Delaying tactics in Marion raid investigation should fill public with fear • Kansas Reflector

I had it.

Nearly 10 months after law enforcement officers raided the Marion County Record and two private homes, officials have yet to share the results of their investigation. That’s nearly a full year since the blatant attack on free speech in Kansas was signed by a number of city, county and state officials. In the meantime, some people involved in the scandal have resigned from their positions. Lawsuits have been filed.

We haven’t heard anything from those responsible, though. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, perhaps realizing that it had been compromised by its involvement in the raid, turned the whole matter over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Initially, they said they would have results in April. Now we’re in early June and the results are still not in.

On Thursday, the CBI informed me that the follow-up work (requested by special prosecutors) would take at least three more weeks.

“You may want to contact me again in late June or consult with the special prosecutors in Kansas,” wrote Rob Low, CBI strategic communications director.

It may well be that my assessment of the situation is wrong. Perhaps next month we will see the Marion County Record journalists officially acquitted – as should have been done in August – and those who abused the public trust brought to justice. Perhaps then justice will finally be served.

I’m skeptical. Officials seem to have dragged out this investigation, perhaps hoping that the press and public’s attention will shift elsewhere.

No chance.

I’m still watching this and I’m angry. With each passing day, I fear more that investigators were more concerned with saving face than seeking justice. Because one thing must be clear: The August 11, 2023 raids involved multiple law enforcement agencies at multiple levels of Kansas government. Read Sherman, editor of the Kansas Reflector,’s damning report in November about how they either willingly acquiesced or looked the other way to attempts to suppress free speech.

This is not a good picture. Not for Marion, not for Marion County and certainly not for the KBI.

I’ve kept my mouth shut for these many months, speaking out from time to time, but overall I’ve been content to allow my colleagues on the news site to do their jobs and follow the story. Lawrence media attorney Max Kautsch wrote about the delay in March. I wanted to wait until the results were in.

The results are not yet available.

Meanwhile, Eric Meyer, editor and publisher of the Marion County Record, has continued printing his newspaper. Both Police Chief Gideon Cody and restaurant owner Keri Newell have left the company, depriving the news media of two colorful personalities behind the whole affair. Colorado agents have conducted interviews and collected what appear to be 10,000 pages of documents, all of which are available to special prosecutors Barry Wilkerson and Marc Bennett.

Anyone who has followed this case from the beginning may be wondering whether it is really so multifaceted and complex. The contours of the situation were clear from the very first days. All you had to do was call Meyer and he would be happy to explain it to you.

At this point, the delays only serve to undermine confidence in the Kansas justice system.

Perhaps politicians want to show less guilt for suppressing free speech not only in Kansas but across the United States. But they did it nonetheless, and the stain they left on the state’s democratic fabric will not easily disappear.

At the very least, officials must clear the employees on the record. They did nothing wrong. The fact that they have been facing criminal prosecution for months should shock and horrify everyone. They were simply doing their jobs, and the abuses the system inflicted on them have yet to be fixed.

“The Warren Commission took 300 days to investigate the assassination of John Kennedy. Now it looks like it will take at least 314 days to investigate what happened in our newsroom,” Meyer told me by email last week. “In the meantime, we can sway in the wind, living in constant fear that at any moment we could be arrested on baseless charges — repeated in city and county court records — that we somehow violated a law in a way denied by every responsible authority in the Western Hemisphere, including the custodian of the records we allegedly ‘stole.'”

“The only time anyone from a law enforcement agency has spoken to me or received evidence from me was on December 8, 2023 – half a year ago – when I was interrogated by two CBI agents for about an hour. We have repeatedly expressed our willingness to provide any additional information requested. We have absolutely nothing to hide. But apparently no one wants to hear from us. What exactly they are investigating is unknown.”

I’m angry. You should be angry too. The fact that Marion County officials and the KBI and CBI don’t seem to share this outrage over a blatant miscarriage of justice should disgust and horrify every Kansas resident. We deserve better. Meyer and his reporters deserve better.

Our First Amendment rights, which are enjoyed by journalists and the American public as a whole, deserve better.

Clay Wirestone is opinion editor at the Kansas Reflector. With his opinion sectionnsas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people affected by public policy or excluded from public debate. Here you will find information, including the opportunity to submit your own comments, Here.