Tennessee’s Supreme Court reverses Naomi Judd death investigation ruling

TENNESSEE — Tennessee’s Supreme Court on Friday has reversed a ruling that required police to release their investigation of Naomi Judd’s death publicly.

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According to The Associated Press, the Tennessee Supreme Court sent the case back down to the lower court for an additional hearing, not making an official ruling. This comes after the Judd family filed a petition in Williamson County Chancery Court in August. That petition was asking the death investigation report to be sealed.

According to the AP, the family filed the petition requesting that records that have video or audio interviews with Naomi’s relatives during the aftermath of her death report not be released.

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Williamson County Chancellor Joseph A. Woodruff on August 31 ruled against the Judd family, according to the AP.

Woodruff also ruled that specific parts of the police file are public record such as the body camera footage from outside Judd’s house, according to the AP. The Supreme Court didn’t agree, stating that Woodruff should not have ruled on the specifics of what is public or private.

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The Chancery Court will have a new hearing on the case, the AP said.

Judd died on April 30 at her Tennessee house. She was 76 years old. According to the AP, Ashley Judd previously said that her mother killed herself but the family has said she died as a result of a battle with mental illness.

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