision was allowed to stand by the higher court, earlier this month, lawyers for Clata Brewer and the National Police Association moved Chancellor I’Ashea Myles for an expedited hearing to set a date for the Show Cause hearing, where lawyers for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County will have to provide legal reasons why the records should not be released in accordance a with the Tennessee Public Records Act.

The hearing held Monday morning in Judge Myles’ courtroom lasted more than an hour and forty minutes, during which a lawyer for Metro government informed the court that the police investigation into the deadly school shooting that took six lives, including three children, is still ongoing.

Brewer’s lawyers had also asked Judge Myles to make public a privilege log of confidential records privately viewed by Judge Myles at MNPD headquarters. That motion was denied early in the hearing.

While Judge Myles set two days aside for the show cause hearing, which will operate like a small trial without any live witness testimony, lawyers told her they believe they can present their cases in a single day. Right now, the days set for the hearing are April 16th and 17th, 2024, with court coming into session at 10 a.m.

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