A stack of the most recent version of the weekly Marion County Record sits behind the newspaper’s constructing in Marion, Kansas, on Wednesday. The newspaper’s entrance web page was devoted to 2 tales a few raid by native police on its places of work and the writer’s house on Aug. 11.

John Hanna/AP

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John Hanna/AP

A stack of the most recent version of the weekly Marion County Record sits behind the newspaper’s constructing in Marion, Kansas, on Wednesday. The newspaper’s entrance web page was devoted to 2 tales a few raid by native police on its places of work and the writer’s house on Aug. 11.

John Hanna/AP

Police in Kansas have returned cellphones, computer systems and different tools to the Marion County Record, lower than per week after a raid on the small-town newspaper was broadly criticized as a probable violation of federal legislation.

In one other growth, information emerged that Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, who signed the search warrant permitting police to grab the tools, was arrested no less than twice for driving beneath the affect. Those 2012 arrests got here months aside in two counties — and it is not clear how a lot data was shared between officers on the time, The Wichita Eagle reviews. (See beneath for extra on the allegations.)

The extraordinary Aug. 11 raid drew nationwide and worldwide headlines as a result of it appeared to run counter to long-established press freedoms and ensures. Such actions are almost unprecedented within the U.S.

“It’s very rare because it’s illegal,” First Amendment lawyer Lynn Oberlander advised NPR. “It doesn’t happen very often because most organizations understand that it’s illegal.”

Here’s a fast recap of the place issues stand:

DUI data have been pivotal to the case in Marion

It was a confidential tip to the Record concerning the DUI historical past of Kari Newell, an area restaurant and catering firm proprietor, that set incidents in movement. The paper says it confirmed Newell had misplaced her driver’s license, utilizing a public web site.

But the Record opted to not publish the data, selecting as a substitute to tell Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez and metropolis police Chief Gideon Cody concerning the supply’s allegation that officers have been conscious an area resident could not legally drive however have been ignoring points with their license. The paper says it did not use Newell’s identify.

Days later, Newell publicly accused the Record of feeding the data to a councilwoman, Ruth Herbel. The paper says the identical supply who made the preliminary allegation additionally despatched the data to Herbel.

Police then raided the Kansas newspaper after acquiring a search warrant from Viar citing a felony investigation into “identity theft,” relating to Newell’s data discovered on-line. Officers additionally seized gadgets at Herbel’s house.

Newspaper staffers scrambled to cobble together enough equipment to supply its common Wednesday version.

Judge who signed warrant is beneath scrutiny

The choose was arrested twice in 2012 — as soon as on Jan. 25 in Coffey County and once more on Aug. 6 in Morris County. At the time, Viar’s final identify was Allen and he or she was working as the highest prosecutor in Morris County.

In the primary arrest, Viar “was charged and entered a diversion agreement — which was extended six months because she refused to get an alcohol and drug evaluation and stopped communicating with her lawyer,” according to the Eagle.

She was arrested once more months later, this time in her house county.

“Officials say she was driving Morris County Magistrate Judge Thomas Ball’s vehicle, when she ran off the road and hit a shed near the Council Grove football field,” TV station WIBW reported in 2012, including that on the time, the prosecutor was on the Morris County Anti-Drug Task Force.

“She was charged with DUI, reckless driving and refusal to take a preliminary breathalyzer,” the Emporia Gazette reported on the time.

Despite these points, Viar was reelected as county prosecutor a number of instances. In late 2022, she was chosen to fill a slot as a Justice of the Peace choose within the eighth Judicial District after the sitting choose retired.

Reporting on the 2012 expenses this week, the Wichita Eagle mentioned it was unclear how Viar’s DUI circumstances have been resolved or whether or not officers in both county have been conscious of her arrest in one other jurisdiction.

Newspaper seemed into police chief’s background

Meyer mentioned the Record looked into allegations of misconduct towards Cody, who was sworn in on June 1 after retiring from the Kansas City Police Department, primarily based on nameless suggestions from a number of of his former colleagues.

Meyer mentioned a Record reporter approached Cody looking for remark concerning the allegations and in response Cody threatened to sue the paper.

Cody declined to substantiate whether or not he threatened to sue the paper or whether or not the raid was linked to the paper wanting into his background.

Meyer mentioned Cody “has reason to not like us,” however mentioned he did not know if there was a connection between his paper’s reporting and the raid.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation took over the case

The state company started main the investigation into alleged identification theft on Monday. Just two days later, the KBI mentioned it could “coordinate the prompt return of all seized items.”

The tools and gadgets have been returned “without review or examination,” the bureau mentioned.

The Record says it reached a take care of investigators to show the gear over to a forensic investigator to substantiate whether or not the tools had been reviewed or examined earlier than it’s put again into service.

Marion County Attorney Joel Ensley, who formally requested for the choose to launch the newspaper’s objects, said in a written statement issued by the KBI that he made the choice after he “reviewed in detail” the warrant software on Monday that had led to final Friday’s raid.

Ensley mentioned he concluded that “insufficient evidence exists” to ascertain a hyperlink between the alleged crimes and the locations that have been searched and the tools that was seized.

NPR’s Danielle Kaye and David Folkenflik contributed to this report.