On August 11, local police in Marion County seized property belonging to the local newspaper on suspicion that the location was the site of a computer crime. A judge signed off on the warrant, but it was later determined that there was insufficient evidence for the raid.
There’s now an effort between law enforcement and the paper’s legal team to re-possess the items law enforcement took. The matter is now under review by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Yet, the judge involved in this fiasco also has a checkered past. We’ll get into that in a second, but first, let’s go through the raid.
It wasn’t just the headquarters for the Marion County Record that was raided—the publisher's home was included in the search. The latter part is contentious since the publisher’s elderly mother died last weekend. The publisher, Eric Meyer, blamed the stress of the raid and police taking computers and other electronic devices as the reason (via NBC News):
Police had "insufficient evidence" to raid the offices of a small Kansas newspaper — and the seized property should be returned immediately, officials said Wednesday.
Officers raided the Marion County Record in Marion on Friday, the newspaper said, in a case that infuriated press freedom watchdogs, who claimed that the law enforcement action was a blatant violation of constitutional rights.
Police said they believed an "employee of the newspaper may have committed" a computer-based crime, Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said.
[…]
A lawyer for the newspaper said he was working quickly to get the seized items back.
"Yes, I can confirm the county attorney has withdrawn the search warrant and the items seized are being released," attorney Bernie Rhodes said. "My forensic expert is en route to Marion to retrieve them."
[…]
Friday's search at the Record coincided with a raid at the home of publisher and co-owner Eric Meyer, who said computers, his cellphone and the home’s internet router were taken.
His 98-year-old mother — Record co-owner Joan Meyer, who lived in the home with him — collapsed and died Saturday, said Meyer, who blamed her death on the stress of the raid of her home.
And the judge who signed off on the raids has a history of DUI arrests (via KWCH):
Days after law enforcement raided the Marion County Record, 12 News learned that the judge who signed off on the warrant has a criminal history.
Eighth Judicial District Magistrate Judge Laura Viar has two DUI arrests on her record. Both incidents happened in 2012 in Morris and Coffey counties. Viar, who went by Laura Allen at the time, was put on diversion for an arrest in Coffey County. Seven months later, she was arrested again for a DUI in Morris County while she was the county attorney. Viar (Allen) was not supposed to be driving since her license had been suspended for the first arrest.
According to a 2012 story published by WIBW, Viar (Allen) drove off the road and crashed into a school building while driving a then-8th district magistrate judge’s vehicle.
The warrant Viar signed off on for the Marion Police Department focused on a claim by a local business owner that the Marion County Record obtained personal information about her illegally and gave it to the vice mayor.
Local news stories, man. They can be entertaining.
