Law enforcement has resisted the Star’s efforts through a lawsuit to release the journal publicly, including those writings identified by Metro Nashville Police as a manifesto.
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles ordered Michael Patrick Leahy, who also serves as CEO of Star News Digital Media, publisher of The Tennessee Star and other news sites across the US, to appear for a show cause hearing Monday to determine whether The Star violated any court orders related to publishing news stories on the shooter’s writings.
“Yes, I intend to appear in court on Monday at 11 am, along with my attorneys, Nick Barry with America First Legal and Daniel Horwitz, a nationally recognized First Amendment attorney based here in Nashville,” Leahy told The Center Square Sunday.
Leahy says he faces contempt charges and possible jail time for publishing a series of stories detailing Hale’s writings after exclusively obtaining about 80 pages of the documents from a source. Leahy and The Tennessee Star have pursued public release of the documents to, at this point, no avail.
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles ordered Leahy to appear in court to determine whether The Star violated any court orders. judgeiasheamyles/Instagram
Among other details on the writings, The Star reported that Hale felt socially isolated and unable to live independently.
“In this densely written, undated entry spread over two pages, Hale wrote about mental health issues with her ‘brain,’ which she elsewhere connected to her purported autism diagnosis and decision to identify as a transgender man despite being a biological female,” The Star reported.
Former acting US Assistant Attorney General Jeff Clark wrote on X , after Leahy was ordered to appear in court, that the news outlet had a First Amendment right to publish the stories.
“In this densely written, undated entry spread over two pages, Hale wrote about mental health issues with her ‘brain,'” The Star reported. Metro Nashville Police
“This is what the free press is for,” Clark wrote. “It’s not designed to coddle the trans movement or keep secrets that could get people killed through ignorance. … (What’s) going on in America? It’s like a slice of the state judiciary across multiple States has lost its collective mind.”
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