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Looks Like The Judge Who OK’ed A Raid On A Small Town Paper Didn’t Read The Warrants Until AFTER She’d Signed Them

from the lol-justice-system-you-so-crazy dept

I am not going to rehash this entire debacle again, but suffice to say a small town police department in Kansas — led by (the now-resigned) police chief Gideon Cody raided the offices of the Marion County Record (along with the home of its co-owners, one of which was 98-year-old Joan Meyer, who died less than 48 hours after the raid of her home) to supposedly investigate a computer crime.

Journalists had (legally) obtained driving records of a local business owner. Chief Cody thought otherwise and appeared to be rather friendly with the business owner, who was seeking a liquor license but seemingly had a history of driving drunk. A whole bunch of bullshit began after the raid made national headlines, but TL;DR: there was no crime nor was there enough evidence of any suspected crime to justify an unambiguous assault on the First Amendment. (That Chief Cody was aware the paper was looking into his troubled past only makes things worse.)

As the fallout continues, everyone involved is seeking to exonerate themselves, ranging from the local prosecutor who claimed all of this happened behind his back (not true!) to the judge who handled the clearly deficient warrant applications, Laura Viar.

Caught in the fallout, Judge Viar was facing possible discipline for approving these search warrants. But she has managed to avoid being (at least professionally) tainted by here involvement. But her defense of her actions raises more questions than it answers, as Sherman Smith reports for the Kansas Reflector.

The magistrate who authorized last year’s police raid on the Marion County Record escaped discipline from a state panel by making claims that contradict statements in federal lawsuits about how the search warrants arrived in front of her and whether the police chief swore they were true before she signed them.

Magistrate Judge Laura Viar’s secret explanation, obtained by Kansas Reflector, adds a new layer of confusion and mystery to how law enforcement were able to carry out the search and seizure of journalists’ computers and cellphones without regard for state and federal laws that prohibit such police action. It also raises concerns about the low standards set for judges by the Kansas Commission on Judicial Conduct.

The Reflector’s reporting focuses on statements about who actually delivered the warrant requests to Judge Viar. County Attorney Joel Ensey has maintained he and his office were never involved. But emails obtained after this case blew up seem to say he sent one of his office managers to deliver them to the judge. On top of that, former police chief Gideon Cody says he emailed them to Ensey, who stated he printed them off without reading them.

That alone is a problem. A prosecutor should be reviewing warrants forwarded to them because that’s how you stop something like this from happening. This is dereliction of duty but I can see why some prosecutors might see it as something far more useful: plausible deniability. If you don’t read the affidavits, you can claim you weren’t aware your cop buddies were planning to start violating a whole bunch of rights.

According to Viar’s letter [PDF], she was approached by Judge Robson and an “unknown officer” with the warrant requests. Robson did not introduce this person to Judge Viar. Instead, the judge asked a couple of leading questions to the officer about the involvement of the KBI (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) and exited the room.

Judge Viar asked the “unknown” officer if the warrants were time-sensitive since she had other things to deal with. The officer (introduced as the “chief of police”) answered in the affirmative, claiming investigators were waiting for him at the sheriff’s office. Viar’s letter states affirmatively that “Chief Cody did appear before me,” which contradicts her earlier statement.

Right past this point is where I think it gets really sketchy. Never mind the conflicting narratives about who brought the warrants and who may have seen them before they ended up in Judge Viar’s hands. The real problem here is how Judge Viar handled the warrants.

This is from Judge Viar’s statement — the one she used to help escape being disciplined for botching this essential part of her job.

I began looking over the paperwork when I was told [the officer] was going to be called back because his signatures were not authorized. He returned and swore that the facts in the applications were true and correct and that it was his signature on each application. I then signed the applications.

Fantastic. That’s an essential part of the equation. But it’s only part of it. The really important part of this process had yet to be accomplished. But that didn’t stop Judge Viar from signing the applications.

Here’s the next part of this narrative, in the judge’s own words:

Very quickly after Chief Cody left the office I began to review the applications.

Do you see the problem here? The warrants had already been signed. It was only after the judge approved the warrants that she finally decided to read them. And while some people might look at the narrative in Judge Viar’s letter and come to conclusion she read the affidavits prior to the officer’s return for the swearing and signing, they’re only lying to themselves about what happened here.

Why do we know that? Because Judge Viar can’t even definitively state whether or not the reading of the affidavits occurred prior to the officer’s return to her office. And that’s in the statement she made to defend herself against accusations she mishandled these warrants.

I do not recall if he returned immediately, as [sic], or after I had reviewed the warrants.

That’s the kind of fact that needs to be remembered. Chances are that if you can’t remember whether or not officers are still in your office while you read their affidavits, it’s because they’ve usually already exited with signed warrants in hand. At no point does Judge Viar state that she asked the officer (presumably Chief Cody) any questions about the applications. The only statements she makes in terms of verification was asking him to verify his signature and swear that the statements he made are true and correct.

But that’s the most important part of reviewing warrant applications: the review. Given the narrative provided by the judge herself, it appears that the standard operating procedure is to approve first and review later. And if Cody’s signature had already been notarized (which might have happened if the prosecutor had bothered to review the warrants before sending them to a judge), it’s not unreasonable to assume Judge Viar would never have bothered to read the underlying affidavits.

While I realize that 95% of law enforcement work is the same thing over and over, each warrant is limited time/place permission slip to violate the Constitution. For that reason alone, every warrant should be scrutinized prior to signature and the presenting officer should be there to answer any questions raised by their application. If more judges would take this part of the process seriously, we’d see a pretty steep decline in civil suits, suppression motions, and challenges raised by third-parties hosting other people’s information and communications. Just do your job as though your own rights depend on it. Because they do.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, gideon cody, journalism, kansas, laura viar, marion county
Companies: marion county record

Journalist Scores $235,000 Settlement From Ex-Police Chief Who Raided Small Town Newspaper

from the justice-is-finally-starting-to-trickle-in dept

An ex-big city cop who blew into a small town under suspicious circumstances to become police chief. A business owner seeking a liquor license who spent a lot of time driving around with a suspended license due to DUI violations. A small town paper that dug into all of these stories and more to the dismay of those featured in their stories. A county prosecutor who denied involvement in a blatantly unconstitutional raid until it became impossible to do so.

All of that would make for a great season of Fargo but it all really happened in Marion, Kansas, a town with a population of only 1,900. The police chief, the county sheriff, the county prosecutor, the business owner, her estranged ex-husband, and the state Bureau of Investigation all factored into this horrendous abuse of power that resulted in two raids by local law enforcement.

The first targeted the local newspaper, the Marion County Record. Its offices were raided and devices were seized from everyone in the building, along with the paper’s computers and servers. Then the home of the paper’s co-owners was raided — a raid that was greeted with outrage by the homeowner/paper owner: 98-year-old Joan Meyer. She died the day after the shocking raid of her home by then-police chief Gideon Cody and his co-conspirators.

Since then, multiple lawsuits have been filed. One was filed by journalist Deb Gruver. The police chief claimed the raid was justified because some vague Kansas computer crime law had been violated when journalists accessed (completely legally, btw) the business owner Kari Newell’s driving records. Deb Gruver did not access those records but she had been digging into Chief Cody’s past, wondering why someone working for the Kansas City PD would take a pay cut to preside over a much smaller department in a tiny rural town.

Gruver’s phone was seized personally by Chief Cody — something caught on an officer’s body camera and featured in Gruver’s lawsuit [PDF].

Chief Cody grabbed the phone out of Gruver’s hand when she told him she needed to call the paper’s co-owner, Eric Meyer (the son of the deceased Joan Meyer).

Also captured on body camera was Chief Cody’s call to Kari Newell, the aggrieved business owner who felt her driving records had been illegally accessed.

Kari Newell answered defendant Cody’s call, saying “hey.”

Chief Cody responded, “hey, honey, we can’t write anything, so…”

Kari Newell responded, “yeah, no, I understand…I just got a message from somebody at the hotel saying that the whole staff of the newspaper’s out on the sidewalk and all the computer equipment’s leaving the building.”

Chief Cody responded, “yeah, surprising how that works, isn’t it?”

Surprising? Not really. That’s just how it works when law enforcement officers or officials feel they’re above the law.

But ex-chief Cody isn’t above the law. However, he’s managed to buy himself out of this lawsuit, as Voice of America reports:

A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small community the focus of a national debate over press freedoms.

The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but it doesn’t apply to two other officials she sued over the raid: the Marion County sheriff and the county’s prosecutor. Gruver’s lawsuit is among five federal lawsuits filed over the raid against the city, the county and eight current or former elected officials or law enforcement officers.

Gruver’s lawsuit against Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey and Sheriff Jeff Soyez remains in force and it seems unlikely either of those will be able to exit the lawsuit without a settlement or a judgment in favor of Deb Gruver. The amended lawsuit (filed in late June of this year) prompted a pretty quick buyout for Cody and it contains plenty of new damaging information that shows just how deeply involved both the county attorney and county sheriff were involved with these unconstitutional raids.

While it would be nice to believe ex-chief Cody is paying out of his own pocket for this, the city and the city’s insurance company both refused to comment on the settlement, which suggests the town’s residents are actually on the hook for this one as officials seek to distance themselves from Chief Cody and his actions.

A town of 1,900 can’t possibly absorb the sort of monetary damage these actions have generated. And there’s a good chance Marion’s insurance company is going to step away from this as soon as it can, leaving residents in the unenviable position of either being at the mercy of an uninsured government or being asked to dig a little deeper in their pockets to cover the increased premiums.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, david mayfield, eric meyer, gideon cody, journalism, kansas, lawsuit, marion county, marion county pd
Companies: marion county record

Another Journalist Sues Over Raid Of The Marion County Newspaper’s Offices

from the resigning-your-post-can't-make-lawsuits-go-away,-chief dept

The colossal catastrophe that is the Marion County PD’s raid of a small town newspaper’s offices (along with a raid of the home of its 98-year-old co-owner [who died shortly thereafter]) continues to generate national (and international!) headlines.

The PD claimed this was all above-board. Supposedly computer crime laws were broken by local journalists when they sought to verify a tip about a local business owner’s lack of a valid drivers license. Why would this matter? Well, someone whose license had been yanked due to DUI violations probably shouldn’t be handed a liquor license, which was what was happening here.

But there was another twist: the information seemed to be tied to a particularly messy divorce. The Marion County Record decided not to run the story. But it did verify the information (using a public-facing site) and, regrettably, informed the local cops about this particular unlicensed driver (and local business owner).

Then there was another twist. The new chief of police, Gideon Cody, who had taken a considerable pay cut when accepting this position (having moved on [possibly with encouragement] from a more well-paying job in Kansas City), was apparently displeased the local paper was digging into his hasty exit from a big city police force.

Some evidence of past misconduct was uncovered. Journalists from the Record asked for comment. Shortly thereafter, the paper’s offices were raided, using the search of drivers license records as a pretext. Chief Cody claimed this was all above board and that his actions were supported by the local prosecutor. The local prosecutor claimed otherwise when the raid made national news. So did the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which claimed it was investigating the raid. Public records and text messages obtained from the business owner soon made it clear Chief Cody, the local prosecutor, and the KBI were all lying.

The PD and its chief were sued by one of the paper’s journalists soon after. As more information came forward, Chief Cody was suspended. Then he resigned, rather than face the professional consequences of his actions.

But he still has to answer for the civil consequences of his apparently vindictive actions. A second journalist from the Marion County Record has sued the former chief, along with the county that employed him. Phyllis Zorn, who performed some of the verification on the tip about the drunk-driving business owner, has filed her own federal lawsuit — one that offers some more information that might explain why a troubled law enforcement official would decide he could raid a newspaper into silence. (h/t CNN, but only a little, since I had to go get a copy of Zorn’s lawsuit myself because the multi-national news outlet can’t be bothered to include it in its reporting.)

It gets juicy pretty quickly in Zorn’s lawsuit [PDF]. Here’s the (alleged) dirt on former chief Gideon Cody, which may have provided the motivation for his actions.

Marion was in need of a new police chief in 2023. By April, the city had identified three candidates: acting police chief Duane McCarty; Chris Mercer, who works as a fire investigator for the state fire marshal and part time Marion police officer; and Gideon Cody, a captain in the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.

Gideon Cody had experienced a number of problems in his former employment. To the surprise of no one, when the Record reported that Gideon Cody was a candidate for the Marion police chief position, the newspaper began receiving tips about Cody from persons who were afraid to go on the record for fear of retribution by Cody.

According to one source, Cody was “the absolute worst commander I ever experienced,” said “his ego would not allow him to listen to what anyone below his rank said,” and described him as a “toxic/ego-centric commander.”

Three sources told the paper that Cody ran over a dead body at a crime scene. The tipsters also reported that Cody was about to be demoted by the Kansas City Police Department from captain to sergeant because of offensive conduct towards other officers.

Multiple sources reported a conversation in which Cody expressed his disdain for working in dispatch, and said if he had not been transferred out of dispatch he would have found “the skinniest and prettiest girl down there and f*cked her” to force a reassignment.

Nothing Streisands like an unconscionable string of civil rights violations. If Cody wanted his past buried, he probably shouldn’t have assumed he could just steamroll a small-town paper into submission. This is all on the public record now and Cody will have to speak up (either in court or on paper) if he wishes to dispute it. He can’t just duck back into the shadows and pretend this isn’t happening.

Allegedly, Chief Cody thought he could intimidate Zorn into exiting the paper currently investigating his past and firing up a competitor that would provide pro-Cody propaganda.

Cody soon became aware that the Record was looking into his background in Kansas City. This infuriated Cody and he later suggested to the plaintiff that she leave the paper and start a competing paper in Marion. He promised her that he would invest with her and would enlist a number of others to do so as well. The plaintiff laughed off the suggestion, not understanding the depth of his anger at the Record. When Ms. Zorn disclaimed any interest in his proposal, she was moved to Cody’s enemies list.

Provable in court? Maybe not! It’s not like Cody is going to admit to any of this if it’s true. But it does suggest he had other reasons than the supposed computer crime violations to engage in his raid of the newspaper’s offices. Even if none of this is true (or can be proven), Chief Cody should never have decided to roll up on the First Amendment like a SWAT team at the wrong address. This is not going to end well for anyone involved in this insanely stupid series of events.

There’s an entire nasty soap opera contained in this filing. How much of it will be useful to lawsuit remains to be seen, but it certainly makes for entertaining, if somewhat depressing, reading. Odds are this lawsuit will need to be amended before a court will consider it seriously, but it does provide a lot of details that haven’t been made public previously.

For instance, the detective ordered by Chief Cody to write a “preservation warrant” to serve to the paper’s internet provider refused to sign it. Detective Christner stated the PD had “no legal authority” to obtain these records. (However, he also stated that if the PD wanted these records, it would be better off just searching the paper’s offices, rather than approaching a third party. He also personally participated in the search he seemed to feel was at least a bit out of Constitutional bounds.)

The lawsuit also claims Chief Cody lied on his warrant application to search the paper’s owner’s home, falsely claiming the document he’d seen was obtained illegally from a government website when, in fact, it’s completely legal for anyone to search the Kansas Department of Revenue website using any personal information they’ve obtained, so long as they fill out the search form using the name of the person performing the search (as Phyllis Zorn did when she sought to verify the information provided by the paper’s source).

The lawsuit also claims the forensic search of Zorn’s computer — performed during the raid of the paper’s offices — was sloppy, vague, and predestined to generate “evidence” of whatever crime Chief Cody hallucinated the journalists had committed.

In accordance with this requirement, Marion County Sheriff’s Det. Aaron Christner connected an external drive via a USB port to reporter Phyllis Zorn’s computer in the Record’s newsroom. He then executed a software application titled osTriage, which he had previously loaded onto the external drive.

The program allows a user to conduct a keyword search on the connected computer and its storage media, thereby allowing a user to make a determination in the field as to whether the device was used in the commission of a crime. But the keywords selected for the preview search of the Record’s computers were so vague and indistinct they constituted a sham search. For example, one of the keywords was the word “vehicle,” while another keyword was the word “Kansas.”

None of the “hits” from the “preview search” of Phyllis Zorn’s computer were even suggestive of a crime. Instead, it is obvious the keyword search terms were a sham and were never designed to comply with the search warrant’s requirement that officers conduct a preview search “to exclude from seizure those which have not been involved in the identity theft.” The name searches produced false “hits” 100% of the time.

Even with these broad terms, the detective was unable to get enough hits to generate probable cause. It didn’t matter. Zorn’s computer was seized, along with the paper’s servers and computers/devices owned by other Marion County Record journalists.

Chief Gideon is gone. According to Zorn’s lawsuit, he “fled the jurisdiction” shortly after resigning. Zorn and her lawyer suggest he’s hiding out in Hawaii.

It doesn’t really matter where he went. He may not ever have to answer these accusations directly, but he’ll always be known as the wayward cop who left one force in disgrace, took a pay cut, and soon left that police force in disgrace. This is a particularly ugly chapter in the history of US law enforcement. Just because it happened in a small Kansas town doesn’t make it any less of a travesty. If Gideon Cody truly felt these searches were justified, he’d still be running the county’s police force. Instead, he’s in the wind, behaving more like a criminal on the run than a career cop.

Filed Under: gideon cody, journalism, kansas, marion county, marion county pd, phyllis zorn
Companies: marion county record

Text Messages, Emails Show KBI Had Full Knowledge Of Raid On Kansas Newspaper’s Office

from the ohhhhh-THAT-small-town-paper-raid dept

On August 11, the Marion County PD — with the assistance of the Kansas Department of Revenue, the county sheriff’s office, and (for some fucking reason) the local fire marshal — raided the office of the Marion County Record, along with the home of its co-owner, 98-year-old Joan Meyer.

The raid was prompted by the very expansive reading of two state laws, one involving identity fraud and the other involving computer crimes. The first response from nearly everyone but Police Chief Gideon Cody was a denial of knowledge, much less involvement.

But as reporters kept digging into the story, the denials — starting with the county attorney Joel Ensey’s claim of innocence when he asked a court to quash the warrants — began to unravel. The DA claimed he’d never seen the warrants prior to their service. But an email exposed this lie, showing Chief Cody had informed of his plans to search the paper’s office, as well as sent him copies of the warrants he planned to deploy.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) strode onto the scene, presenting itself as a force of good, here to get to the bottom of this pile of constitutional violations.

It, too, claimed it had nothing to do with the raids.

Attorney General Kris Kobach, who has oversight of the KBI, told reporters on Aug. 16 that the KBI “was not notified of the searches prior to their taking place.”

That statement is, at best, misinformed. Perhaps Kobach just didn’t know. But the KBI sure did. It, too, had been informed of Chief Cody’s unconstitutional plans. Not only that, it apparently approved of them, as Jessica McMaster reports for KSHB:

Text messages obtained by the KSHB 41 I-Team reveal Gideon Cody claimed the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was “100 percent behind” him one day after the raids on Marion County Record and two homes.

The text messages, provided by a source and independently verified by KSHB 41, are between Cody and Joel Ensey, Marion County Attorney, who revoked Cody’s warrants within days following the raids.

More evidence of KBI’s involvement and prior knowledge. And more evidence of the county attorney’s prior knowledge and direct involvement.

Now, it could have been that Chief Cody was putting words in the mouth of the KBI. But if so, he was doing it constantly. A text sent to county attorney Ensey on August 9, two days before the raids, said “KBI will be lead in the investigation.” One day after the raids, Chief Cody sent Ensey another text referring to KBI’s apparent support of his actions.

The final message from Cody on the subject of KBI and the newspaper raid stated KBI was taking its own route with the investigation. Not an investigation of the raids themselves, mind you.

Cody sent another response: “They want to use an independent lab not affiliated with [the] government for forensics, and they appear to be taking this case over. I will let you know.”

So, the staties wanted to do their own digging into the seized electronics using an “independent lab,” whatever that means in this context. The KBI never got a chance to do it. The court ordered all devices and data returned to paper and its employees before they were ever in the hands of the KBI.

Additional emails obtained by KSHB contain even more evidence of foreknowledge and approval, if not direct involvement.

One day before the raids, Todd Leeds, KBI special agent, sent an email to a Marion police officer. He wrote, “Did you guys execute this today?”

The police officer responded, “No. My understanding is that the county attorney wasn’t in the office today.”

The subject of that email is, “Additional SW for Eric Meyer’s Residence.”

Given these facts, it would make zero sense for KBI to be allowed to engage in an investigation of the Marion County PD and its actions. It has already let everyone know what it thinks about what happened here and seems unlikely to discover anything damning when doing so would mean damning itself.

Hopefully, this latest bit of news means the KBI will be stepping away from this entirely.

Multiple sources confirm an outside law enforcement agency has joined Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the events surrounding the raid on the Marion County Record newspaper.

Eric Meyer, publisher of Marion County Record, Deb Gruver, former reporter of the Record, and Ruth Herbel, vice mayor of Marion, told the KSHB 41 I-Team an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation has reached out to them about the case.

According to those who spoke to KSHB after speaking to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent, CBI is definitely not digging into the actions of the newspaper or its employees. It wants to know why this investigation was initiated by the Marion County PD and why it decided the best plan of action was an all-day assault on constitutional rights.

Hopefully, the CBI will expand its investigation to include the KBI, which is certainly far from blameless. This debacle — every small part of it — needs to be dragged out into the sunlight. The last thing the KBI should be allowed to do is creep back into the shadows while everyone’s paying attention to an outside agency and its apparently far more competent investigative work.

Filed Under: 4th amendment, eric meyer, gideon cody, joan meyer, journalism, kansas, kbi, marion county, marion county pd
Companies: marion county record

Well, It Looks Like Pretty Much Every Government Agency Was Complicit In The Raid Of A Small Town Newspaper

from the isn't-conspiracy-a-crime? dept

Under the pretense of a computer crime investigation, the Marion County PD — led by then-Chief Gideon Cody — raided the offices of the Marion County Record, as well as the home of its 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer. Joan Meyer died one day after the raid, one she strenuously objected to while her home was filled with law enforcement officers.

The raid quickly made national news. Shortly thereafter, the raid of a small town newspaper by cops became the subject of international reporting. Once the headlines started hitting, government figures moved quickly to distance themselves from this debacle.

The underlying incident began with local business owner Kari Newell, who was seeking to secure a liquor license for one of her businesses. At the same time, Newell was in the midst of a combative divorce. Her estranged husband allegedly tipped off the Marion County Record about her prior arrests for driving under the influence, as well as driving without a license. The newspaper tried to verify these allegations. First, reporters talked to the Marion County PD. Then it used a third-party site to look up Newell’s arrest record.

Somehow, this was treated as both identity fraud and computer-based crime by the PD. Chief Gideon Cody — who also knew his past misconduct was being investigated by the paper — and he helped generate the warrant affidavits and personally participated in the raid of the paper’s office. The warrant requests (only one of which was rejected) were approved by a local judge with her own history of DUI arrests.

County prosecutor Joel Ensey was the first to step away from the wreckage, declaring the warrants to be short on probable cause. He also asked the judge to issue an order directing the PD to return seized electronics to the journalists. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation announced it was now looking into the raids and the warrants supposedly justifying these raids.

The fallout just kept coming. The city council refused to discuss the debacle in council meetings. Chief Gideon Cody promoted himself to ex-chief by resigning rather than having to (publicly) justify his actions. Further investigation by other news agencies uncovered the fact that the city and PD discussed this raid using private email addresses and personal phones, leaving no permanent record of these communications.

Case in point: Chief Cody’s resignation letter was sent from his personal email address to the mayor’s personal email address. Business owner Kari Newell also told reporters the police chief has instructed her to delete any pre-raid communications between them.

Every bit of this reeks of corruption — the sort of small-town corruption where the perpetrators feel the locals are far too few, or far too weak, to fight back. And it gets worse. Sherman Smith and the Kansas Reflector have been digging into whatever they’ve actually been able to obtain with public records requests. And those documents show everyone was in on it… including the supposed neutral party now performing its own investigation of the raids: the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody enlisted the support of local and state law enforcement officials in the days before he led raids on the local newspaper office, the publisher’s home and the home of a city councilwoman.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Kansas Department of Revenue, Marion County Sheriff’s Office and the Office of the State Fire Marshal — along with the county attorney and a magistrate judge — were complicit in the Aug. 11 raid or knew it was imminent. But in the days that followed, they largely downplayed their involvement.

A whole bunch of people with government power using the public’s money conspired to violate rights apparently because they all believed — however temporarily — they might get away with it. When the small town paper fought back, most of those involved did everything they could to pretend they weren’t complicit.

That means a whole lot of people have been caught lying or, at the very least, pretending their refusal to directly address their involvement somehow absolves them of culpability. Here’s a brief summary of damning information the Kansas Reflector has obtained:

We now know there was also a KBI agent and his supervisor who had advance copies of the search warrants. A sheriff’s detective who wrote the search warrants. Department of Revenue staff who treated the reporter’s actions as criminal. And a fire marshal’s investigator who participated in the raid even though he seemed to realize it was unlawful.

I cannot even comprehend why a fire marshal decided he needed to assist in a police department raid, much less why he continued to do so when it became apparent the whole thing was a vindictive violation of rights.

The prosecutor who supposedly stepped up to rescind the warrants while claiming he was unaware of them has been revealed as a liar, coward, and an idiot. This is what he thought he would get away with if he distanced himself from this as soon as it became apparent the blowback would be too big to be ignored.

Cody, the police chief, had notified County Attorney Joel Ensey of his investigation in an Aug. 8 email, and sent copies of the search warrants to Ensey before taking them to a magistrate. A day after the raid, Ensey told Cody he would need to get a district court judge to sign the warrants so that the evidence seized during the raid could be reviewed by law enforcement outside of Marion.

“I also believe with the scrutiny this will receive, another judge reviewing the warrant would be a good idea, especially with some of the new information learned during the search,” Ensey said.

But as copies of the newspaper were being delivered around town on Aug. 16, and new subscribers streamed into the newspaper office, Ensey claimed he had reviewed the search warrants in detail on Aug. 14. He said there was insufficient evidence to support the raids and that items seized would be returned.

The prosecutor already knew what was in the warrants when he told reporters he had only now reviewed the affidavits and determined them to be unsupported by probable cause.

The records obtained by the Kansas Reflector also show the Kansas Bureau of Investigation opened its own investigation into the journalists and the paper’s owners. It did this following the Marion County PD’s request for assistance, one written by Chief Cody and emailed to the KBI on August 8.

While it never carried out any searches of its own, the KBI was thanked personally by Chief Gideon Cody for its “support” during the so-called investigation and raids. The documents also showed the KBI lied about its involvement in this shitstorm.

Attorney General Kris Kobach, who has oversight of the KBI, told reporters on Aug. 16 that the KBI “was not notified of the searches prior to their taking place.”

As for the ancillary presence of a fire marshal, there’s nothing to report because the marshal’s employer is either completely unable to explain his presence or simply would rather not talk about it.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the State Fire Marshal didn’t respond to questions for this story about why the legal memo is attached to Mercer’s report, or why he agreed to join an unlawful raid.

The legal memo — one from a law firm that firmly states the protections afforded to journalists under federal law — is attached to the fire marshal’s narrative of the search of Joan Meyer’s home. This narrative does no favors for local law enforcement officers, who are shown to be little more than thugs intimidating a 98-year-old woman just because they had a piece of paper saying they could.

This is a series of unforced errors that clearly indicates most of Marion County’s so-called public servants aren’t capable of serving the public, much less trustworthy enough to continue to collect paychecks signed by the people they’re supposed to be protecting and serving. Chief Cody has decided to exonerate himself by walking away from the mess he created. County attorney Joel Ensey has now been exposed as a liar and an opportunist. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has made it clear it doesn’t care about the rights of the state’s residents. It’s garbage all the way down and all the way up.

And it’s how things are in most of America, despite constant efforts to reform law enforcement. The law is the law… unless the law might prevent cops from doing what they want to do. At that point, all bets are off.

Filed Under: eric meyer, gideon cody, joel ensey, kansas, kari newell, kbi, marion county, marion county pd

Police Chief Who Headed Raid Of Kansas Newspaper Resigns Rather Than ‘Defend His Actions’

from the winners-never-quit dept

A few months ago, the Marion, Kansas police department made the immediately regrettable decision to raid the office of the local paper, as well as the home of the paper’s owner.

According to Police Chief Gideon Cody, this was the proper thing to do. The paper’s journalists were suspected of breaking state laws pertaining to computer crimes and identity fraud.

The backstory made things a bit clearer. Local business owner Kari Newell was seeking a liquor license. Meanwhile, she was apparently in the middle of a rather messy divorce. Her estranged husband allegedly leaked details of her arrest for DUI and driving without a license to the Marion County Record.

The Marion County Record did its due diligence and verified the arrest using public records made available by an area news outlet. Then it decided not to publish anything about this, deciding it did not want to be seen as a combatant in combative divorce proceedings. It did, however, inform the police someone had passed them this tip and asked the PD to verify the alleged facts.

At that same time, another Marion County Record reporter was digging into Chief Cody’s past, trying to figure out why he would leave a presumably well-paying position with the Kansas City PD for a far less-lucrative position at the head of the Marion County PD.

Somehow, this all culminated in the raids mentioned above. The latter raid, which involved several officers entering the home of 98-year-old paper co-owner Joan Meyer’s house, ended with the seizure of her electronics. It also ended with her death. Meyer passed away less than two days after the raid was carried out.

Since then, it’s all gone sideways (and backwards) for the Marion County PD. The local prosecutor, Joel Ensey (who has his own ties to Kari Newell) retracted the warrants, claiming they weren’t supported by probable cause. He also sought a court order for the return of all devices and data seized by the PD. The warrants were approved by someone else with a connection of sorts to Kari Newell and her alleged moving violations. Judge Laura Viar, a recent appointee to the county post, has been arrested at least twice for driving under the influence.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is now looking into the warrants and subsequent raids, apparently in order to determine whether these were lawful, unlawful, or just extremely ill-advised.

The raids attracted the attention of the international press. Everything about the raids suggested a police chief and his underlings acting vindictively to punish reporters for asking too many questions and protecting powerful friends, like business owner Kari Newell.

Some of this has been confirmed, albeit obliquely.

[Kari] Newell said [Chief] Cody sent her that information via text message on Aug. 7.

“[He] said, ‘This is Chief Cody, we believe you’ve been the victim of a crime,'” Newell said.

Newell is a local restaurant owner whose driving record Cody used as a premise to raid Marion County Record and two homes.

The day of Newell’s interview, Newell said she no longer had the text messages between her and Cody.

The I-Team asked Newell for the text messages between her and Cody, but according to Newell, she deleted the text messages at the chief’s behest.

Not a good look. And definitely not a good look that Chief Cody was using a personal phone to engage in his public duties. While it’s understandable officers may reach out personally to crime victims, anything having to do with ongoing investigations should be on the permanent record — detailed in reports and/or handled via official communication lines.

Since the cop shop and local politicians preferred using personal phones rather than public email accounts or anything else subject to Kansas open records laws, the Marion County Record has had no luck obtaining these communications via public records requests.

Marion County officials say they have no way to obtain texts and emails sent and received with personal devices, nor do they have any way of forcing these officials to turn over these communications. And that’s probably true, unfortunately. However, that doesn’t mean these communications are beyond the reach of subpoena in the lawsuit already ongoing, much less the lawsuits that are sure to follow. And Newell’s decision to delete these text messages is probably going to hurt Chief Cody more than it hurts her during ongoing litigation, if only because it’s unlikely Newell will be named as a defendant.

Chief Cody is now former Chief Cody. He’s decided to get out before it gets any worse for him. His reason for abandoning his post? He simply does not want to have to answer for his actions.

KHSB News 41 — the same station that obtained Newell’s admission she had deleted her texts with Chief Cody at Cody’s request — obtained a copy of Cody’s resignation letter, which explicitly states he does not want to take responsibility for this debacle.

Mayor,

I have not intended for myself to be such a distraction for the City.I would like to resign effective 15th of October if that is okay with you.

I do not want to defend my actions to the Council and I do not want for everyone to have to formally discuss any discipline.

I believe if the circumstances were known then it would mitigate your response but I am getting exhausted from the media pressure much like all of you. I believe Jennifer Hill will be sending something in regards to this. I don’t believe this resignation will hinder the city’s defense regarding the search warrant. A response will be forthcoming on 10/04 that will shed more light on this.

It is possible Cody means he believes his actions are defensible but thinks he shouldn’t have to defend them. But the wording suggests Cody would rather walk away from this than take what’s coming to him. It looks far more cowardly than honorable. And the weak sauce of “if the circumstances were known” is nothing more than the former chief implying everyone else but him is wrong about this.

Cody’s standard communications m.o. applies here as well:

The email was sent from Cody’s personal email address and delivered to Mayfield’s private email address.

His last bit of official business for Marion County, sent via and delivered to unofficial email accounts. As for the “10/04” date mentioned in the resignation email, it appears to be a typo. The email was sent October 15th, meaning the promised “forthcoming response” won’t be delivered until sometime in the future at whatever date the former chief meant to type.

So, it’s a good thing he’s gone. But it’s not that great that he’s able to eject himself from the proverbial plane he’s been flying into the ground for the past few months. That means he’ll survive the wreck, but everyone else without this luxury will have to deal with the collateral damage. And it means he’ll just move on to his next law enforcement job, free of any lingering marks on his permanent record.

Filed Under: gideon cody, kansas, kari newell, marion county, marion county pd
Companies: marion county record

Not In Kansas Anymore? Police Chief Suspended Following Raid Of Small Town Newspaper

from the chief-just-moving-from-disgrace-to-disgrace dept

There’s no reason to make fascist small talk a reality, but sometimes folks just do what they do. Six weeks ago, a small town police department raided a small town newspaper in a vicious demonstration of boots-on-a-human-face-forever thuggery. The supposed crime? Digging up public records showing a local business owner in search of a liquor license had her own problems with handling liquor, including DUI and driving without a license charges.

The business owner was incensed, even though the local paper — the Marion County Record — decided not to publish anything because it did not wish to be used as a pawn in an acrimonious divorce. The simple fact that it had asked questions and obtained records was enough to motivate Kari Newell to air her grievances at a city council meeting.

Shortly thereafter, the government machinery lurched into motion. The Marion County PD — helmed by newly employed Chief of Police Gideon Cody — sprung into action. It raided the offices of the local paper, as well as the home of its 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer. A show of force was followed by the seizure of plenty of electronics, including journalists’ personal phones and the paper’s servers. It was also followed by the death of Joan Meyer, last seen putting her indignation on full display as Cody’s officers raided her home for evidence… of what exactly?

The operative theory was identity fraud and illegal computer access. The facts on hand suggested something completely different: the delivery of information from a citizen source coupled with a public domain search of a private party’s website to verify the tip delivered to the Marion County Record.

Then there was the suggestion these raids weren’t prompted by the paper’s (abandoned) investigation into business owner Kari Newell’s alcoholic indiscretions, but rather by the paper’s questioning of Chief Cody’s permanent record. There were hints — some unverified — that his history of misconduct had resulted in him leaving a lucrative job with the Kansas City PD for the position at the head of one of the tiniest police forces in Kansas.

Whatever the compelling factor, the end result was horrific. Writers, journalists, and rights activists immediately banded together to condemn the raid of the newspaper, as well as to offer their services to the victims of these apparent rights violations.

In addition, the state’s investigative bureau stated it would be looking into the actions of the Marion PD. This announcement from the KBI (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) followed prosecutor Joel Ensey’s declaration the search warrants were not supported by probable cause and were being withdrawn by his office. Ensey also asked the court (the same court that approved the obviously deficient warrants) to order the PD to return all seized items immediately, as well as destroy any copies of data/communications it might have made following the seizure of these devices.

And that brings us to the court itself. The judge who cleared the warrants — Laura Viar — had her own history of DUI arrests, which suggests she might be more sympathetic to an alleged victim of criminal activity who also had her own history of DUI arrests.

To sum up, it’s all pretty much a season of Fargo. It’s corrupt small town politicians supporting corrupt small town business owners, aided and abetted by corrupt law enforcement — all in hopes of silencing the truth-tellers from telling the truth. A wealth of Midwestern accents (and Midwestern morals) are undoubtedly intertwined. And someone has already died, which means the stakes are higher for everyone involved, likely leading to further malfeasance and/or recrimination. For goddamn sure, I’d watch this.

To sum up: the PD’s chief had reasons to silence the newspaper. The business owner had reasons to silence the newspaper. The judge had reasons to silence the newspaper. The prosecutor’s possibly antagonistic relationship with the business owner gave him reasons to silence the newspaper.

That the paper couldn’t be silenced and, instead, enjoyed international support, made this alliance — conspiratorial or not — untenable. Somehow, even though everything was hot and heavy in the international press, local legislators still felt compelled to defend the PD’s indefensible actions.

The city council “addressed” the controversy by reminding attendees — in a red-letter 47-exclamation point(!!!) pre-meeting bulletin — that the most pressing local issue was not going to be on the agenda. The city’s only mayoral candidate offered his half-assed support of local cops, claiming the public should just hang back and wait for law enforcement to clear itself.

While [vice mayor Ruth] Herbel [whose own house was raided] said after the meeting that she agrees that Cody should resign, other City Council members declined to comment. Mike Powers, a retired district court judge who is the only candidate for mayor this fall, said it’s premature to make any judgments.

Oh really? Well, fuck right off, mayoral candidate Mike Powers. There’s plenty to judge right now. And there’s even more reason to do so, considering the town’s top cop has been ejected from his seat of power in light of recent events he’s directly implicated in. And that includes being judged by the guy who actually holds this office: the current mayor of Marion, Kansas.

The Marion, Kansas, police chief was suspended this week following a series of raids that included the office of a local newspaper and the home of the city’s vice mayor.

Marion Mayor David Mayfield suspended Police Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday, according to the Marion County Record, the same newspaper that was raided.

The Marion Police Department confirmed the suspension on Saturday. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Without a doubt, the city will never publicly comment on this… at least not until the KBI investigation is completed and/or all resulting lawsuits are settled. No one can possibly condone these acts. But they can at least pretend to be neutral parties until a judge (probably not the drunk driving one) finds them at least partially culpable for the string of rights violations perpetrated by the Marion PD.

And until they are forced to equivocate, the world will be watching. This was an obvious wrong propelled by powerful self-interests. But the power of the government rarely exceeds the power of the press, no matter how much the government tries.

Filed Under: david mayfield, eric meyer, gideon cody, joan meyer, kansas, kari newell, marion county, marion county pd, ruth herbel
Companies: marion county record

First Lawsuit Filed Over Raid Of Small Town Kansas Newspaper

from the FAFO-theory-being-put-into-practice dept

Shocking the conscience. That’s the legal term for government actions that are so far from acceptable no one, not even cop-friendly courts, can deem them acceptable.

A small Kansas PD — the one presiding over the town of Marion — managed to shock the national conscience by raiding the office of the Marion County Record, along with the local paper’s co-owner’s home. The co-owner, 98-year-old Joan Meyer, died the day after protesting the presence of multiple officers in her home during this string of raids that also swept up the vice-mayor of the town of 1,900.

The alleged criminal acts didn’t seem to be supported by much in the way of probable cause. Someone (apparently the estranged ex-husband) supplied information to the small paper about business owner Kari Newell’s arrest for driving under the influence as well as driving without a license. Newell was currently seeking approval for a liquor license as well as in the midst of a messy divorce.

The newspaper verified the information using an outside source. It informed the police of the information it had been given. And, finally, it chose to spike the story rather than be used as a pawn in divorce proceedings.

For these actions, it was raided by Marion County PD officers. The alleged crimes were identity fraud and an extremely vague “using a computer during a crime” statute. The paper was also investigating the current police chief (Gideon Cody), digging into his past history of misconduct. Whether or not this played a part in the debacle that followed remains to be seen. Added into the mix was the judge herself (Laura Viar), who had her own history of driving drunk and who had decided the probable cause-free affidavit was worthy of her approval.

Whatever the case, it was soon confirmed the paper used a non-state source to verify Newell’s arrest, contrary to the assertions of law enforcement, which had assumed otherwise to support its “identity fraud” claims. Shortly thereafter, the local prosecutor issued a letter withdrawing the warrant for lack of probable cause. The county attorney also asked the court to demand the PD return the seized items, which included computers (and a router) from the deceased Joan Meyer’s home, as well as the newspaper’s server and devices/computers owned/used by the paper’s employees.

More court orders have arrived. The AP reports law enforcement has (finally) been ordered to return seized devices and destroy any copies that may have been made while in its possession.

Kansas authorities must destroy all electronic copies they made of a small newspaper’s files when police raided its office this month, a judge ordered Tuesday, nearly two weeks after computers and cellphones seized in the search were returned.

[…]

The local prosecutor and sheriff agreed investigators shouldn’t keep that evidence, but [Marion County Record attorney Bernie] Rhodes insisted on a court order to document it. It won’t be clear what files were on the drive until Rhodes gets a copy.

That takes care of one part of this mess… at least if you trust the misbehaving police department to actually destroy all the copied data in its possession. It hasn’t exactly been forthcoming or trustworthy to this point, so perhaps it might be advisable for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (which is performing its own investigation of these raids) to follow up on the ordered data destruction.

While the PD has been forced into compliance, the so-called leadership of the town seems to believe it’s the general public that’s to blame for the national disgrace he’s now presiding over.

Marion Mayor David Mayfield says he’s not “sure exactly what they did wrong” when the Marion police department executed search warrants at a newspaper office and two homes for evidence of computer crimes.

And he says if there was a problem with the search warrants, the county attorney or judge should have rejected them beforehand.

“I mean, everybody’s looking at Marion like we’re a bunch of hicks now,” Mayfield told The Eagle recently in his first extensive interview since the raids. “And the police department just did what the judge allowed them to do.”

Whoa. Let’s get a couple of things straight, Mayor Good Faith Exception. Raiding newspaper offices is never a good idea, no matter where it happens, and no matter what paperwork cops might have obtained to “justify” it. This is America, not some tinpot autocracy where raiding the free press is considered to just be a natural part of everyday existence.

Second, no one’s looking at the newspaper or its readers or uninvolved residents like they’re a “bunch of hicks.” But they’re damn sure looking at the PD and idiots offering up ridiculous defenses of these raids as a “bunch of hicks.” There’s a difference. You’re being besmirched. And, given this “defense” of the PD, you deserve it, as do the people you’re defending.

And that finally brings us to the matter mentioned in the headline. The first of what is sure to be many lawsuits has been filed. Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, whose phone was seized during the raid of the paper’s officers, has fired the initial litigation salvo, as Jessica McMaster reports for KSHB.

[Police Chief Gideon] Cody claimed in an affidavit Phyllis Zorn, reporter with Marion County Record, committed identity theft and engaged in illegal acts concerning computers by downloading Newell’s driving record.

[…]

[Newspaper co-owner] Eric Meyer said Gruver had nothing to do with the story on Newell.

Despite that, Gruver’s personal cellphone was taken during the raid.

“Chief Cody first handed Ms. Gruver the Warrant when he arrived, and as she began to read it, she began to access her personal cellular phone – telling Chief Cody that she needed to call Eric Meyer. Chief Cody responded by reaching over the papers and snatching the phone out of her hand.”

Not only did the PD not have the probable cause needed to raid the paper’s offices, Chief Cody definitely didn’t have the probable cause to seize the phone of a reporter uninvolved with the (never-published) story at the center of the case.

However (and this could prove interesting depending on where discovery goes), Gruver was involved in the investigation into Chief Cody’s misconduct history — something that appears to have been dead-ended by the Kansas City PD’s refusal to release Cody’s personnel records.

That fact is noted in her lawsuit [PDF] which makes all the obvious points about this raid, namely that nothing about it (the raid, the seizure of her phone, etc.) was supported by probable cause, something admitted by the prosecutor when spiking the warrant.

It also highlights a number of other interesting facets to this case, which imply there’s a bit of a conspiracy behind the raid of the paper (and two residences) that culminated in this particular seizure of the reporter’s phone and this particular lawsuit. Listed in the allegations: Kari Newell’s attempt to silence reporting about her DUI and lack of valid license, allegations the PD had given Newell a free pass on previous traffic violations, Chief Cody’s personal interactions with Gruver while she investigated his past misconduct, and the fact that the only liquor license controlled by Newell was actually in the name of the wife of the county prosecutor.

Juicy.

We’ll see where this goes but there’s no way it ends well for the Marion County PD. Its warrant has already been rejected by the prosecutor Chief Cody and his officers apparently presumed would wholeheartedly support being cowed into silence with a days-worth of rights violations. What no one appeared to consider is the possibility this might spread beyond the borders of the small town. But it’s made national headlines for several days straight. And that means it’s too big for this small town to ignore.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, david mayfield, eric meyer, gideon cody, joan meyer, journalism, kansas, kari newell, marion county, marion county pd
Companies: marion county record

County Attorney Rejects Warrant Used In Raid Of Small Kansas Newspaper, Asks Court To Force Cops To Return Seized Devices

from the fucking-around,-finding-out dept

Last week, cops in a small Kansas town decided they’d just toss aside the First Amendment and raid a local newspaper.

There were competing narratives. The first was that the paper was in possession of information related to the drunk driving arrest of local business owner Kari Newell, who had allegedly been convicted of DUI and driving without a license.

The thing is the paper never made this information public. Instead, it verified the information handed to it by a source and then contacted the Marion, Kansas police department.

The second narrative appeared during an interview with the surviving co-owner of the paper, Eric Meyer. This one suggested the raid of the paper’s offices and the home of 98-year-old co-owner, Joan Meyer, were prompted by the paper’s ongoing investigation of Marion police chief Gideon Cody’s misconduct history, which allegedly involved sexual misconduct.

I used the word “surviving” for a reason. Joan Meyer died shortly after suffering through the raid of her paper’s office and the raid of her home. During these raids, nearly every electronic device possessed by Meyer and the paper was seized, including the paper’s servers and Joan Meyer’s personal computer and internet router.

According to what little information was available (including a very noncommittal statement by the Marion PD), the supposed crime was identity theft aided and abetted by unauthorized computer access.

But whatever the real reason for this disturbing abuse of government power, it appears to be headed towards a swift denouement. At least some of this accelerated pace can be attributed to the piqued interest of outside government entities, which arrives on the heels of nationwide coverage.

Outrage from Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Marion Record, appears to have reached the KBI [Kansas Bureau Investigation].

On Wednesday, the law enforcement agency announced in conjunction with the Marion County Attorney that the investigation would continue without the examination of any evidence seized during the raid.

That accompanies a letter sent by the paper’s attorney, Bernard Rhodes — a letter that points out the raids violated the First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and state laws that protect journalists and their sources.

All of this has added up to Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey announcing that he has formally withdrawn the warrant and has asked for law enforcement to return everything officers seized.

On Monday, August 14, 2023, I reviewed in detail the warrant application made on 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 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 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.

The matter remains under review until such time as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the agency now in charge of the investigation, may submit any findings to the 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 an offense.

Some good things there. The call for the release of the documents. The call for the release of the seized electronics (albeit on that doesn’t appear to demand law enforcement destroy any copies of data investigators may have made). And the correct call on the incident in question: it appears unlawful, even if the county attorney (for reasons related to his continued employment) isn’t willing (yet) to go on record as calling “unlawful.”

There are some bad things, too. It seems unlikely the KBI will uncover evidence of criminal activity by newspaper staff. But it does allow another law enforcement agency to root around in seized data and try to find some connection between the charge leading to these rights violations, in hopes of turning them into something resembling probable cause.

The county attorney has asked law enforcement to release everything seized. But it’s only a request. That the Marion PD has yet to publicly state it will release the seized devices suggests it’s not nearly as willing to admit it’s in the wrong. Nor is it as willing to make things rights. And that’s going to end up costing county residents their tax dollars, which will be added to the tab already rung up by local cops — one that now includes shattered trust and an extremely damaged relationship with the town it serves.

Filed Under: 1st amendment, eric meyer, free press, gideon cody, intimidation, joan meyer, joel ensey, journalism, kansas, kbi, marion county, police raid, raid, warrant
Companies: marion county record