Kobach defends KBI director’s comments on newspaper raid as search warrant withdrawn

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach on Wednesday defended comments made by the director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation about the criminal investigation that led to a raid on a local newspaper in Marion and emphasized the state agency wasn’t involved in the search.

The Republican state attorney general oversees the KBI, which on Monday took the lead in the investigation after Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, a former longtime Kansas City police officer, led a search Friday of the newsroom of the Marion County Record along with the home of the owner and publisher.

Officers appeared to be looking for evidence about how the paper obtained information that a local restaurateur, who applied for a liquor license, lost her driver’s license over a DUI in 2008.

Over the weekend, KBI Director Tony Mattivi while expressing support for freedom of the press, said the media isn’t “above the law” – a remark that drew rebuke from press advocates because the Record has maintained that the searches were illegal and unconstitutional. Kobach in January appointed Mattivi, a former federal prosecutor, to lead the KBI.

“He was saying what I think is always the case, we must always respect the Fourth Amendment and First Amendment rights of all Kansas citizens and we also, everybody in Kansas has an interest in enforcing our laws,” Kobach told reporters in Topeka after an unrelated court hearing.

“I don’t think that he was suggesting that his position or view was that laws had been broken or taking a position in the case itself. I think he was just stating the two competing interests that are always involved.”

Kobach said the KBI was asked by local officials to join in the investigation and agreed to assist, in part because the investigation involves allegations of improper access of information in the Kansas Criminal Justice Information System.

“The KBI was not, of course, involved in these searches and was not notified of the searches prior to their taking place,” Kobach said.

Kobach’s comments came just before Bernie Rhodes, an attorney representing the Record, said law enforcement had withdrawn the search warrant and was in the process of returning computers and other devices that had been seized. The KBI confirmed the property was being returned.

Kobach said Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey may make an announcement later Wednesday regarding the case. A message left for Ensey at his office wasn’t immediately returned, but Ensey said in a news release that he had found “insufficient evidence to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the items seized.”