Michael Patrick Leahy walked out of a Nashville courthouse Monday morning celebrating his freedom — at least for now.
“I am a free man and can continue to exercise my First Amendment rights,” the CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star declared on his X account.
My statement after the Nashville court hearing today. For now, I am a free man and can continue to exercise my First Amendment rights. https://t.co/e7VC27JyzO
— MichaelPatrick Leahy (@michaelpleahy) June 17, 2024
Tennessee Chancery Court Judge l’Ashea Myles had ordered Leahy to court after his Star News Network had reported on portions of the so-called “manifesto” of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender-identified shooter who murdered six people at a Nashville Christian school. The Star reported that it had obtained images of roughly 80 pages of the killer’s journal that police found in her vehicle. The journal entries cover the weeks before she stormed into Covenant School in late March 2023 and fatally shot three 9-year-olds and three adults.
Myles last week scheduled the show cause hearing to find out whether publishing portions of the killer’s journals violated an order regarding Hale’s documents — and whether Leahy could face jail time. But the Star didn’t publish or link to the documents; it reported on them, a point made clear at Monday’s hearing.
Leahy has said he would go to jail before revealing the source of the photocopied documents, which have been authenticated by the local police department.
“A judge doesn’t have the right to force
