Overview

• The Marion County Record's publisher, Eric Meyer, filed a lawsuit against Kansas officials for a police raid on his newspaper and home, claiming it violated First Amendment rights.
• The raid, which occurred in August 2023, is said to have caused the stress-induced death of Meyer's 98-year-old mother, co-owner of the newspaper.
• Officials defended the raid as a response to an identity theft complaint, but Meyer accuses them of weaponizing the criminal justice system for personal gain.
• The lawsuit is one of four filed over the incident, highlighting a history of tension between the newspaper and local officials.
• The newspaper was investigating the police chief who led the raid, who resigned after body camera footage showed him rifling through files about himself.