The Marion County Police Department in Kansas has accused a reporter from a local newspaper of lying or misrepresenting herself while accessing documents, according to court records.
The raid on the Marion County Record, which gained national attention, was led by Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody on August 11. Cody alleged that the reporter had deceived or impersonated someone else in order to obtain the driving records of local restaurant owner Kari Newell.
Newell had previously argued that the newspaper violated her privacy and committed a crime by gathering her information, but the newspaper has maintained that their methods were legal. Reporter Phyllis Zorn accessed a public website to gather information about Newell, using her name in the search. Police claimed that this constituted identity theft. Additionally, a source had provided the newspaper with Newell's date of birth and license number without solicitation.
"Downloading the document involved either impersonating the victim or lying about the reasons why the record was being sought," said Cody.
The raid sparked outrage and ignited a debate about press freedoms, as the newspaper's employees were impeded from carrying out their work and were forced to work overnight to publish the next day's paper. During the raid, authorities confiscated the newspaper's computers, a router, and the personal cellphones of employees.
With only four people on staff, the employees had to rewrite stories and recreate advertisements from scratch. The front-page headline of the following day's paper defiantly read: "SEIZED but not silenced."
All seized items were returned to the newspaper on Wednesday after Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey determined that there was insufficient evidence to justify the raid.
"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 stated.
Marion County Record Editor and Publisher Eric Meyer told The Associated Press that no laws were broken.
"You cannot let bullies win," Meyer previously declared. "We have a staff thats very experienced, including myself, and were not going to take crap."
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