Last year, Kansas police broke in in the offices of a small local newspaper, seizing computers, the newspaper’s file servers and even personal cell phones. The police also raided the home of the newspaper’s owners, Eric and Joan Meyer.
On Monday, one of the newspaper’s owners filed a lawsuit against police, claiming that the raids clearly violated the First and Fourth Amendments and directly led to the stress-induced death of the paper’s 98-year-old co-owner.
“There was no probable cause, or even arguable probable cause, to issue the search warrants for the Marion County Register newsroom and the home of Joan and Eric Meyer,” the lawsuit reads. “And no reasonable police officer could have believed that there was probable cause to issue the search warrants.”
On August 11, 2023, police in Marion, Kansas, a town of fewer than 2,000 people, raided the offices Marion County Register. According to the complaint, police seized computers and other property from offices and forced staff to stay outside during the raid, even as temperatures approached 40 degrees. Officers attempted to question newspaper staff, but body camera footage shows they had difficulty remembering what happened Miranda warning.
After searching the Documentation‘, the police went to the home of Eric and Joan Meyer, the owners of the newspaper. Eric, co-owner of the newspaper with his mother, Joan, 98, opposed the search. When Eric attempted to call his lawyer on his cell phone, the police demanded that Eric hand over the phone.
In the body camera footage, Eric claims that the search is retaliation by the sheriff, Gideon Cody. “You will get a false search complaint. Do you understand that?” He said. “Do you understand that Officer Cody, who filled out this form? we have a lot of damaging information about him that we haven’t released. He is aware of this and this is retaliation on the part of Chief Cody… it is impermissible to seize electronic devices about a journalist being a journalist. That’s what it’s about.”
The police remained at the Meyers’ home for several hours, during which Joan Meyer became increasingly upset. “I may be ninety-odd years old, but I know what’s going on. And what’s going on is damn illegal,” she said. “You know, if I have a heart attack and die, it will be all your fault.”
Joan died the next day of 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 dates back to a dispute between the newspaper and 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 accident and that law enforcement knew Newell was driving without a valid license but continued to let her. While the Documentation decided not to publish this information, Eric notified law enforcement of the allegations.
The situation came to a head when Newell accused the newspaper during a public meeting of having illegally obtained information about her. THE Documentation published an article about the incident after the meeting. Four days later, the police raided Documentationand the Meyer house.
According to the lawsuit, Cody, as well as city mayor David Mayfield, were looking for a reason to crack down on the newspaper. “Mayor Mayfield had promised to ‘silence the MCR,’ and Chief Cody had offered to fund a competing newspaper in an effort to silence the Documentation ceased operations,” the complaint reads.
Although the lawsuit alleges clear misconduct by Marion police, it’s unclear whether Meyer has any chance of seeing compensation for the illegal raids, given that police are generally protected from civil lawsuits like these thanks to a broad qualified immunity.
“Chief Cody’s actions in requesting search warrants for… DocumentationMeyer’s editorial team, in making false statements in requests for search warrants, as well as its actions in executing the illegal search warrants, were motivated by its desire to seek revenge against the Documentation and its owners,” the complaint adds. “The defendants acted in a malicious and wanton manner in violation of the First Amendment rights of Marion County Register and Joan and Eric Meyer.”