cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/7728425
The attorney hired by the city of Marion following the raids on a Kansas newsroom has blocked access to records that should be publicly available under state law.
The KSHB 41 News I-Team requested former police chief Gideon Cody’s text messages, among other public officials in Marion.
In an email on Oct. 31, Jennifer Hill, an attorney hired by the city following the raids denied the request by writing: “The City has no custody over personal cell phones and KORA provides no enforcement mechanism to obtain text messages from personal cell phones. As such, obtaining text messages from the personal property of the listed individuals would place an unreasonable burden on the City and, to the extent any such records even exist, the City is under no obligation to produce such records.”
For those not familiar with the case, this is pretty huge. Youtube lawyer Legal Eagle goes into detail on it, but in general, a small town police chief conducted a large raid on the offices of a local newspaper as well as the residences of their key personnel after they ran a story about him and his spotted past involving disciplinary actions and sexual harassment allegations from previous police departments.
Courts have ruled that the chief had no valid reason to conduct the raid and ordered the department to return all seized items, but they haven’t done that yet. The chief and police department are protected from legal action against them by citing qualified immunity.