The school shooter’s parents will transfer ownership of writings to victims

The parents of the attacker who killed six people at a Nashville Christian school in March will transfer legal ownership of the writings their child left behind to the families of about 100 students, lending unexpected support to those families’ efforts to prevent the release of the documents.

The surprising decision, outlined in a Tennessee courtroom on Thursday, could prove pivotal in an increasingly heated legal battle over whether the writings should be made public to shed light on the shooter’s motivations or remain private. are kept to protect the victims from further pain.

The lawyer for the shooter’s parents, David Raybin, did not say in court how or why they reached the decision. But reporters speakhe acknowledged that this reinforced the argument that the families should be allowed to participate in a lawsuit aimed at forcing the release of the writings as a public matter.

The parents of Covenant School students, along with the school itself and the adjacent church, have said the writings should never be released, citing fears of inspiring another mass shooting and further harming their children. traumatize. An opposing coalition that includes news outlets and a gun rights group has argued that the writings, now in police possession, are part of the public record and are crucial to understanding why the violence happened.

Brent Leatherwood, a Covenant School parent who has been in court in recent weeks, said Thursday’s developments made it “an extraordinary day by any definition”.

“From the outset of this case,” Mr Leatherwood said in a statement, “we have told our attorneys to leave no stone unturned in pursuing the ultimate goal that we have, which is to prevent any of these writings or any material could inspire a similarly destructive event to ever see the light of day, adding, “No one — in the legal community or beyond — should question our resolve.”

The twist on Thursday came days after a judge, Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles, ruled that the parents could intervene in a lawsuit against the city of Nashville over the publication of the shooter’s writings. The groups that requested the release of the documents appealed this decision, questioning whether Covenant parents enjoy the legal protection afforded to victims of crime.

At Thursday’s hearing, Mr. Raybin indicated that the shooter’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, had agreed to transfer legal ownership of the documents to the parents of the Covenant School students on behalf of their children. The formal paperwork will be completed and filed with the court in the coming days.

Police shot and killed the attacker within minutes of entering the school, but are continuing to investigate the cause of the March 27 shooting, which killed three 9-year-olds and three adults. Because the Hales’ child had left no will, Mr. Raybin said, they, as the closest next of kin, had become the legal owners of the documents the police took as evidence. (The couple, Mr. Raybin said, also owned the vehicle and home where the writings were found.)

Chancellor Myles did not immediately make a decision on whether the wider debate over the release of the documents would take place in court. The decision, she noted, would likely be appealed.

If the parents of the Covenant School manage to keep the writings private in their case, it is unclear what they would do with the documents after the police investigation. In court filings, they have indicated their willingness to release some police reports and summaries, as well as what they describe as “a police summary of the shooter’s motivations (or lack thereof)”.