But in the days that followed, they largely downplayed their involvement. Police reports, internal agency emails and other documents obtained by Kansas Reflector provide a clearer picture of the raid than the early one that crystallized as a fast-moving story attracted international attention. There was the restaurateur who wanted a liquor license.
The police chief who knew reporters were investigating his past misconduct. The newspaper publisher with his strident editorial voice, and the demise of his defiant year-old mother. We now know there was also a KBI agent and his supervisor who had advance copies of the search warrants. And the magistrate judge, with her own checkered driving record , who signed three of the search warrants but refused a fourth.
Officers from three agencies converged Aug. There is no indication in any of the records obtained by Kansas Reflector that anybody anywhere suggested the raid would be a bad idea, despite federal protections for journalists and the flimsy pretext of a crime. Katherine Jacobsen, U. Scrutiny of the raid had intensified as the police chief and KBI director issued statements about journalists not being above the law — a distraction from the reality that if anyone had broken the law, it was the police.
A day after the raid, Ensey told Cody he would need to get a district court judge to sign the warrants so that the evidence seized during the raid could be reviewed by law enforcement outside of Marion.
But as copies of the newspaper were being delivered around town on Aug. He said there was insufficient evidence to support the raids and that items seized would be returned. The reporter was listening to Sheriff Jeff Soyez assign blame to the police department.
