Griffin v. City of Knoxville

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

We granted the plaintiffs’ application in order to determine whether deceased’s handwritten notes, confiscated at the death scene by a municipal police department in the course of a homicide investigation, are public records available for inspection by the public under Tenn.Code Ann. § 10-7-503 of the Public Records Act. The plaintiff newspaper and television station manager brought this action against the municipality seeking to inspect the deceased’s notes. The municipality resisted, contending the notes are not public records. The deceased’s widow also intervened,…