International Courant
The police chief who led a extremely criticized raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Related Press on Saturday.
Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a textual content mentioned he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He declined to debate his resolution additional and didn’t say whether or not Cody was nonetheless being paid.
Voice messages and emails from the AP in search of remark from Cody’s attorneys weren’t instantly returned Saturday.
The Aug. 11 searches of the Marion County File’s workplace and the properties of its writer and a Metropolis Council member have been sharply criticized, placing Marion on the heart of a debate over the press protections supplied by the First Modification to the U.S. Structure.
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Cody’s suspension is a reversal for the mayor, who beforehand mentioned he would anticipate outcomes from a state police investigation earlier than taking motion.
The workplaces of the Marion County File weekly newspaper sit throughout the road from the Marion County, Kan., Courthouse, Aug. 21, 2023, in Marion. The police chief who led a extremely criticized raid of the small Kansas newspaper is suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Related Press on Saturday, Sept. 30. Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a textual content mentioned he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday, Sept. 28. (AP Photograph/John Hanna)
Vice-Mayor Ruth Herbel, whose residence was additionally raided Aug. 11, praised Cody’s suspension as “the most effective factor that may occur to Marion proper now” because the central Kansas city of about 1,900 folks struggles to maneuver ahead beneath the nationwide highlight.
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“We won’t duck our heads till it goes away, as a result of it’s not going to go away till we do one thing about it,” Herbel mentioned.
Marion County File constructing (Google Maps)
Cody has mentioned little publicly for the reason that raids apart from posting a protection of them on the police division’s Fb web page. In court docket paperwork he filed to get the search warrants, he argued that he had possible trigger to imagine the newspaper and Herbel, whose residence was additionally raided, had violated state legal guidelines in opposition to id theft or laptop crimes.
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The raids got here after a neighborhood restaurant proprietor accused the newspaper of illegally accessing details about her. A spokesman for the company that maintains these data has mentioned the newspaper’s on-line search {that a} reporter did was seemingly authorized regardless that the reporter wanted private details about the restaurant proprietor {that a} tipster supplied to search for her driving document.
A stack of the Marion County File sits behind the newspaper’s constructing, awaiting unbundling, sorting and distribution, Aug. 16, 2023, in Marion, Kan. The police chief who led a extremely criticized raid of the small Kansas newspaper is suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Related Press on Saturday, Sept. 30. Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a textual content mentioned he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday, Sept. 28. (AP Photograph/John Hanna)
The newspaper’s writer Eric Meyer has mentioned the id theft allegations merely supplied a handy excuse for the search after his reporters had been digging for background info on Cody, who was appointed this summer season.
Authorized specialists imagine the raid on the newspaper violated a federal privateness regulation or a state regulation shielding journalists from having to establish sources or flip over unpublished materials to regulation enforcement.
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Video of the raid on the house of writer Eric Meyer exhibits how distraught his 98-year-old mom grew to become as officers searched by way of their belongings. Meyer mentioned he believes that stress contributed to the loss of life of his mom, Joan Meyer, a day later.
One other reporter final month filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the police chief over the raid.
The police chief who led a raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended
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