The writings of the person who killed three 9-year-olds and three adults at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville last year cannot be released to the public, a judge ruled Thursday.

Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea Myles found that The Covenant School children and parents hold the copyright to any writings or other works created by shooter Audrey Hale, a former student who was killed by police. As part of the effort to keep the records closed, Hale’s parents transferred ownership of Hale’s property to the victims’ families, who then argued in court that they should be allowed to determine who has access to them.

Myles agreed, ruling that “the original writings, journals, art, photos and videos created by Hale” are subject to an exception to the Tennessee Public Records Act created by the federal Copyright Act.

The shooter left behind at least 20 journals, a suicide note and a memoir, according to court filings. When the records requests were denied, several parties sued, and the situation quickly ballooned into a messy mix of conspiracy theories, leaked documents, probate battles and accusations of ethical misconduct. Myles’ order will almost surely be appealed.

  • Tom_Hanx_Hail_Satan@lemmy.ca
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    5 months ago

    That’s apples and oranges. This shooter has the potential to be the Trans version of Elliot Rodgers. Trying to attach a christo-facist motivation to this ruling is a stretch and a half.

    The motivations of mass killers isn’t really relevant for anything. People capable of that level of violence are such an anomaly that other indicators are more important, from a psychological perspective, than their self-determined motives.

    Largest mass killer in us history was the Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock. His motivation was that he was feeling slighted by the casinos for not getting enough perks for being a “big spender”. What is a psychologist supposed to do with that for helping prevent other mass shooters? Trying to attach some silence of the lambs bullshit to crimes like this is foolish. Even then, that’s the FBI doing it which then can be trickled out to medical journals etc. The best thing for the public is for these killer to be remembered as dead monsters.

      • Tom_Hanx_Hail_Satan@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        Presuming how? My main point is that the shooters motivations is mostly irrelevant and releasing their writings dould encourage copycats. Like we actually saw with Elliot Rodgers.

        What am I presuming?

        • beetlejuice0001@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          You’re presuming they’re a monster who did it for no reason. As they say, one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter. Again, speculation. You’re advocating for the Christo-Fascist withholding information

          Edit: you could be right, you could be very wrong and this person may have been a victim themselves.