Police stage ‘chilling’ raid on Marion County newspaper

[GMDino]

(08-24-2023, 11:01 AM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: One thing in the story that isn't mentioned by a single poster, a judge signed off on the warrant.  That means that law enforcement had enough evidence to convince a judge to sign off on it.  That's a major hurdle in the checks and balances of the criminal justice system.  I'm not saying judges are infallible, they certainly are not, but the fact that a search warrant was approved lends me to believe there's more to this story than is currently available.

It was in the story from the first post.

Quote:The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid.

The whole story is there too:

Quote:Meyer reported last week that Marion restaurant owner Kari Newell had kicked newspaper staff out of a public forum with LaTurner, whose staff was apologetic. Newell responded to Meyer’s reporting with hostile comments on her personal Facebook page.



A confidential source contacted the newspaper, Meyer said, and provided evidence that Newell had been convicted of drunken driving and continued to use her vehicle without a driver’s license. The criminal record could jeopardize her efforts to obtain a liquor license for her catering business.


A reporter with the Marion Record used a state website to verify the information provided by the source. But Meyer suspected the source was relaying information from Newell’s husband, who had filed for divorce. Meyer decided not to publish a story about the information, and he alerted police to the situation.


“We thought we were being set up,” Meyer said.


Police notified Newell, who then complained at a city council meeting that the newspaper had illegally obtained and disseminated sensitive documents, which isn’t true. Her public comments prompted the newspaper to set the record straight in a story published Thursday.

Sometime before 11 a.m. Friday, officers showed up simultaneously at Meyer’s home and the newspaper office. They presented a search warrant that alleges identity theft and unlawful use of a computer.

Story written.
Tip given.
Research done.
Story NOT published...AND police notified by the paper.
Police tell subject of unpublished story that someone looked at their record...legally...but didn't publish a story about it.
Subject complains at public meeting.
Newspaper defends their NOT publishing the story that never would have been public if not for the subject talking publicly about it.
The next day the police have warrants.

UNLESS the paper had been under some kind of investigation for quite a while and the warrants were already being worked on I think we have the story.

Maybe new information will come out...eventually.