Kansas: Marion County to pay more than $3 million for illegal raid on local newspaper

Authorities in Marion County, Kansas, agreed Monday to pay more than $3 million in compensation following an August 2023 police raid on two homes and the local Marion County Record newspaper. In a statement, that media outlet reported that the county admitted wrongdoing in the incident, detailing that the raids were executed by the Marion County Sheriff's Office at the newspaper's offices and the homes of former Marion Deputy Mayor Ruth Herbel and the media outlet's owner, Joan Meyer.

The Record also noted that the raid on Meyer's home, which lasted two and a half hours, contributed to the owner's death from sudden cardiac arrest two days later. As part of the settlement, the county awarded $1 million to her estate and $200,000 to her son, Eric Meyer, who had two computers and his cell phone confiscated during the raid. The newspaper also said it received $300,000 and that two of its reporters, Deb Gruver and Phyllis Zorn, who resigned after the raid citing stress from working for the county, also received $250,000 and $600,000, respectively. Separately, Ruth Herbel, whose computer and phone were also seized during the raid on her home, received $650,000, with the newspaper noting that the raid "aggravated" the dementia of her husband, Ron Herbel.

"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 Police Department’s search warrants on their homes and the Marion County Record," the agency said in a public apology. For his part, Eric Meyer, who is the editor of the Record, said in a statement, "In our democracy, the press is a watchdog against abuse. If the watchdog itself is the target of abuse, and all it does is roll over, democracy suffers."