In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper's reporters, and the publisher's home.
In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper's reporters, and the publisher's home.
Man, the ACLU is gonna have a field day with this one. And Newell should be charged with making a fake police report:
The search warrant identifies two pages worth of items that law enforcement officers were allowed to seize, including computer software and hardware, digital communications, cellular networks, servers and hard drives, items with passwords, utility records, and all documents and records pertaining to Newell. The warrant specifically targeted ownership of computers capable of being used to “participate in the identity theft of Kari Newell.”
She's claiming that because Meyer did research on her, he's participating in identity theft. Great job at keeping this story out of the papers, Newell, now everyone knows you're a drunk-driving criminal with no respect to for the rule of law or freedom of the press. Welcome to the Streisand effect.
It wasn't just her. What happened was the paper said the police knew she didn't have a license and gave her a pass. The cops decided to punish the paper for calling out their corruption. Everything else just flows from incompetence, from the attorney general's office to the judge.
I hear you there - there's plenty of dumbfuckery laced throughout this story. I just wanted to draw out that particular piece of stupid in my comment, because it's clear that this drunken trash heap of a human being is the root of the entire brouhaha.
Meyer reported last week that Marion restaurant owner Kari Newell had kicked newspaper staff out of a public forum with LaTurner[US rep], whose staff was apologetic. Newell responded to Meyer’s reporting with hostile comments on her personal Facebook page.
A confidential source contacted the newspaper, Meyer said, and provided evidence that Newell had been convicted of drunken driving and continued to use her vehicle without a driver’s license. The criminal record could jeopardize her efforts to obtain a liquor license for her catering business.
So, the beef was that they posted an unflattering- but true- article about somebody that was hosting a thing for a politician. Gotcha.
The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid.
The answer is obvious, isn't it? politicians leaning on judges to protect supporters from criminal action.
That's some crazy bullshit. If there was any justice at all the FBI would show up, arrest the police force responsible and return the stolen property. But we all know none of that is going to happen.
I just don't understand the motivation to bootstrap such a ridiculous farce. This drunk driving Karen obviously doesn't have the power to move a magistrate, ag, and an entire police force for bullshit claims of identity theft. There has to be very very serious levels of incompetence here. Magistrate signing without looking at warrants. AG drafting illegal searches. Officers following nonsense orders. Both the sheriff and the head of the police department authorizing illegal seizures?
Edit: NOW I know the motivation. It's because the paper said the police KNEW she didn't have a license but gave her a pass. The paper made the police look like corrupt idiots, so the chief of police go the attorney general's office to write an warrant and the judge blindly signs whatever the AG sends their way. That police chief should go to jail.
a sitting US representative does have that clout... Marion County, Kansas, has a little more than 10 thousand people. For comparison, the suburb I live in has just under 70 thousand.
it doesn't take a lot of clout to get a county magistrate to do something in a podunk county like Marion.
LaTurner did a favor for one of his supporters.
That's silly, i don't want to live in a modern society without police. I don't want to abolish the police, i want BETTER police than the ones we have now.
Do you believe the current version of policing in America can be successfully reformed? Can the current officers be sufficiently re-trained? Who is going to patrol the streets until that happens?
When people say abolish the police, they are saying that the current system has to be entirely dismantled and replaced. You actually appear to agree with the end objective.
Exactly. Employ educated police, gotta be less likely to do dodgy crap because they'll have a proper understanding of the laws. Also, why is it an elected position? You'd think that's gonna make it a prime motivation for corruption, just make it a position assigned based on experience and knowledge.