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A central Kansas police force sparked a firestorm by raiding a newspaper and the publisher’s home

MARION, Kan. (AP) — A small central Kansas police department is facing a torrent of criticism for raiding a local newspaper’s office and the home of its owner and publisher, seizing computers and cellphones, and, in the publisher’s view, stressing his 98-year-old mother enough to cause her weekend death.

Several press freedom watchdogs condemned the Marion Police Department’s actions as a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protection for a free press. The Marion County Record’s editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, worked with his staff Sunday to reconstruct stories, ads and other materials for its next edition Wednesday, even as he took time in the afternoon to provide a local funeral home with information about his mother, Joan, the paper’s co-owner.

A search warrant tied Friday morning raids, led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, to a dispute between the newspaper and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. She is accusing the newspaper of invading her privacy and illegally accessing information about her and her driving record and suggested that the newspaper targeted her after she threw Meyer and a reporter out of restaurant during a political event.

While Meyer saw Newell’s complaints — which he said were untrue — as prompting the raids, he also believes the newspaper’s aggressive coverage of local politics and issues played a role. He said the newspaper was examining Cody’s past work with the Kansas City, Missouri, police as well.

“This is the type of stuff that, you know, that Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do,” Meyer said during an interview in his office. “This is Gestapo tactics from World War II.”

Cody said Sunday that the raid was legal and tied to an investigation.

The raids occurred in a town of about 1,900 people, nestled among rolling prairie hills, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, making the small weekly newspaper the latest to find itself in the headlines and possibly targeted for its reporting.

Last year in New Hampshire, the publisher of a weekly newspaper accused the state attorney general’s office of government overreach after she was arrested for allegedly publishing advertisements for local races without properly marking them as political advertising. In Las Vegas, former Democratic elected official Robert Telles is scheduled to face trial in November for allegedly fatally stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German after German wrote articles critical of Telles and his managerial conduct.

Meyer said that on Friday, one Record reporter suffered an injury to a finger when Cody wrested her cellphone out of her hand, according to the report. The newspaper’s surveillance video showed officers reading that reporter her rights while Cody watched, though she wasn’t arrested or detained. Newspaper employees were hustled out of the building while the search continued for more than 90 minutes, according to the footage.

Meanwhile, Meyer said, police simultaneously raided his home, seizing computers, his cellphone and the home’s internet router.

But as Meyer fielded messages from reporters and editors as far away as London and reviewed footage from the newsroom’s surveillance camera, Newell was receiving death threats from as far away, she said. She said the Record engages in “tabloid trash reporting” and was trying to hush her up.

“I fully believe that the intent was to do harm and merely tarnish my reputation, and I think if had it been left at that, I don’t think that it would have blown up as big as it was,” Newell said in a telephone interview.

Newell said she threw Meyer and the Record reporter out of the event for Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner at the request of others who are upset with the “toxic” newspaper. On the town’s main street, one storefront included a handmade “Support Marion PD” sign.”

The police chief and other officials also attended and were acknowledged at the reception, and the Marion Police Department highlighted the event on its Facebook page.

LaTurner’s office did not immediately return phone messages left Sunday at his Washington and district offices seeking comment.

Newell said she believes the newspaper violated the law to get her personal information as it checked on the status of her driver’s license following a 2008 drunken driving conviction and other driving violations.

The newspaper countered that it received that information unsolicited, which it verified through public online records. It eventually decided not to run a story because it wasn’t sure the source who supplied it had obtained it legally. But the newspaper did run a story on the city council meeting, in which Newell herself confirmed she’d had a DUI conviction and that she had continued to drive even after her license was suspended.

A two-page search warrant, signed by a local judge, lists Newell as the victim of alleged crimes by the newspaper. When the newspaper asked for a copy of the probable cause affidavit required by law to issue a search warrant, the district court issued a signed statement saying no such affidavit was on file, the Record reported.

Cody, the police chief, defended the raid on Sunday, saying in an email to The Associated Press that while federal law usually requires a subpoena — not just a search warrant — to raid a newsroom, there is an exception “when there is reason to believe the journalist is taking part in the underlying wrongdoing.”

And here I thought you needed evidence of underlying wrongdoing to get a warrant. I had no idea warrants were based on beliefs or feelings.

Cody did not give details about what that alleged wrongdoing entailed.

Cody, who was hired in late April as Marion’s police chief after serving 24 years in the Kansas City police, did not respond to questions about whether police filed a probable cause affidavit for the search warrant. He also did not answer questions about how police believe Newell was victimized.

Press freedom and civil rights organizations said that police, the local prosecutor’s office and the judge who signed off on the search warrant overstepped their authority.

“It seems like one of the most aggressive police raids of a news organization or entity in quite some time,” said Sharon Brett, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, adding that it seemed “quite an alarming abuse of authority.”

Seth Stern, director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in a statement that the raid appeared to have violated federal law, the First Amendment, “and basic human decency.”

“The anti-press rhetoric that’s become so pervasive in this country has become more than just talk and is creating a dangerous environment for journalists trying to do their jobs,” Stern said.

Meyer said he has been flooded with offers of help from press freedom groups and other news organizations. But he said what he and his staff need is more hours in the day to get their next edition put together.

Both he and Newell are contemplating lawsuits — Newell against the newspaper and Meyer against the public officials who staged the raid.

As for the criticism of the raid as a violation of First Amendment rights, Newell said her privacy rights were violated, and they are “just as important as anybody else’s.”

https://apnews.com/article/marion-kansas-newspaper-raid-aca057365ea3925328a69acd615c9893

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. But if law enforcement all of a sudden can issue warrants based on any accusation someone throws out and base them on what a person thinks or feels, we're all in for a crapstorm.

Marion County to return evidence seized in raid on newspaper

The Marion County Record was raided by police on Aug. 11.

Marion County, Kansas, has said it will return evidence seized in a controversial police raid of a local newspaper after an attorney review.

A search warrant for the newspaper's offices had been acquired based on a probable cause affidavit alleging that computer crimes had been committed at the location. However, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey wrote in a statement Wednesday that he had come to the conclusion that "insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and items seized."

Ensey said that the city will "work with the Marion County Record, or their representative, to coordinate the prompt return of all seized items."

The controversy began when police executed a search warrant Friday on the newspaper and on the home of its co-owner, Joan Meyer, the Marion Police Department confirmed in a statement to ABC News. The raid was prompted by a complaint from a prominent local business owner and critic of the newspaper, who accused two city council members at a public meeting of illegally disseminating confidential criminal information about her, took place on Aug. 11.

The raid triggered immediate criticism toward police over First Amendment concerns.

"It's everything you've ever heard of in the third world," Eric Meyer, the editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, said of the police raid. "It really is like we're living in Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany or Vladimir Putin's Russia."

https://abcnews.go.com/US/marion-co...IjgpZ2UyRLHLHHPx9gz7wABidgmdq7aA4vhFlK4s

So they raided a newspaper and its owner based on some Karen making false accusations without them having any actual evidence that constituted probable cause to do so. Based on the Karens's whining alone they found nothing and have to give everything back to the newspaper.

Murica!

I'm sure a huge lawsuit will be forthcoming. As it should be.

I think Joan Meyer died of a heart attack shortly after the raid.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kansas-newspaper-police-raid-marion-county-record-joan-meyer-dies/

I think protecting all amendments are important. Including the 2nd amendment that is under attack all of the time. The media are scum. They no longer report nonbiased news. Haven't done so in a long time. They are propaganda agents for the political parties. That is sad. I remember when I was in school and when things would happen in the world we would get told what the Soviet Union would report to their citizens and it was always propaganda that the political establishment wanted their people to think and know. Sadly that has happened here in our Country.

I'll tell you what scum is... It's those that constantly see school children killed in class rooms all over the country and think that the only thing that is important is there 2nd amendment rights.

Changing the 2nd amendment will not help school shootings. Criminals do not follow the laws. Never have and never will. If laws stopped criminals there would not be a drug problem. Changing the 2nd amendment only takes guns from law abiding people. Criminals will continue to do what they do and that is break the law.

Protecting all amendments is not what this is about and the 2nd isn’t under attack pffft. That’s your perception. The owners mother died of a heart attack for Christ sake. But not surprised you had to bring all that MAGA crap out.

I think he was responding to Daman's post which opened the door on the 2nd Amendment, to be fair.

I see that now. But still?

And the plot thickens....

Kansas prosecutor says police should return computers and cellphones seized in raid on newspaper

MARION, Kansas (AP) — A police raid that drew national attention to a small Kansas newspaper over threats to press freedoms wasn’t supported by evidence, a prosecutor said Wednesday, as the paper’s staff scrambled to print its first weekly edition since their cellphones and computers were seized.

Forced to rewrite stories and reproduce ads from scratch, the four-person newsroom toiled overnight to print Wednesday’s edition, with a defiant front-page headline that read: “SEIZED … but not silenced.” Under the 2-inch-tall (5-centimeter) typeface, they published stories on the raid and the influx of support the weekly newspaper has since received.

On Wednesday, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said his review of police seizures from the Marion County Record offices and the publisher’s home found “insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized.”

“As a result, I have submitted a proposed order asking the court to release the evidence seized. I have asked local law enforcement to return the material seized to the owners of the property,” Ensey said in a news release.

But in a statement released along with the county attorney’s, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said it still is examining whether the newspaper violated state laws. A warrant for the raid, signed by a local judge, suggested the raid was over whether the paper improperly used a local restaurant owner’s personal information to access her state driving record online. Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer has said the paper did nothing illegal.

In Topeka, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, a conservative Republican who oversees the KBI, said its “principal interest” remains the computer access allegations. He told reporters he didn’t understand the KBI’s role to include “an evaluation of constitutional claims about the raid.”

The KBI said it would continue its work without examining any evidence seized last Friday. Once the state investigators finish, Kobach said, the county attorney will decide whether to prosecute.

Meyer said that the county sheriff’s office, which had been storing the items for the police, released them Wednesday afternoon to a computer forensics firm from the Kansas City area hired by the newspaper’s attorney. It is reviewing their files and programs to see whether materials on the devices have been copied, Meyer said.

“You cannot let bullies win,” Meyer said. “We have a staff that’s very experienced, including myself, and we’re not going to take crap.”

Meyer has said that the stress from the raid of his home caused the death Saturday of his 98-year-old mother, Joan, the paper’s co-owner.

Last week’s police raid put the town into the center of a national debate about press freedom, with watchdog groups condemning the department’s actions. Meyer said he believes the raid was carried out because the newspaper was investigating why the police chief left his previous post as an officer in Kansas City, Missouri.

Police Chief Gideon Cody left the Missouri department earlier this year and began the job in Marion in June. He has not responded to interview requests, and he did not reply to an email seeking comment about Wednesday’s developments.

Meyer said police seized a computer tower and cellphone belonging to a reporter who wasn’t part of the effort to check on the business owner’s background — but who was looking into Cody’s background.

Asked if the newspaper’s investigation of Cody may have had anything to do with the decision to raid it, Bernie Rhodes, the newspaper’s attorney, responded: “I think it is a remarkable coincidence if it didn’t.”

Meyer’s family has long published the newspaper in the town of about 1,900 among rolling hills about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, an area that once was a sea of tall prairie grass. It’s known for its aggressive coverage of local politics, and some residents have accused it of driving businesses away, something Meyer dismisses.

Dennis Calvert, a 67-year-old Wichita resident and U.S. Navy nuclear submarine veteran, drove more than an hour to get a copy of Wednesday’s edition and sign up for a six-month subscription.

Asked about the role of local journalists, he said, “It’d be equal to, how important is your doctor if you’re going into surgery?”

At one point, a couple visiting from Arizona stopped at the front desk to buy a subscription, just to show their support, said Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, who was helping at the paper. Many others from around the country have purchased subscriptions since the raids. An office manager told Bradbury that she’s having a hard time keeping up with demand.

Even the White House weighed in. “This administration has been vocal about the importance of the freedom of press, here and around the globe,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily briefing on Wednesday. “That is the core value when you think about our democracy, when you think about the cornerstone of our democracy, the freedom of press is right there.”

She said the raid raises “a lot of concerns and a lot of questions for us.”

To put out the Wednesday edition of the paper, journalists and those involved in the business side of the newspaper used a couple of old computers that police didn’t confiscate, taking turns to get stories to the printer, to assemble ads and to check email.

Because electronics were so scarce, it took the newsroom until 5 a.m. to finish the paper, Bradbury said. She chipped in herself by answering phones and ordering meals for staffers.

“There were literally index cards going back and forth,” said Rhodes, who was also in the office. “They had all the classified ads, all the legal notices that they had to recreate. All of those were on the computers.”

The newspaper’s press run is normally 4,000 papers. But since the raids, they have received more than 2,000 new subscriptions, Meyer said.

A warrant signed by a magistrate about two hours before Friday’s raid said that local police sought to gather evidence of potential identity theft and other computer crimes stemming from a conflict between the newspaper and the local restaurant owner, Kari Newell.

Newell accuses the newspaper of violating her privacy and illegally obtaining personal information about her, while the newspaper has countered that it received information about her unsolicited, then verified its authenticity through public records online.

Meyer said the newspaper ultimately decided not to write a story about Newell, but later reported about a city council meeting, in which Newell confirmed she’d had a DUI conviction and drove after her license was suspended.

https://apnews.com/article/marion-k...TTI_bBxfS35H7AzihdKr5QLR0qfTNpsYRAoL4PWk

Once again the police use a known criminal as an excuse to violate someone’s freedom, just to protect and conceal their own misconduct. “And other computer misconduct”? Not even specific at all for a search and seize warrant. Fishing on what they know. Typical pffft.

What I'd like to see is the kids of Sandy Hook Graduating from HS and maybe going to College. I would literally do just about anything to stop mass murders. What would you do?

Lol.. they’ll be crickets or ignore on that question.

I hope not. I hope to hear a reasonable plan that has a chance of working to curb those killings.

If you call putting more cops and guns in schools a reasonable response, you'll probably get one.

Only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun.

I do know that gun control would not work. Gun control only removes guns from law abiding citizens. The cities with the toughest gun control laws have some of the worst gun problems. And I don't believe you can use the excuse that the citizens are getting their guns lawfully from places that don't have gun control laws. Because if that was the case then those areas should have the same problem and they don't.

Getting tougher on crime is the answer. When someone is caught using a gun in an unlawful manner they should be charged to the full extent of the law. Get tough on crime. These laws we have today and the system in some of these cities is not a deterrent to crime. There are mobs in the street robbing stores in LA, San Fran, Chicago, New York, etc.... The current laws embolden criminals and not deter them.

Taking guns from law abiding citizens is not the answer if it was these strict gun control laws would have worked in the past. They have failed and failed miserably.

And there it is. Lol. Somebody just forgot that every mass shooter ever was a law abiding citizen right up to the point they weren’t. And although you nailed the goper response talking points here, know one knows if federal gun controls work because there isn’t any. And actually looking back federal banned assault rifles did reduce mass killings when they were banned. But the gun porn folks got that ban lifted to open the doors to mass shooters once again. And yes guns aren’t the problem here. It’s allowing any ole lunatic to buy an AR and a boat load of ammo. Proven time and time again.

Gun control in no way means "removing guns from lawful citizens". It just makes it harder for criminals to get them. And yes, getting guns from out of state does increase crime. You see, people who can legally buy guns in their own state don't need to go out of state to buy them. So only criminals who can't purchase guns in their going out of state to get them. Statistics have been shown several times where guns used in crimes in the city of Chicago were purchased out of state.

Now there are certainly examples of where what are called gun contol laws go too far. But making some blanket statement that it's the norm isn't accurate.

As a point of fact, the guy that shot up Vegas was reportedly "law abiding" until he wasn't! The kid that shot up Sandy Hook was said to be unstable but hadn't broken any laws until he did!

Getting tough on crime is great, however that's a lot like locking the barn door after the horse gets out.

I'm looking for a way to get ahead of the curve. I don't want to infringe on peoples rights, but somewhere out there has to be a way of getting ahead of this.

One way that may work is stricter background checks for assault weapons. That's a start.

What you have trotted out is everyday basic NRA talking points. Why can't the NRA step up to the plate to offer REAL solutions. But no, they want everyone to have a gun. We all know, that isn't the right way to deal with it.

Really the only way to get in front of this is to have strick gun control as in proper background checks and registration of all guns sold new and used along with regulated training requirements for all gun owners. Pretty much treating it as a privilege much like buying and selling a car you need a title registration and license to drive.

We have the right to bare arms but we also have a responsibility to make it safe as well. And right now we’re irresponsible.