Kansas cops raid Marion County Record newspaper office, seize records, injure reporter

[Kamaji]

Kansas cops raid Marion County Record newspaper office, seize records, injure reporter

By Dana Kennedy   
August 12, 2023

Police staged a “chilling” and unprecedented raid on a Kansas newspaper, seizing computers, cellphones, and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, reporters, and even the publisher’s home amid a dispute with a local businesswoman.

A reporter’s finger was injured when a cop grabbed her cell phone out of her hand.

The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” in the Friday raid, the newspaper’s owner and publisher, Eric Meyer told the Kansas Reflector.

Meyer said the police took action because a confidential source leaked sensitive information about a local restaurant owner, who allegedly took offense.

Meyer said the message to his newspaper was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/12/kansas-cops-raid-marion-county-record-newspaper-office/

[DefiantMassRINO]

Sounds like a perfect ACLU or Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights case.

This is the type of thing the Bill of Rights was meant to prevent.

[Wingnut]

https://kansasreflector.com/2023/08/11/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-marion-county-newspaper-seizing-computers-records-and-cellphones/

This sounds shady as hell. 

[mountaineer]

This is nuts.

[Kamaji]

And now one of the co-owners is dead as a result of the stress:


Kansas newspaper co-owner, 98, dies after being ‘stressed beyond her limits’ from police raid

By Ronny Reyes
August 13, 2023

The co-owner of a Kansas newspaper allegedly died as a direct result of the unprecedented police raid against the publication and its staff after they obtained damaging information about a local businesswoman — which the paper declined to publish.

Joan Meyer, 98, died after being “stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief” after police raided her and her son’s home Friday as part of an investigation into the Marion County Record.

“She had not been able to eat after police showed up at the door of her home Friday with a search warrant in hand,” The Record wrote. “Neither was she able to sleep Friday night.”

Joan Meyer was at the home waiting for a delivery from Meals on Wheels when cops knocked on the door.

“She tearfully watched during the raid as police not only carted away her computer… but also dug through her son Eric’s personal bank and investments statements to photograph them,” the paper said.

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/13/kansas-newspaper-co-owner-98-dies-after-being-stressed-beyond-her-limits-in-police-raid/

[mountaineer]

I'm reluctant to make Gestapo analogies, but it's difficult to refrain. Too much of this $#!t is happening.

[Kamaji]

I'm reluctant to make Gestapo analogies, but it's difficult to refrain. Too much of this $#!t is happening.

[PeteS in CA]

From https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/08/13/unthinkable-local-police-raid-shut-down-local-newspaper-n570947 :

The person who appears to have set all of this in motion was a restaurant owner named Kari Newell. During a City Council meeting on Monday, she accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining information about her from somewhere and planning to publish a story about her. There were allegations that she had lost her license after being convicted of drunk driving but continued to drive without a license. She complained to the police who went and somehow obtained a warrant and conducted the raid.

The paper’s editor said that they initially learned of the story through a tip and began investigating. It’s been claimed that the tip came from Newell’s estranged husband and the couple is currently going through divorce proceedings. But why would the paper need to illegally access records of a DUI bust? Those should have already been in the public record. And how would “identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers” come into the picture? This makes no sense whatsoever.

Further, the information about the loss of Newell’s license and her decision to keep driving was already publicly available. How? She posted it on Facebook.

Perhaps there is more to this story that we’ll learn later, but I’m having a difficult time imagining what sort of hidden details might justify a raid like this. It sounds to me like the restaurant owner is locally popular and had some contacts or friends on the police force. She didn’t want the embarrassing story coming out so she convinced the cops to go after the newspaper and a willing local judge went along with the plan.

Absent very consequential further information the co-owner of the paper and his family should be filing a massive wrongful death lawsuit against Kari Newell, the police department, and the city. And maybe against the judge if the weakness of the probable cause underlying her search warrant was grossly obvious.

[Kamaji]

From https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/08/13/unthinkable-local-police-raid-shut-down-local-newspaper-n570947 :

Absent very consequential further information the co-owner of the paper and his family should be filing a massive wrongful death lawsuit against Kari Newell, the police department, and the city. And maybe against the judge if the weakness of the probable cause underlying her search warrant was grossly obvious.

[Kamaji]

Kansas judge who signed off on ‘Gestapo-style’ raid of small-town newspaper has two DUIs

By Alyssa Guzman
August 17, 2023

A Kansas judge who signed off on the ‘Gestapo-style’ raid of the Marion County Record reportedly has two DUIs — raising questions about its possible impact on the jurist’s decision.

Judge Laura Viar signed a warrant to allow a police raid of the newspaper over claims it illegally obtained DUI information about a local business owner.

In 2012, the Eighth Judicial District Magistrate judge reportedly completed a program after her own DUI arrest in Coffey County — and then was busted seven months later for a DUI in Morris County.

In the latter incident, the then-county attorney — who went by Laura Allen — was driving a judge’s vehicle when she went off the road and hit a shed near the Council Grove football field, according to a 2012 report by WIBW.

She also had a suspended license, according to KWCH.

*  *  *

Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/08/17/judge-who-signed-marion-county-record-raid-warrant-has-two-duis/

[Kamaji]

‘Insufficient Evidence’: Kansas Prosecutor Withdraws Warrant Used by Police Who Raided Local Newspaper

By Jeff Charles
August 18, 2023

The warrant allowing law enforcement officers to raid a local newspaper has been withdrawn. The county prosecutor found that the evidence used to obtain the warrant was not sufficient. The case ignited a firestorm on the national stage, with many criticizing the officers for infringing on the freedom of the press.

The announcement was made on Wednesday:

On Wednesday, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said his review of police seizures from the Marion County Record offices 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.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Monday it was leading the investigation into the raid and what allegedly prompted it.

The raid occurred on August 11 when Marion County officers and sheriff’s deputies searched the Marion County Record. Officers seized phones, computers, and other equipment. It is believed that the search was related to information given to the news outlet about a local restaurant owner.

Eric Meyer, co-owner of the newspaper, said he would have the equipment forensically audited to ensure that law enforcement did not tamper with any sensitive information.

*  *  *

Source:  https://redstate.com/jeffc/2023/08/18/insufficient-evidence-kansas-prosecutor-withdraws-warrant-used-by-police-who-raided-local-newspaper-n2162778

[PeteS in CA]

Does this mean Ensey will pay his share of the much-deserved wrongful death lawsuit without fighting it? And testify against the business owner and police chief who initiated this killing of the newspaper co-owner? And work to recall/disbar the judge who rubber-stamped the travesty of a search warrant?

The newspaper owner can't get his wife back, but has his property been returned?

[Elderberry]

WND 8/22/2023

'If there ever was a case of elder abuse, then this is it'

A newly released video shows police in Marion, Kansas, physically raiding the home of the 98-year-old co-owner of a local newspaper that the police chief had accused of improper behavior.

What the New York Post called the "unprecedented raid" is being blamed for the woman's cardiac arrest and death just 24 hours later.

And public sentiment has come down – hard – on the side of the woman, Joan Meyer.

The situation was that there was an ongoing feud between the Marion County Record and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell.

The Record allegedly had been given, by a source, leaked documents that could have gotten Newell's liquor license revoked, including evidence she was convicted of drunk driving and continuing to operate a vehicle without a license.

She went to a city council meeting and claimed the newspaper illegally obtained that information – and spread the story, which it did not do.

The paper had chosen not to report the story but instead notified police that the records it had been handed came from a source that may have been gotten them without authorization.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2023/08/watch-unprecedented-raid-98-year-olds-home-dies-next-day/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50NOlm6dkI

[mountaineer]

Shocking new surveillance footage shows the 98 year old Joan Meyer, co-owner of a Kansas newspaper berating police during raid on her home that left her so traumatized, she died the next day.

https://twitter.com/ImMeme0/status/1694327108955193808

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Judge should be impeached and imprisoned.

[Wingnut]

98 y/o Mrs Meyer sure had a lot of spunk telling that corrupt sherriff or Chief  where to get off! 

[Bigun]

Judge should be impeached and imprisoned.

  and disbarred!