16 August 2023
MARION COUNTY, Kan. (KSNW) – Days after the Marion County Record‘s items were seized in a raid by the Marion Police Department, they are being returned.
Attorney Bernie Rhodes for the Marion County Record said the Marion County Attorney has withdrawn the search warrant, and the items seized are being released.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation says the “investigation remains open, however, we have determined in collaboration with the Marion County Attorney, that the investigation will proceed independently, and without review or examination of any of the evidence seized on Friday, Aug. 11.”
On Friday, Marion police seized the newspaper’s computers, phones and file server, and the personal cellphones of staff, based on a search warrant investigating alleged identity theft.
Police simultaneously raided publisher and editor Eric Meyer’s home, seizing computers, his cell phone and the home’s internet router. Meyer blames the stress of the home raid for the Saturday death of his 98-year-old mother, Joan, the paper’s co-owner.
According to Meyer, there were questions about a story one week before the police came into his business. His newspaper notified the sheriff and the police chief that they’d obtained documents from the state that a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell, had driven on a suspended license after getting a DUI.
The Marion County Record told law enforcement they had no plans to publish the information in a story, but one week later, police came into the building with a search warrant signed by Marion County Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar and seized equipment.
Rhodes said the newspaper was investigating the circumstances around Police Chief Gideon Cody’s departure from his previous job as an officer in Kansas City, Missouri. Cody left the Kansas City department earlier this year and began the job in Marion in June.
Rhode’s released a statement about the seized items being released.
This is a promising first step, but it does nothing to make up for the violation of the First Amendment rights of the newspaper resulting from the illegal searches themselves and, regrettably, it does not bring Joan Meyer back.”
Bernie Rhodes, attorney for the Marion County Record
This is the complete statement from the Marion County Attorney:
On Monday, August 14, 2023, I reviewed in detail the warrant applications made Friday, August 11, 2023 to search various locations in Marion County including the office of the Marion County Record. The affidavits, which I am asking the court to release, established probable cause to believe that an employee of the newspaper may have committed the crime of K.S.A. 21-5839, Unlawful Acts Concerning Computers. Upon further review however, I have come to the conclusion that 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.
“This matter will remain under review until such time as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the agency now in charge of the investigation, may submit any findings to this office for a charging decision. At such time, a determination will be made as to whether sufficient evidence exists under the applicable rules and standards to support a charge for any offense.
“It is important to note that all individuals who may be the subject of an investigation are presumed innocent until and unless a charge is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
Joel Ensey, Marion County Attorney
On Wednesday, the Marion County Record published its first newspaper since the incident. The front page headline is “SEIZED … but not silenced.”
“SEIZED … but not silenced,” read the front-page headline of the Marion County Record. (KSN News Photo)
Newspaper staff worked late into Tuesday night on the new edition, the office was so hectic that Kansas Press Association Executive Director Emily Bradbury was at once answering phones and ordering in meals for staffers.
Bradbury said the journalists and those involved in the business 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. With electronics scarce, staffers made do with what they had.