In the days following the raid, Joel Ensey, the county attorney for Marion County, claimed that after reviewing police seizures from the Marion County Record, “insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized.”
Marion County Record (Photo: Kttn)
Marion County Record
According to KSHB, three affidavits regarding the home invasions of the newspaper owner, the vice mayor of the city, and the Marion County Record were obtained by the KSHB 41 I-Team.
The affidavits in connection with the raids on Marion County Record, which were released by the newspaper’s counsel, detail the proof police used to persuade a court to approve a warrant to search the properties.
Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody signed the affidavits on the day of the raids, but they weren’t filed until August 14. They were submitted for Ruth Herbel, a councilwoman from Marion, the publisher of the Marion County Record, and their residences.
Much of what is already known is revealed in the nine-page affidavit to search the residence of Eric Meyer, owner of the Marion County Record: Gideon Cody, chief of police for Marion, charged the paper with illegally acquiring Kari Newell’s driving record.
Cody alleged that identity theft and improper computer use were the offenses committed in this instance.
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Marion County Record illegally obtained damaging information
The Washington Post reports that a local judge issued a warrant allowing police to seize the newspaper’s records after restaurant owner Kari Newell claimed that the Marion County Record had illegally obtained damaging information about a 2008 conviction for drunk driving and was planning to publish it.
The affidavits in relation to the raids on Marion County Record purport to be signed before Magistrate Viar on the day of the illegal searches, but no justification has been given as to why they were not filed ahead of the execution of the illegal searches, according to Bernie Rhodes, the Record’s attorney.
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