KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. Share your story idea with Isabella.
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A rural Kansas county agreed to pay more than $3 million and publicly apologize over the raid of a small town newspaper.
Marion County law enforcement raided the Marion County Record in 2023. It was later deemed illegal.
The KSHB 41 I-Team provided in-depth coverage on the raid, the cover up from the Marion Police Department and fallout with city leaders.
What happened in the small town of about 1,900 people sparked a national conversation about the freedom of the press. The $3 million settlement is one part of the resolution.
For the newspaper's owner, Eric Meyer, the apology means more than that.
Two years after the raid, the Marion County Record is doing business as usual.
"We're a little short [staffed] today as we're trying to put out the paper," Meyer said.
Marion County Police claimed the Marion County Record illegally obtained a local restaurant owner's driving record.
"We'd offered to give them the document we had, offered them to help them with anything," Meyer said. "They just wanted to make a show. They just wanted to be a bully."
That show included searching the home of Meyer's 98-year-old mother for hours.
She died the next day. Meyers said it was from stress.
"Why do they need to send seven [officers] to the home of a 98-year-old woman with her walker?" Meyer said. "This was just for intimidation."
Our KSHB 41 I-Team investigation also uncovered former Police Chief Gideon Cody told the restaurant owner to delete text messages. Meyer, his staff and the former vice mayor sued Marion County, the city and the police department.
Meyer explained the point of the lawsuits was to protect the freedom of speech and democracy.
"The money was never the question. In fact, we didn't pay much attention to what the money was," Meyer said. "The question was we wanted to make sure that there was an admission that wrongdoing happened."
In a statement, the Marion County Sheriff apologized for being a part of executing the search warrants.
“The Sheriff’s Office wishes to express its sincere regrets to Eric and Joan Meyer and Ruth and Ronald Herbel for its participation in the drafting and execution of the Marion County Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record," Sheriff Jeff Soyez's statement said.
To Meyer, that's worth more than the $3 million.
"If the watchdog gets attacked, and the watchdog rolls over, democracy suffers," Meyers said. "This is a case where we didn't roll over. "It's a victory. It says if you're going to be a bully, there's a price to pay. And that price is in the millions."
Now, the Marion County Record is hiring following one of the involved reporter's retirement.
"I got to find a reporter, and we got to put out a paper and we've got to keep hammering away at what we think is right and wrong," Meyer said.
Meyer plans to use his settlement to keep the paper going, an unexpected ending to how this story started.
"They tried to put us out of business by raiding us, and the result of their raiding us is going to be that we're guaranteed to stay in business for a long time," Meyer said. "That makes me feel good."
Meyer and others still have an active lawsuit against the City of Marion. Former Police Chief Gideon Cody is set to begin his criminal trial in February.
KSHB 41 News reached out to the City of Marion and Marion County for a comment ,but did not hear back by the time of this publication.
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