Last year, Kansas police raided the offices of a small local newspaper, seizing computers, the newspaper’s file server, and even personal cellphones. Police also raided the home of the newspaper’s owners, Eric and Joan Meyer.
On Monday, one of the paper’s owners filed a lawsuit against the police, arguing that the raids clearly violated the First and Fourth Amendments—and even led directly to the stress-induced death of the paper’s 98-year-old co-owner.
“No probable cause, nor even arguable probable cause, existed to issue the search warrants for the Marion County Record newsroom and the home of Joan and Eric Meyer,” the lawsuit reads. “And no reasonable police officer could have believed there was probable cause to issue the search warrants.”
On August 11th, 2023, police in Marion, Kansas—a small town of less than 2,000 people—raided the offices of the Marion County Record. According to the complaint, police seized computers and other property from the offices, and forced staff to stand outside during the raid, even as the temperature neared 100 degrees. Officers attempted to question newspaper staff, but body camera footage shows them struggling to remember the Miranda warning.
After searching the Record‘s offices, police went to the home of Eric and Joan Meyer, the paper’s owners. Eric, who co-owned the paper with his mother, 98-year-old Joan, objected to the search. When Eric attempted to call his attorney on his cell phone, police demanded Eric hand over his phone.
In body camera footage, Eric claims that the search is retaliation by the Sheriff, Gideon Cody. “You’re going to get a suit back against false search. You understand that?” he said. “Do you understand that Officer Cody, who filled this out; we have a whole bunch of damaging information about him we have not published. He is aware of this and this is retaliation by Chief Cody…it is impermissible to seize the electronic devices of a journalist doing work as a journalist. That’s what this is about.”
Police stayed at the Meyer’s home for several hours, during which Joan Meyer became increasingly upset. “I may be ninety-some years old, but I know what’s going on. And what’s going on is illegal as hell,” she said. “You know, if I have a heart attack and die, it’s going to be all your fault.”
Joan died the next day from a cardiac arrest due to “the stress of the illegal raid,” according to the complaint.
Why did the police conduct this raid? The answer is complex and goes back to a dispute between the paper and a local restaurant owner, Kari Newell. According to the complaint, the Recorder received an anonymous tip alleging that Newell had been involved in a drunk driving incident, and that law enforcement knew Newell was driving without a valid license, yet continued to let her do so. While the Record decided not to publish this information, Eric did inform law enforcement about the allegations.
The situation came to a head when Newell accused the paper during a public meeting of illegally obtaining information about her. The Record ran an article about the incident after the meeting. Four days later, police raided the Record‘s offices, and the Meyers’ home.
According to the suit, Cody, as well as the town’s mayor David Mayfield, had been looking for a reason to crack down on the paper. “Mayor Mayfield had vowed to “silence the MCR” and Chief Cody had offered to fund a competing newspaper in an effort to put the Record out of business,” the suit states.
While the suit alleges obvious misconduct on the part of Marion police, it’s unclear whether Meyer has any chance of seeing compensation for the illegal raids—as police are generally protected from civil suits like these due to wide-ranging qualified immunity.
“Chief Cody’s actions in seeking the search warrants for the Record‘s newsroom and the Meyer home, in making false statements in the applications for the search warrants, as well as his actions in executing the illegal search warrants, were motivated by his desire to seek retribution against the Record and its owners,” the complaint adds. “Defendants acted maliciously and wantonly in violating the First Amendment rights of the Marion County Record and Joan and Eric Meyer.”
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