A Former Reporter in Kansas Has Agreed to a $235,000 Settlement in a Case About a Police Raid on a Local Newspaper
A former reporter for a Kansas newspaper agreed to settle part of her federal lawsuit for $235,000 over a police raid on the local newspaper that made national news because of worries about violations of press freedom.
Deb Gruver, a former reporter for the Marion County Record, settled on June 25 after suing former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody. Gruver says Cody hurt her hand again when he allegedly grabbed her phone during a raid on the newspaper on August 11, 2023.
The settlement took Cody out of the case, but The Associated Press says it did not cover the Marion County sheriff or the county’s prosecutor, who were also sued by Gruver over the raid.
Gruver is one of five federal lawsuits that have been filed over the raid. The others are against the city, the county, and eight current or past police officers or elected officials.
After a source told the newspaper and the member of the city council at the time about a restaurant owner trying to get a liquor license, Cody led the raid on the newspaper’s office, the home of editor Eric Meyer, and the home of a member of the city council at the time.
The source said Kari Newell had been found guilty of drunk driving and was driving without a legal license. The source also said that Newell was breaking the law over and over again, but no one was doing anything about it.
Meyer chose not to print the story and instead told Cody and Jeff Soyez, the sheriff of Marion County, about what the source had to say. The police then started an investigation, got a search warrant to look for proof of identity theft and illegal computer use, and told Newell about it.
Judge Laura Viar of the Marion County District Court signed a search warrant that led to the seizure of computers, cell phones, and reports connected to identity theft and illegal computer activities. Police were also told they could look for devices that were used to access the records website for the Kansas Department of Revenue as well as Newell’s papers and records.
Most searches of journalists and newsrooms are illegal under the federal Privacy Protection Act. Instead of search warrants, cops usually have to issue subpoenas. At the time, the police department said that the rule doesn’t apply to situations where reporters are thought to have done something illegal.
At the time, Cody said he had proof that the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn, and the city council member at the time had stolen Newell’s name or done other illegal things on the computer by getting information about him. The three denied doing anything wrong, and no charges were ever brought against them.
In her federal case, Zorn is asking for $950,000 in damages because she was deprived of her First Amendment rights to free speech and the press and from unreasonable police searches.
Police searched Meyer’s home and the office of the newspaper where he worked and took away two computers and an Alexa smart speaker that Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, who co-owns the newspaper, used. Her son said at the time that she was in good health for her age but fell and died in her home the day after the raid.
Meyer and the newspaper sued the government in federal court, saying that the raid killed Meyer’s mother. It was also said in the claim that the raid happened because of an investigation into Cody’s past.
Gruber’s cell phone was taken away by Cody, and her desk was checked. She wasn’t involved in getting the driving record, but she was looking into Cody’s past.
People across the country were outraged by the raid because it hurt press freedom. Not even two months after the raid, Cody quit as police chief.