Authorities have announced the controversial search warrant of a local Kansas newspaper office has been withdrawn.
The Marion county attorney Joel Ensey announced that following a review of the search warrants made last Friday at multiple locations in Marion county, he has “come to the conclusion that insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized”.
On Friday, local police raided the office of local newspaper Marion County Record, the home of publisher Eric Meyer and his mother, as well as the home of the vice-mayor, Ruth Herbel. As part of the raid, the city’s police force seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials.
The raid has triggered widespread criticisms by press freedom advocates who likened the move to seizures by authoritarian regimes and a violation of first amendment rights. In a letter to the chief of the Marion police department on Sunday, over 30 news organizations as well as the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said that there “appears to be no justification for the breadth and intrusiveness of the search”.
The White House also expressed concern over the raid, with press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying: “They raise a lot of concerns and a lot of questions for us … The freedom of the press, that is a core value when we think about our democracy.”
Following national outrage, Ensey said in a press release: “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.”
He added that the matter will remain under review until “such time as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the agency now in charge of the investigation, may submit any findings to this office for a charging decision.
“At such time, a determination will be made as to whether sufficient evidence exists under the applicable rules and standards to support a charge for any offense. It is important to note that all individuals who may be the subject of an investigation are presumed innocent until and unless a charge is proven beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law,” he said.
On Sunday, 98-year-old Joan Meyer, who co-owned the Marion County Record, died after the raid left her “stressed beyond her limits” and unable to eat or sleep, the newspaper said. A day before her death, she condemned the raid as “Hitler tactics” and said that “something has to be done”.
According to the newspaper, the raid began when newspaper staff received a confidential tip that Kari Newell, a local restaurant proprietor, had been convicted of drunk driving years earlier yet still continued driving without a license.
Despite the Marion County Record not publishing any stories about Newell, she nevertheless received notification from police that the information about her was being spread around.
Newell went on to accuse the newspaper of illegally obtaining and disseminating sensitive documents and also had police eject Record representatives during an open forum with a US congressman at a coffee shop she runs.
Following the raid, local reports revealed that the Kansas magistrate judge who authorized the raid has a history of driving under the influence.
According to the Kansas City Star, the judge Laura Viar, who was appointed this year, has been arrested at least twice for driving drunk in two different Kansas counties in 2012. During one of the drunk-driving incidents, Viar reportedly drove off-road and crashed into a school building.
