A county in Kansas has agreed to pay greater than $3 million and apologize for a 2023 raid on a small-town newspaper.
Monday’s settlement stems from the August 2023 search of the Marion County Record, in addition to the residence of the paper’s writer and a councilwoman, seizing reporters’ cell phones and computers, amongst different gadgets. The raid triggered widespread condemnation from information organizations and press freedom advocates.
Marion Police Department Chief Gideon Cody at the time recommended the raids have been based mostly on the perception that a reporter unlawfully obtained the driving information of a native restaurant proprietor earlier than the newspaper revealed a story about her, in accordance with unredacted affidavits obtained by NCS.
The chief later resigned and was charged with interfering with the judicial course of for actions he took after the raid.
Marion County was amongst a number of defendants in 5 federal lawsuits that have been filed by the firm that publishes the newspaper; the newspaper’s editor and writer, Eric Meyer; the property of Joan Meyer, his late mom who was the paper’s co-owner; workers of the newspaper; and the councilmember, the Associated Press reported.
The greenback quantity that was rewarded is symbolic, Eric Meyer instructed NCS Tuesday. What was extra necessary, he mentioned, was the apology that was a part of the negotiations.
“The important thing, and what we held out for, is that there was an admission that wrong was done,” Meyer mentioned. “The county itself didn’t specifically say it did wrongdoing, but it said it was wrong to have done the raids, and it apologized, and that was more important than the money.”
The newspaper lawyer’s Bernie Rhodes mentioned the lawsuit was not about cash. “This was about an amount of money that would deter the next crazed cop who thought it would be a good idea to raid a newsroom.”
The writer’s 98-year-old mom, who was the co-owner of the Marion County Record, died a day after police raided the residence she shared along with her son. Eric Meyer mentioned he believes stress from the raid contributed to her dying.
“The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record. This likely would not have happened if established law had been reviewed and applied prior to the execution of the warrants,” the assertion from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office reads, in accordance with the settlement.
NCS has reached out to the county lawyer and the sheriff’s workplace for remark.
A lawsuit in opposition to the metropolis of Marion continues to be pending, Meyer mentioned. Rhodes mentioned he expects that swimsuit to go to trial.
“The most important consequence was that, you know, if you act like a bully, you try to weaponize the criminal justice system against the press, there’s going to be a price to pay, and that price is now measured in millions,” Meyer mentioned. “This is just the first shoe of two shoes to fall. This is the county portion of it. The city was the main instigator of this raid.”
Meyer famous that press freedoms are nonetheless beneath assault throughout the nation and extra must be executed to cease incidents like this from taking place elsewhere.
“This is kind of a part of the system these days where the Justice Department is weaponized against political enemies, where laws are stretched to their breaking point, where … if you want to enforce some law, you can go out and do whatever you want unless somebody challenges it in court. Well, guess what? Somebody did challenge it in court, and we won,” Meyer mentioned.
The settlement means Joan Meyer’s dying was not in useless, Rhodes mentioned.
“Her death prompted this rallying cry by press organizations across the world, not just the United States, but across the world, that it’s time to stand up to these bullying techniques,” the lawyer mentioned.