‘Duty to democracy’: Kansas newspaper files lawsuit after police raided the newsroom
The owner of a Kansas newspaper outlines a litany of violations in a 100-plus page federal lawsuit claiming a police raid at the newsroom was an “intolerable violation of their constitutional rights.”
It’s the fourth legal action taken in the wake of the Aug. 11 raid at The Marion County Record, which drew condemnation from around the world.
Police also executed search warrants at the home of Joan Meyer and her son Eric Meyer, who own the newspaper, and former City Councilwoman Ruth Herbel.
The suit was brought “to deter the next crazed cop from threatening democracy the way Chief (Gideon) Cody did when he hauled away the newspaper’s computers and its reporters’ cellphones in an ill-fated attempt to silence the press.”
The Record had been investigating Cody’s previous tenure with the Kansas City Police Department. He resigned from the agency while under investigation for allegedly making sexist comments to a female officer.
Cody, the City of Marion, former Mayor David Mayfield, acting Police Chief Zach Hudlin, the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Marion, Sheriff Jeff Soyez and detective Aaron Christner are listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The raids were carried out under the pretense that a reporter had illegally obtained information about the DUI conviction of local restaurateur Kari Newell. That information was later confirmed by the Kansas Department of Revenue to be open to the public.
According to Eric Meyer, the raid was also conducted “to settle personal scores.” The newspaper had a turbulent relationship with Cody as well as Mayfield and Soyez, he said.
In a statement Meyer said, “the true plaintiff is American democracy.”
“The last thing we want is to bankrupt the city or county, but we have a duty to democracy and to countless news organizations and citizens nationwide to challenge such malicious and wanton violations of the First and Fourth Amendments and federal laws limiting newsroom searches.”
The 127-page lawsuit was filed by attorney Bernie Rhodes, who has represented The Star in past litigation.
Rhodes said he expected additional claims, including wrongful death, to be added to the lawsuit.
During the raid, Joan Meyer told the police officers at her home, “What’s going on is illegal as hell.”
She also told them, “Boy, are you going to be in trouble.”
The 98-year-old died the next day after suffering a heart attack.
“My job is to make sure Joan’s promise is kept,” Rhodes said.
The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in damages. Eric Meyer said any punitive damages will be donated to community projects and causes that support freedom.
‘Sham search’
In early August, Eric Meyer notified police that he was concerned information reporter Phyllis Zorn had received from a source about Newell’s DUI conviction had been obtained illegally. He also wanted to know why authorities allowed Newell to drive even though she did not have a valid license.
Cody told Newell that a reporter had stolen her identity in order to access her driver’s license record, the lawsuit said.
Police began investigating The Record. Christner drafted the search warrant application for the newsroom and Cody submitted it to Judge Laura Viar. The documents contained false statements, the lawsuit said, about the Kansas Driver’s License Status Check tool, which is a public website.
“Had Chief Cody been truthful, the affidavits would have failed to state even arguable probable cause,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also said Soyez reminded Cody that Eric Meyer worked from home and a search warrant for the residence was added.
During the raid, the lawsuit alleges Cody yanked a reporter’s cellphone from her hand, injuring her. The officers were also supposed to conduct a “preview search” on electronic devices to identify information related to the alleged identity theft.
But the lawsuit alleges officers conducted a “sham search” with overly broad keyword searches that turned up irrelevant hits, including information about a haunted hotel in Arkansas and a drive-in showing of the movie “Finding Dory.” The officers then abandoned the preview searches because they were taking too long.
During the search, Cody called Soyez and is heard saying, “Alright, we’ll just take them all.”
According to the lawsuit, police seized cellphones from reporters even though preview searches were not carried out.
Also during the search, Hudlin located a file in a reporter’s desk and alerted Cody.
On a body camera recording, Cody said, “Hmm ... keeping a personal file on me.”
Later, the lawsuit said, Cody could not recall the wording when he attempted to give Zorn her Miranda warning.
During the search at the Meyers’ home, Joan Meyers was visibly upset and told officers, “If I have a heart attack and die, it’s going to be your fault.”
Hudlin thought about arresting her for interference, but didn’t.
The lawsuit also said Cody and Christner drafted probable cause affidavits to arrest Eric Meyer, Zorn and Herbel four days after the raid.
The search warrants were withdrawn the next day by the county attorney.
The lawsuit goes on to allege that Cody asked Newell to delete text messages with him.
“If attorneys or kbi go digging and see I deleted the texts as you asked me to, will I get in trouble?” the lawsuit said Newell asked Cody.
The lawsuit lists violations against the First and Fourth Amendments in addition to the Privacy Protection Act, which protects reporters’ materials from seizure; the Kansas Open Records Act; and alleges the city and county failed to train, supervise and have proper policies.
Cody resigned in October. Hudlin was then named interim police chief.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation launched an investigation. Documents showed that the KBI had knowledge of Cody’s investigation of The Record prior to the search warrants. The investigation was later handed over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
Two of The Record’s reporters and the paper’s office manager have also filed lawsuits.