Reporter Who Exposed Nashville Shooter’s Manifesto Ordered to Court, Faces Potential Jail Sentence

People pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for victims at The Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville on March 28, 2023. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

A journalist could go to jail for failing to disclose his source to the government in obtaining the Nashville shooter manifesto, raising concerns by Tennessee officials over the state of press freedom and the public’s right to know.

Chancellor I’Ashea Myles of Davidson County, Tennessee, ordered Michael Patrick Leahy, editor and owner of the news website The Tennessee Star (TN Star), to address at a hearing on June 17 the reason that he should not be held in contempt over his publication’s use of the leaked documents related to Nashville shooter Audrey Hale.