Kansas prosecutor says police should return computers and cellphones seized in raid on newspaper
CTV
A police raid that drew national attention to a small Kansas newspaper over threats to press freedoms wasn't supported by evidence, a prosecutor said Wednesday, as the paper's staff scrambled to print its first edition since their cellphones and computers were seized.
A police raid that drew national attention to a small Kansas newspaper over threats to press freedoms wasn't supported by evidence, a prosecutor said Wednesday, as the paper's staff scrambled to print its first edition since their cellphones and computers were seized.
Forced to rewrite wholescale stories and ads from scratch, the four-person newsroom toiled overnight to print Wednesday's edition, with a defiant front-page headline that read: "SEIZED but not silenced." Under the 2-inch-tall typeface, they published stories on the raid and the influx of support the weekly newspaper has since received.
On Wednesday, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said his review of police seizures from the Marion County Record offices found "insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized."
"As a result, I have submitted a proposed order asking the court to release the evidence seized. I have asked local law enforcement to return the material seized to the owners of the property," Ensey said in a news release.
Last week, a police raid of the newspaper's offices, and the home of its editor and publisher, foisted the town into the center of a national debate about press freedom, with watchdog groups condemning the department's actions. Eric Meyer, the publisher, believes the raid was carried out because the newspaper was investigating why the police chief left his previous post as an officer in Kansas City, Missouri.
Police Chief Gideon Cody left the Missouri department earlier this year and began the job in Marion in June. He has not responded to interview requests.
Asked if the newspaper's investigation of Cody may have had anything to do with the decision to raid it, Bernie Rhodes, the newspaper's attorney, responded: "I think it is a remarkable coincidence if it didn't."
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