Raided Kansas newspaper’s computers are returned after prosecutor tosses warrants
Devices seized during last week’s raid on a Kansas newspaper were handed over to a forensic examiner hired by the paper’s lawyer on Wednesday after prosecutors withdrew the search warrant.
The expert, Jack Nevins, who is based in the Kansas City region, arrived at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office shortly before 3 p.m., a few hours after the county prosecutor concluded there was “insufficient evidence” for the raid at the family-owned Marion County Record.
Undersheriff Larry Starkey directed Nevins to the back of the department’s building, where he was led through two doors and into a small storage room. Starkey unlocked a locker where five computers were stacked.
Starkey and Nevins reviewed inventory paperwork as Sheriff Jeff Soyez looked on. The computers were transferred to Nevins’ vehicle along with other electronics stored in plastic evidence bags.
The forensics expert was hired by the paper’s attorney, Bernie Rhodes, who also represents The Star. The Record’s publisher, Eric Meyer, said Nevins will analyze the items to make sure they had not been looked at before they are returned to the newspaper.
“You cannot let bullies win,” Meyer said.
Emporia resident Mic McGuire was among the many people following stories about the raid. Saddened by the police action, he drove to Marion on Wednesday.
“I am glad that it is now being looked into more deeply,” he said. “Because I believe in freedom of the press, I believe that our democracy counts on that.”
McGuire decided to buy an annual subscription to the paper as a way to support local news. At the newspaper, he shook hands with staff members.
The newspaper has been inundated with calls for the past five days with 2,000 additional subscribers. Community members have also stopped by to purchase a copy or even multiple copies of Wednesday’s issue, which read “SEIZED... but not silenced” on its front page.
Meyer said the outpouring of support has been amazing.
“This is an issue that transcends,” he said. “I think that’s good, it says the American system exists and some people still have faith in it and want to protect it.”
When officers raided the newsroom Friday, they appeared to have been 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.
In addition to the Record’s newsroom, the police also executed search warrants at Meyer’s home and the home of Ruth Herbel, a Marion city councilwoman. Meyer’s mother and the paper’s co-owner, Joan Meyer, died the next day at age 98.
On Wednesday, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said he concluded that “insufficient evidence” existed to establish a “legally sufficient nexus” between the alleged crime and the newsroom search.
Raids at newsrooms are exceedingly rare in America. The decision to execute a search warrant there unleashed a firestorm from free press advocates who said the raid violated state and federal laws.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which took over the case earlier this week, said the investigation remains open. But the probe will proceed “without review or examination of any” of the evidence seized Friday.
Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, appointed in May to lead the town’s force after 24 years with the Kansas City Police Department, has defended sending his five officers to seize journalists’ cellphones, computers and materials.
Cody could not be reached for comment. He did not respond to a call or email and was not at the police department off Main Street when a reporter from The Star went by on Wednesday afternoon.
The Star’s Luke Nozicka and Jonathan Shorman contributed to this report.
