Kansas prosecutors find police had ‘insufficient evidence’ to raid local newspaper office News
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Kansas prosecutors find police had ‘insufficient evidence’ to raid local newspaper office

Police in Marion County, Kansas must return items seized during an August 11 raid of a local newspaper office after Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey found on Wednesday that police had “insufficient evidence” to search the office in the first place. In conjunction with Ensey’s statement, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) said an investigation into the Marion County police’s conduct remains open. The August 11 raid has received widespread condemnation from news media and press freedom organizations, who cite press freedom concerns.

Marion County police raided the Marion County Record office on Friday, August 11 based on a search warrant over an alleged dispute between a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell, and the newspaper. Newell claimed the newspaper invaded her privacy by illegally accessing her driving record for a story, which the Marion County Record “rigorously denies.”

The Marion County Record claimed that they only received the information about Newell’s driving record—which included a series of convictions—after a confidential source contacted the newspaper. After verifying the information through a public records search, Marion County Record editor and publisher Eric Meyer decided not to run the story and instead turned the information over to police.

According to Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, who was present the day of the raid, Marion County police arrived Friday morning with a search warrant. The search warrant authorized police to search and seize all electronic media and devices containing information related to alleged identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers. When Marion County Record staff attempted to contact Eric Meyer, police confiscated their phones. Once inside the office, police seized computer equipment, including the newspaper’s server. Police also raided the home of Marion County Record co-owner Joan Meyer and seized her computer.

On Saturday—a day after the raid—Joan Meyer died. Eric Meyer claimed she passed due to stress from the Marion County police’s raid of her personal residence. Meyer also spoke to the raid on the newspaper’s office, saying, “It’s going to have a chilling effect on us even tackling issues [as well as] a chilling effect on people giving us information.”

Concerns over possible violations of the newspaper’s First Amendment rights under the US Constitution stirred international attention over the weekend. On Monday, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, along with 36 other news media and press freedom organizations, issued a joint statement condemning the raid. The statement reads, in part, “Newsroom searches and seizures are among the most intrusive actions law enforcement can take with respect to the free press, and the most potentially suppressive of free speech by the press and the public.”

In the US, there are both constitutional and statutory protections provided to journalists and the press. Constitutionally, the First Amendment extends protection to both the freedom of speech and the press. These protections manifest statutorily in laws such as the federal Privacy Protection Act of 1980 and state-level reporters’ privilege and shield laws. Broadly, these laws protect journalists from disclosing sources or information obtained through the news-gathering process. In order to obtain those materials, law enforcement must overcome a high burden by showing it is necessary for a criminal case.

On Monday, Ensey reviewed the search warrant at the heart of the raid. While Ensey said affidavits attached to the search warrant application did provide probable cause to believe that an employee of the Marion County Record may have committed unlawful acts concerning computers, “insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized.” Ensey did not acknowledge the identity theft allegation in his statement. Though the KBI investigation remains ongoing, Ensey ordered Marion County police to return all of the seized items back to the Marion County Record.

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