A local news story out of Marion County, Kansas is rapidly going national because of its potential implications for the First Amendment and freedom of the press, along with the puzzling details that set the events in question in motion. The office of the local newspaper, the Marion Country Record was raided by the police on Friday, along with the home of the publisher, Eric Meyer. Computer equipment, cell phones, and boxes of records were seized. One reporter’s hand was injured by a police officer. Mayer’s nearly 100-year-old wife was so distraught by the events that she could neither eat nor sleep and she died yesterday, despite being reportedly “in otherwise good health for her age.” The police claim they were justified in taking these actions, but outraged free speech advocates are demanding answers.  (Fox News)

Kansas police raided a local newspaper’s newsroom and its publisher’s home on Friday and seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials in what critics are calling a violation of the Freedom of the Press.

Marion Police removed the Marion County Record’s computer file server, other computers, personal cell phones and other equipment, the outlet reported. Officers injured a reporter and the newspaper’s nearly 100-year-old co-owner died a day after the search.

A search warrant signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar claimed probable cause over alleged violations related to identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers, according to the Kansas Reflector.

The person who appears to have set all of this in motion was a restaurant owner named Kari Newell. During a City Council meeting on Monday, she accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining information about her from somewhere and planning to publish a story about her. There were allegations that she had lost her license after being convicted of drunk driving but continued to drive without a license. She complained to the police who went and somehow obtained a warrant and conducted the raid.

The paper’s editor said that they initially learned of the story through a tip and began investigating. It’s been claimed that the tip came from Newell’s estranged husband and the couple is currently going through divorce proceedings. But why would the paper need to illegally access records of a DUI bust? Those should have already been in the public record. And how would “identity theft and unlawful acts concerning computers” come into the picture? This makes no sense whatsoever.

Further, the information about the loss of Newell’s license and her decision to keep driving was already publicly available. How? She posted it on Facebook.

Perhaps there is more to this story that we’ll learn later, but I’m having a difficult time imagining what sort of hidden details might justify a raid like this. It sounds to me like the restaurant owner is locally popular and had some contacts or friends on the police force. She didn’t want the embarrassing story coming out so she convinced the cops to go after the newspaper and a willing local judge went along with the plan.

Journalists are not completely immune from law enforcement action, but the police are generally expected to issue subpoenas rather than search warrants. There can obviously be exceptions if the journalists are legitimately suspected of being engaged in violent crimes or placing people in danger. But “computer crimes” hardly seem to rise to that level of a direct threat, even assuming that such crimes took place. (Which just seems unlikely.)

I fully admit that the media is frequently disappointing these days. I’ve experienced times when I would have loved to go crashing into the newsroom of the New York Times and grab an editor by the lapels and shake them while screaming at them to quit lying and covering for the Bidens. But I’d never actually do it. The Founders set up a system where journalists are expected to be free to report the news without interference – particularly from the government – no matter how well or how poorly they are doing their jobs. That’s how the system is supposed to work. This incident is outrageous, and it sounds as if the police and that judge are the ones who need to be held accountable, not the editor of the paper.