The Marion County Record, the small-town Kansas newspaper raided by the local police department last Friday, had reportedly been investigating sexual misconduct allegations against the chief.
Last week, First Amendment rights advocates were alarmed upon learning that the Marion, Kansas, police department had raided the local newspaper’s offices, confiscating computers, cell phones, hard drives, and a whole host of materials. Officers also seized materials from the home of journalist Eric Meyer, publisher and co-owner of the newspaper. Meyer claimed that his 98-year-old mother passed away one day after the raid on his house due to the stress of the situation.
“The U.S. Supreme Court, over the years, has said that people in authority — government officials — have to suffer a free press,” said Sandy Banisky, a lawyer who taught media law at the University of Maryland’s journalism school. “Incidents like this have to be examined and exposed thoroughly to be sure that the kind of raid that happened in Marion, Kansas doesn’t happen around the country.”
In the months leading up to the raid, the newspaper had been running a background check on the incoming Police Chief Gideon Cody. After publishing a story about his candidacy for police chief in the 2,000-resident town, the Marion County Record reportedly received a flood of tips about Cody’s tenure before retiring from the Kansas City Police Department.