Raided Kansas paper’s attorney demands police chief now not overview info from ‘illegal searches’
An legal professional for a Kansas newspaper raided by Marion police warned Chief Gideon Cody on Sunday that in treating the local paper "as a drug cartel or a highway gang" he had violated the constitutions of each Kansas and the us.
Bernie Rhodes, a Kansas city attorney who represents the Marion County checklist, in a letter to Cody demanded police now not evaluate any tips on computer systems, phones and other instruments seized during the quest on Friday of the newspaper's workplace and the domestic of the house owners. one of the vital co-owners, 98-yr-ancient Joan Meyer, died the day after the raid but now not before condemning it in effective terms.
"As Joan Meyer spoke of lower than 24 hours before she died, 'These are Hitler tactics.' She is appropriate," wrote Rhodes, who additionally represents The celebrity.
Rhodes wrote that under Kansas' journalist defend legislations, the paper is entitled to a listening to before the authorities review any of the assistance seized. The law extends to any assistance taken, now not simply exclusive sources, he wrote.
The hot letter is a potential prelude to a prison problem of the search. The list has indicated it plans to deliver a federal lawsuit, and Rhodes wrote that he was offering Cody the possibility to "mitigate my customer's damages from the unlawful searches you individually authorized, directed and performed" on Friday.
attorney's letter to Marion, Kansas, police chief by way of Ian Cummings on Scribd
A search warrant indicates police had been hunting for evidence that a reporter had run an improper laptop search to confirm an correct document that a native enterprise proprietor making use of for a liquor license had lost her driver's license over a DUI.
In an announcement, the Marion Police department defended the hunt in accepted terms. The department spoke of that federal law requires legislation enforcement in most circumstances to are looking for a subpoena for tips from journalists as a substitute of a search, "until they themselves are suspects in the offense it really is the field of the quest."
however Rhodes wrote that federal legislation allows access to a driver's license status for research actions so long as the information isn't published, redisclosed or used to contact people. because the paper didn't put up any tips from the website, the hunt had a sound analysis goal.
Cody is a former Kansas metropolis Police department captain, who left the company after 24 years to turn into chief in Marion earlier this year. list owner and publisher Eric Meyer spoke of the paper had investigated Cody's history and his time in Kansas metropolis but subsequently didn't put up a story.
"i will guarantee you that the list will take every step to obtain reduction for the damages your heavy-handed actions have already caused my client. As I pointed out at the beginning, this letter offers you an opportunity to mitigate these damages going forward," Rhodes wrote.
"If I have been you, i'd leap at this opportunity."
The star's Glenn Rice and Judy Thomas contributed reporting
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