Kansas newspaper owner calls out ‘suspicious’ timing of raid, as search warrant suddenly withdrawn
The search warrant that prompted the raid at a small-town Kansas newspaper was suddenly withdrawn Wednesday — as the paper’s owner pointed to the “suspicious” timing of other court filings in the stunning First Amendment case.
Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey yanked the warrant from last Friday’s unprecedented search by local cops of the Marion County Record, KSHB 41 reported Wednesday.
There wasn’t enough evidence linking identity theft charges alleged by cops to the computers that were seized from the paper.
“Insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between the alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized,” Ensey said in a statement Wednesday. “As a result, I have submitted a proposed order asking the court to release the evidence seized.”
Bernie Rhodes, the lawyer representing the paper, said all items that were taken during raid have been returned and that a forensics team will review those things.
“This is significant progress,” Rhodes told The Daily Beast.
“Nothing, however, will satisfy the damage this incident has done to the newspaper, and this step does not bring Joan Meyer back,” he said — referencing the paper’s 98-year-old co-owner, who died shortly after the raid.
The news comes as Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Record, said his team got hold of the probable cause affidavit allegedly justifying the surprise search — only to find something amiss.
“It was filed three days after those searches were conducted, which is a little suspicious,” Meyer told CNN Wednesday morning.
Meyer, whose 98-year-old mother died the day after their home was raided due to “shock and grief,” demanded answers over the apparent incongruity, which shows a search warrant was granted days before any justification was ever formally filed.
Police were previously seen in footage laughing and cracking jokes as they hauled away the newspaper’s computer towers, according to The Daily Beast.
Despite the raid, staffers “worked throughout the night to get the paper out this morning” with limited equipment, Rhodes said Wednesday.
The police department did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment regarding the affidavit and search warrant.
The Marion County Record made big-time headlines after Police Chief Gideon Cody and every cop from the department stormed its newsroom Friday.
The raid came amid the paper’s investigation into allegations that Cody, 54, had retired from his last police job to avoid demotion over sexual misconduct.
Meyer also chalked up the police’s actions to “long-standing animosities” between different parties in the town, including the newspaper, the vice mayor and restaurateur Kari Newell.
An unknown party had leaked documents to the paper and Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel showing that Newell had a DUI on her record and was driving without a license, which would have made it illegal for her to have a liquor license.
The Marion County Record never published the story, instead alerting police and suggesting a bad-faith actor related to her ex-husband was involved in the leak.
Meyer said that despite the paper being open to cooperating with the cops, the police never reached out or asked for the document.
Instead, the police relayed the info to Newell, who accused the paper of illegally obtaining her DUI records, while admitting that she had a drunk driving record.
Meyer told CNN that Newell never actually wanted the paper to get raided, but for police to go after Herbel, whose home was also searched last Friday.
The Record publisher also laughed at officers for their alleged ineptitude as they seized documents and computers from reporters, but failed to obtain the actual document relating to Newell, which was out in the open.
“It was sitting on my desk next to the computer they seized. They didn’t take it,” he chuckled.
Meyer added that questions still linger over the police’s actions, and the paper has filed a lawsuit against the city.
Meyer said the paper never acted on the claims about Cody as his reporters couldn’t verify the information, but the allegations — as well as the identities of the people who made them — were contained on one of the computers seized during the raid.
“It’s just speculation, oddities about what’s going on here,” Meyer said of the theory that his paper was raided over the investigation.
The Marion Police Department has repeatedly defended its actions, adding that an investigation was opened after one of the Record’s reporters, Deb Gruver, had injured her finger when the chief seized her cellphone.
“I believe when the rest of the story is available to the public, the judicial system that is being questioned will be vindicated,” Cody said in a statement.
The Marion County Record is published weekly and has served Marion County since 1869. The county has a population of 11,712.
