Sherman Smith
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The lawsuit claims that the Marion mayor, police chief and other local officials violated the First Amendment freedom of the press, the Fourth Amendment prohibition on warrantless searches, and federal and state laws that protect journalists and their sources from police raids.
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The Biden-bashing antics were part of a Kansas GOP event in Johnson County, where rocker Ted Nugent and disgraced former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline were the main attractions. Kansas GOP chairman Mike Brown, an election denier, touted the fundraiser for weeks in official GOP emails.
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Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe declined to file criminal charges against the Overland Park Police officer who killed 17-year-old John Albers in 2018. But police dash video contradicted Howe’s account of what happened in the shooting.
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By expanding Medicaid, something that Kansas Republicans have blocked for years, an estimated 150,000 Kansans with low incomes would gain access to medical care. Kelly's proposal would include work requirements for recipients, and restricts when abortions can be covered.
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The Marion County Record search warrant signed by Kansas magistrate Laura Viar appeared to violate federal law protecting journalists from police raids. The Kansas Commission on Judicial Conduct did issue Viars "informal advice" to research appropriate federal and state laws before approving warrants.
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Documents show that multiple Kansas officials offered unquestioning support of the Marion County Police before their unlawful raid of a newspaper, and then attempted to sidestep the international outrage that followed.
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The August 11 raid was ostensibly undertaken under the pretense that a reporter committed identity theft by accessing public records on a public website. A new lawsuit from veteran journalist Deb Gruver contends that the Marion Police Chief's real motivation was to punish the newspaper for its investigations.
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The lawyer who represents the Marion County Record accused Marion County Police of copying data from the newspaper onto an external hard drive and failing to give it back. The sheriff's office agreed Thursday to destroy the data.
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Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody initiated the Aug. 11 raid of the newspaper office, the publisher’s home, and the home of a city councilwoman under the pretense that a reporter committed identity theft by looking at public records. First Amendment attorneys say the reporter committed no crime and Magistrate Judge Laura Viar should have known the search warrants were unconstitutional when she signed them.
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Officers also raided the home of Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer, who lived with his 98-year-old mother, Joan, The newspaper reported that Joan Meyer, “stressed beyond her limits and overwhelmed by hours of shock and grief,” collapsed and died.