Judge sealed case involving Broadway bar security charged in patron's death

Nearly three years since Dallas "DJ" Barrett died during an altercation at a Broadway bar, the latest developments are a bit of a mystery because a Davidson County judge apparently sealed the case completely.

The Nashville Banner, our news partner, discovered that the case was sealed.

We are asking questions about why the high-profile murder case is now sealed from public view. While judges can make a sealing order, they're supposed to be narrowly tailored.

"I was told it's so they can have a fair trial," said Tammy Barrett, Dallas Barrett's mother. "I guess I understand that. They want to have a fair trial in Davidson County. I guess understand that... keep it out of the news, but at the same time I don't want this case to go away."

What we are discovering with this case is it's next to impossible to get any information about the status or even find out when hearings are scheduled. It's not only us.

"There was times that I was supposed to be in the courtroom and they wouldn't let me in and I literally saw or heard the last two sentences the judge said about a ruling that she made," Tammy Barrett said.

Seven people, including six security guards who were unlicensed are charged with aggravated assault resulting in Barrett's death in August 2021.

Since her son's death, Tammy Barrett helped create Dallas' Law , the state law enacted in 2022 that raised the training standards for security guards.

NewsChannel 5 has not been able to get an answer about the judge's reason for sealing the entire case file, but we won't stop trying.

"We've already lost another gentleman — Austin Turner, and I've had numerous people since DJ has been killed come to me and say 'hey, this happened to my son, my husband... sister, brother' or whatever, and so we don't need to make it go away," Tammy Barrett said.