The police chief who led a highly criticized raid of a small Kansas newspaper has been suspended, the mayor confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday.
Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield in a text said he suspended Chief Gideon Cody on Thursday. He declined to discuss his decision further and did not say whether Cody was still being paid.
Voice messages and emails from the AP seeking comment from Cody’s lawyers were not immediately returned Saturday.
The Aug. 11 searches of the Marion County Record’s office and the homes of its publisher and a City Council member have been sharply criticized, putting Marion at the center of a debate over the press protections offered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Mayor needs to go next along with judge who signed the fucking unconstitutional warrant.
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You could like, read the article. No need to be obtuse.
Read it, and the warrants.
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Why don’t you break it down? Simple question.
News organizations are typically issued seapenas for specific information because just raiding them and going through everything can reveal sources for unrelated stories. News organizations should have the ability to protect confidential sources if needed. Reason people are saying unconstitutional is because first amendment protects speech and freedom of press.
At least that’s how I understand it but I am not a lawyer.
I’m looking for something hyper specific, legal. Thanks for taking a whack.
I think the usual case involves information from a confidential source, the publication of which by the press is absolutely protected by the First Amendment.
In this case, it was a newspaper reporter who directly was accused of breaking the law to obtain confidential information from the government. The reporter either falsely impersonated the subject of the records or falsely certified as to her reason for accessing them, either violates state and federal law notably the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which is what the search warrant cited.
The press’s remedy for obtaining public records is through FOIA, which is itself a requirement of the First Amendment, on the basis that speech is infringed when the government doesn’t make its workings known to the public.
The search warrant made sense to me, and seemed that, if true, the only reasonable conclusion is that the reporter broke the law.
suspended? lol, this is the united states of godamn fucking america here, dude interfered directly with gestapo tactics against freedom of the press, he should be fired, and brought up on criminal charges, right fucking meow
Yup. This is the US. Which is why he’ll be back at work inside of a month
If we’re really lucky he’ll be turned to resign.
…and take a pay raise at a bigger department the next county over.
He declined to discuss his decision further and did not say whether Cody was still being paid.
So yes, he was being rewarded with paid vacation.
I wish my work would suspend me with pay.
All you got to do is get a job in the public sector that has unions, then do something remarkably stupid and you’re on easy street.
Hmm maybe. Can’t I get the same deal working on Wall Street but with more money?
He’s apparently a slow learner:
Mayor David Mayfield said he’s not ‘sure exactly what they did wrong’ when the police department raided the Marion County Record office on August 11
I’m not sure either, can you lay it out in a few sentences or a short paragraph?
Are you asking in good faith? It doesn’t seem like it.
Thr article and the ones linked about the warrant lay it all out.
Are you asking in good faith? It doesn’t seem like it.
Nailed it.
Th[e] article and the ones linked about the warrant lay it all out.
Unfortunately, some would rather argue and waste others’ time. See below for details.
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Good faith. I don’t get the outrage here.
The article above lays out nothing about the law. Just a throwaway sentence with a link to a prior story, that quoted two legal experts who disagreed about what law the search and seizure violated.
There’s a vague allusion to potential federal criminal civil rights charges, as well as civil liability.
That’s true if the police did something wrong. I just can’t seem to pinpoint what it is the police are alleged to have done wrong here.
What statute, what recognized constitutional right?
The judge’s ruling goes against the First and Fourth Amendments (free speech, illegal search and seizure), and established case law regarding these amendments.
You don’t have to cite the cases, but what case law?
There’s no special Fourth Amendment right for journalists. The Fourth Protects warrantless search and seizure. The police here had a warrant. If the warrant affidavit didn’t support the probable cause, how? The crime alleged seems clear to me.
You don’t have to cite the cases, but what case law?
You can find that yourself.
There’s no special Fourth Amendment right for journalists.
Read closely, I never wrote that.
The police here had a warrant.
Which shouldn’t have been issued; the judge erred, and the prosecutor dropped charges against the newspaper.
Just because the judge approved it doesn’t make it legal.
If the warrant affidavit didn’t support the probable cause, how?
The police chief may have misrepresented the reasons for the warrant; the pending lawsuit(s) should resolve this.
If you think the judge and police chief are in the right here, fine; you have a right to your opinion.
You have no argument then?
There is no First Amendment case law that allows journalists to commit crimes.
I don’t think they are in the right, or in the wrong. I don’t know enough about it because nobody seems to be able to explain it.
I know “the police chief(?) may have misrepresented” blah blah blah, isn’t a reason. The police chief did not write the warrant application. What fact in the warrant was misrepresented?
Honest question, what structures or authorities exist outside of the city level to investigate something like this? Is it all down to what the mayor decides, or can the Kansas governor or state patrol launch an investigation? What about federal agencies like the FBI?
I could be misremembering, but from the original story it sounded like the mayor was likely tied up in the motivation for the original raid. Not surprising for a small town, really. Once you get down to a few hundred people, there’s only so many businesses and families to go around.
The US Dept of Justice Civil Rights Division, since violations of the First Amendment are alleged
https://www.justice.gov/crt/law-enforcement-misconduct#:~:text=The Department of Justice (%22The,violations%20by%20law%20enforcement%20officers.
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is supposedly investigating the situation, but there have been conflicting reports of what they consider to be within the scope of their investigation.
Eh, small town, metro, I’m more likely to be surprised at little to no corruption, well heeled.
The Aug. 11 searches of the Marion County Record’s office and the homes of its publisher and a City Council member have been sharply criticized, putting Marion at the center of a debate over the press protections offered by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
I’m not aware of any “debate”. Everyone seems to be on the same page that this was an egregious abuse of power and a clear violation of Constitutional rights.
Kinda feels like supension in schools. Suspended for a few days until they bring you back
“Suspended” on a short rope from a long distance above?
lmao, good for him
