In a surprising turn of events, authorities have withdrawn a search warrant after a controversial raid on a Kansas newspaper office, according to statements from the newspaper's legal representatives. The incident has sparked nationwide outrage and concern about press freedom and the limits of law enforcement power.
The Marion County Record, a local newspaper in Marion County, located between Topeka and Wichita, found itself at the center of a legal storm and national media attention after the entire Marion Police Department executed a search warrant at its office last week. The county's top prosecutor announced Wednesday that officers must return the seized equipment.
Per the Daily Beast: “Police officers had been seen on video laughing and making jokes as they took away the local newspaper's computer towers.” Cellphones and reporting materials were also seized by officers from the newspaper's office and the home of the paper's publisher and his 98-year-old mother who “died the following day of ‘shock and grief,' from the raid, according to the New York Post.
The warrant was allegedly served in relation to an ongoing investigation conducted by the newspaper into the local police chief Gideon Cody who arrived in Marion County after leaving the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department under a cloud of suspicion.
Chief Cody's raid came amid the newspaper's investigation into claims by anonymous sources who said the police chief was guilty of sexual misconduct in his previous role. The paper had still been unable to access his personnel file.
However, the police chief wasn't the only local official the paper was digging into.
The Kansas Reflector also reported last week that the publication was examining claims of a local business owner possessing a liquor license despite having been cited for a DUI, which would have prevented her from having a liquor license.
The journalism school at the University of Kansas released a statement on the raid earlier this week, harkening back to its namesake, William Allen White – who once wrote for another small-town newspaper in the Sunflower State – and the importance of press freedoms.
It is highly unusual for law enforcement to seize material that are essential for investigative reporting.
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Wow….. do I smell a huge law suit and big trouble for this crooked Police Chief. Maybe even prison time for illegal use of authority. What took place is probably considered a form of “extortion” by a law enforcement official and his underlings. Funny that the people that took part in the raid didn’t have the intelligence to ask “why”.
For the past 20 years or more Leftist teachers and leftist school administrations and leftist school boards have gotten away with not teaching the Constitution, Declaration of independence and even the Bill of rights. Police forces today have a majority of employees who went through high school over the last 20 years who don’t have a clue about what is against the Constitution.
So that is why the corrupt police chief can order illegal search and seizure and his officers don’t know any better. It’s why Leftist Mayors allow Antifa Riots and Damage and the Police don’t arrest the Mayor for aiding and abetting Criminal conduct. Law enforcement know less today about the Constitution than they did 30 years ago.
Very true, the constitution is the last thing a cop worries about, they are mere attack dogs for whoever signs their paycheck! Even the courts have ruled that the polices job is not to protect and serve the citizen, and it is defiantly legal for the police to lie like cheap Persian rugs!
Raid for censorship
So who is going to jail here? Who is going to be sued for violation of Constitutional rights? Who will be sued for Wrongful Death? It seems that the Sherriff, the Police Chief, every officer and deputy participating, the Mayor and the City Council (or whatever the governing body is called) should all be civilly sued, if not criminally, or both. The Mayor/Council are complicit for hiring the Chief, obviously not doing due diligence about who they hired, not caring who they hired, or both.
Jobs need to be lost, money paid out, by those involved in this and hopefully jail time served for this travesty.
True, but who signed their warrant? All too often the people let the black robed gang off Scot free. The Stasi can always find a judge to accept the bribe.
“It is highly unusual for law enforcement to seize material that are essential for investigative reporting.”
Not in the world of Democrats, I’m afraid. And since the police chief came from KCMO under a cloud of suspicion………….. Well, it doesn’t take much of a genius to figure that one out.
Crooked cops are among the very WORST things on this planet!