Former Nashville police lieutenant indicted for charges related to Covenant records leak
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A former Nashville police lieutenant was indicted Tuesday on charges of official misconduct related to his handling of records from the Covenant School shooting investigation.
Driving the news: Former Lt. Garet Davidson is the subject of two indictments, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation announced Tuesday in a press release.
- A legal filing last year indicated Davidson was the person who leaked sealed records related to the Covenant investigation, but the filing stopped short of overtly accusing him.
- In total, Davidson is charged with 36 counts of official misconduct, plus additional charges for theft and burglary.
- He was booked into a Nashville jail on Tuesday on a $150,000 bond.
Flashback: Davidson is at the center of two separate high-profile issues facing the Metro Nashville Police Department. In addition to the Covenant records leak, he filed a sweeping whistleblower report last year accusing police leadership of misconduct and mismanagement.
- Mayor Freddie O'Connell appointed former U.S. Attorney Edward Stanton to investigate the claims made in the whistleblower report.
- The TBI said it began investigating Davidson at the request of District Attorney General Glenn Funk.
Zoom in: "While employed as a lieutenant of the Office of Professional Accountability at (MNPD), (Davidson) used his position to gain access to restricted areas that he was not authorized to access within MNPD," TBI said in the release.
- "He then took multiple criminal case files, internal investigation case files, original case files, and other documents he was not authorized to retain."
The intrigue: The official release of the Covenant records investigation file was the subject of intense scrutiny and eventually a lawsuit. Before Chancellor I'Ashea Myles ruled in that suit, parts of the investigation file were leaked to conservative outlet the Tennessee Star.
- A sworn declaration filed by Lt. Alfredo Arevalo last year singled out Davidson, Axios previously reported, noting that the investigation file was stored in the safe inside Davidson's office for 13 days. Davidson was the only person who had the key and combination to the locked safe during that time, according to Arevalo.
- Davidson subsequently left the department and frequently did interviews with the Tennessee Star about the Covenant case.
- Earlier this year, police released the case file.
What he's saying: "The charges against retired MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson represent a transparent attempt to discredit and silence a whistleblower who exposed serious misconduct within the Metro Nashville Police Department," Davidson's attorney Alex Little said in a statement.
- "The additional charges related to the Covenant School Shooting materials further demonstrate the department's desire to use criminal charges to keep the public in the dark."
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a comment from Davidson's attorney.