NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WZTV) — The fight to make the covenant shooter's writings public continues after the debate reignited when a podcaster leaked three pictures from Audrey Hale’s journals on Monday.
Metro continues to say it cannot release any documents because of a pending lawsuit.
However, one attorney says police, not the courts, are in charge here.
The National Association of Police is one of the groups suing Metro to release the shooter's writings.
An attorney representing the group said the lawsuit does not keep Metro from making these writings public. Metro legal said police gave them a copy of the Covenant shooter's journals to review, to decide what could be made public. The department said before they finished that work, groups filed a lawsuit.
“Before we filed suit, we had already been told that we could not have the records because of rule 16, and they were doing an investigation," said Doug Pierce, the attorney representing NAP. "So, what was told to us at the time is that they had already made their decision."
RELATED | Metro legal releases summary regarding why Covenant School documents haven't been released
Pierce said this group filed a lawsuit to make sure Metro didn't drag out the process of making the writings public.
“The latest word that we got from filings in court was the police department was saying it might take a year, well, there's no basis for saying a year. If they could say a year, they could say ten years,” said Pierce.
According to Metro, as this lawsuit makes its way through the courts, the documents are sealed, and Metro could be found in contempt. Pierce disagrees.
“To the extent that they're suggesting that they can't even provide redacted copies without court permission, that's not true," claims Pierce. "I mean, that was the whole point of the pre litigation request. We fully understood it's true and all request that it may be necessary to redact certain information."
Attorney Jay Harbison has no connection to this case, and believes Metro is doing the right thing here.
“In fact, if the copies are under seal, there's a reason for that," said Harbison. "Right. You know, you know someone the court has said, you know, these are at least for now, until we've determined how we're going to proceed on this."
Right now, the issue is tied up in the appellate court, as judges decide if the Covenant parents and school have a right to weigh-in.
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Attorney claims pending lawsuits can't keep Metro from releasing Covenant writings - WZTV
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