Former Marion vice mayor files federal lawsuit in connection with 2023 police raids (2024)

IMPLICATIONS MAKES MORE HEADLINES IN KANSAS. YEAH, I’M OUT OF HERE. WE’VE SHOWN YOU THE VIDEOS OF THE RAIDS SURROUNDING THE MARION COUNTY RECORD. THE LOCAL PAPER IN MARION, KANSAS, OUTSIDE WICHITA. WELL, IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE, POLICE OFFICERS AND SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES TOOK PHONES, COMPUTERS AND DOCUMENTS OF THE PAPER’S STAFF, ALL BECAUSE A REPORTER ACCESSED PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DRIVING RECORDS ON A STATE WEBSITE. THOSE SEIZED MATERIALS WERE ORDERED RETURNED AND THE BRUNT OF THE BACKLASH RESTED ON THE SHOULDERS OF POLICE CHIEF GIDEON CODY, WHO RESIGNED. STATE AGENCIES AND LOCAL LEADERS DISTANCED THEMSELVES FROM THE CHIEF AND WHAT HAPPENED. BUT NEW REPORTING BY THE KANSAS REFLECTOR SHOWS MANY OF THESE SAME GROUPS OF PEOPLE KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENING DAYS BEFORE THE RAIDS THROUGH POLICE REPORTS, INTERNAL AGENCY EMAILS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS THAT REFLECTOR FOUND. THE KANSAS BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION HAD ADVANCED COPIES OF THE SEARCH WARRANT AND THAT IT HAD BEEN SENT TO THE COUNTY ATTORNEY FOR PRE-APPROVAL SAME PROSECUTOR WHO CLAIMED HE HADN’T SEEN THE AFFIDAVITS IN DETAIL UNTIL AFTER THE RAID. THE PAPERS ALSO REPORTING KANSAS DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE EMPLOYEES TREATED THE JOURNALISTS PUBLIC ACCESS OF THESE DRIVING RECORDS AS CRIMINAL. THERE’S A LOT TO UNPACK HERE, SO LET’S GET RIGHT TO IT, PLEASE. WELCOME BACK SHERMAN SMITH, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE KANSAS REFLECTOR. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING BACK ON WHEN LAST WE SPOKE A FEW MONTHS AGO, YOU HAD BROKEN THIS STORY. A LOT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THEN. YEAH, WE KEEP GETTING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING THROUGH MORE AND MORE DOCUMENTS OF WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THOSE TWO WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE RAID. AND SO WE’RE ABLE TO KIND OF COMPARE NOW MORE ACCURATELY WHAT WHAT THESE OFFICIALS KNEW BEFORE THE RAID AND WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT WHAT THEY KNEW AFTER THE RAID. AND THERE APPEAR TO BE SOME DISCREPANCIES THERE. AND THAT’S AN UNDERSTATEMENT, I THINK, FROM LOOKING AT YOUR REPORTING. WHAT SURPRISED YOU THE MOST ABOUT WHAT YOU FOUND? WELL, I THINK THERE’S A LOT OF THINGS THAT SURPRISE ME HERE. YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE OFFICIALS WHO HAVE COPIES OF THE THE SEARCH WARRANTS AND ARE ACTUALLY PARTICIPATE IN THE INVESTIGATION LEADING UP TO THE RAID. AND WE HAVE A DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE STAFF WHO TREATED THIS AS A CRIME BEFORE THE RAID THAT THE REPORTER HAD ACCESSED THEIR ONLINE DATABASE TO GET A PUBLIC RECORD. BUT THEN AFTER THE RAID, VERY CLEARLY SAID THIS IS A PUBLIC RECORD. AND THEN A FIRE MARSHAL INVESTIGATOR WHO WAS CALLED IN TO TO HELP WITH THE MANPOWER SITUATION, THERE, WHO ATTACHES TO HIS REPORT THAT DAY, A THREE PAGE LEGAL MEMO ABOUT FEDERAL PROTECTIONS FOR JOURNALISTS, BASICALLY SAYING, HERE’S WHY WE SHOULD NEVER DO THE KIND OF RAID I JUST PARTICIPATED IN ARE THE COUNTY ATTORNEY OR SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES OR KBI SAYING ANYTHING? BECAUSE WHAT YOU FOUND CERTAINLY PAINTS THIS STORY IN A DIFFERENT LIGHT FROM WHAT THEY HAD PRESENTED A FEW MONTHS AGO, ALMOST EVERYBODY JUST DIDN’T RESPOND TO THE QUESTIONS THAT I’VE HAD. THE ISSUED A STATEMENT TO ME THAT SAID THEY’RE PREPARING TO CONCLUDE THEIR INVESTIGATION AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ABLE TO ANSWER MORE QUESTIONS. AT THAT TIME. THE THE EXPECTATION HERE IS THAT WHEN THEY WRAP THEIR INVESTIGATION, THEY SAY WILL HAPPEN VERY SOON. THEY WILL TURN THAT OVER TO A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO DETERMINE WHETHER THERE ARE ANY CHARGES TO BE FILED. NOW, WHAT’S STRIKING TO ME IS A QUOTE FROM ONE OF YOUR LATEST STORIES. WE’LL PUT IT UP HERE ON THE SCREEN THAT THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT ANYBODY ANYWHERE SUGGESTED THAT THE RAID WOULD BE A BAD IDEA. NOW, FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, THERE WERE SO MANY OBVIOUS FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES HERE. WHAT STRUCK YOU ABOUT THIS? YEAH, YOU KNOW, IN ADDITION TO THE AGENCIES THAT I TALKED ABOUT A SECOND AGO, YOU KNOW, THE COUNTY ATTORNEY AND THE SHERIFF’S OFFICE WERE ALSO PART OF THIS INVESTIGATION AND HAD KNOWLEDGE THAT THIS RAID WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. AND SO IT’S IT’S JUST REALLY SURPRISING, I THINK, THAT NOBODY ANYWHERE SAID, YOU KNOW, MAYBE WE SHOULDN’T DO THIS. NOBODY POINTED OUT THE FEDERAL PROTECTIONS. NOBODY QUESTIONED WHAT WHAT APPEARS TO BE THIS FLIMSY PRETEXT OF A CRIME, WHICH JUST ON ITS SURFACE SOUNDS RIDICULOUS, THAT THIS AMOUNTS TO IDENTITY THEFT. THAT WAS THE SUPPOSED CRIME. AND THEN WHEN NOBODY SAID OR EVEN ACKNOWLEDGED THAT IF WE DO GO THROUGH WITH THIS, IT’S GOING TO GET A LOT OF ATTENTION AND WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE UNDER FIRE FOR IT. YOU KNOW, THERE JUST SEEM TO BE OBLIVIOUS TO THE IDEA THAT THAT THIS WOULD BE SIGNIFICANT. SHERMAN WHAT’S NEXT IN THIS STORY? WE KNOW THERE’S A FEDERAL LAWSUIT AT PLAY HERE RIGHT? THAT’S RIGHT. WE HAVE ONE OF THE REPORTERS WHO HAS NOW LEFT. THE PAPER HAS FILED A FEDERAL LAWSUIT. SHE WASN’T IDENTIFIED IN THE SEARCH WARRANTS, IS EVEN BEING ONE OF THE PEOPLE THEY WERE LOOKING AT FOR THE SUPPOSED CRIME. BUT THEY STILL TOOK HER PERSONAL CELL PHONE AND THEY LOOKED THROUGH SOME OF HER REPORTING MATERIALS WHICH REVEALED A CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE. I KNOW THAT THE THE CITY COUNCILWOMAN, RUTH HERBEL, HAS SAID THAT SHE INTENDS TO FILE A FEDERAL LAWSUIT. THE NEWSPAPER, OF COURSE, HAS SAID THAT IT PLANS TO FILE A LAWSUIT. BUT I THINK THEY’RE STILL TRYING TO TO GATHER INFORMATION ON THAT. AND THERE COULD BE 1 OR 2 OTHERS TO. ALL RIGHT. WE KNOW YOU’LL BE WATCHING CLOSELY. SHERMAN SMITH WITH THE KANSAS REFLECTOR. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. HATS OFF TO YOU AND YOUR TEAM. YOU CAN READ ALL THE REPORTING FROM SHERMAN AND HIS TEA