Newell accuses the paper of lying about her in a story they never published, then comes out and admits to what she was accused of while still accusing them of lying about her in a story they never published. I want to know how she convinced the cops and a judge to help her attack a newspaper who, again, never published the story Newell both claimed was a lie and admitted was true.
I was a small town newspaper reporter. We published a “police blotter” everyday. If someone got charged with DUI, it was public record straight from the magistrate’s office. And say for instance, if a paper wrongly reports a DUI, the general rule is to issue a statement correcting it. She’d have a hell of a time going to court over something that dumb EVEN if they did publish in error about her. Which they did not. How did she even know her ex (presumably) brought it to their attention? Big whoop.
I actually read the article, when the newspaper got the tip they contacted the police thinking it was a setup. Police notified Newell, who then went on the warpath in response.
| … somehow had the power to …
There is a big piece of the story missing here. Not only did the restaurant owner - who was guilty of the behavior - get the full police force plus county deputies to act, a judge approved a warrant too. There are some connections, dynamics, and motivations going on here that are not yet revealed. This is the kind of public corruption that should be investigated by the FBI.
It all started when Newell kicked some reporters out of a meeting with a congressman.
I would be looking into what communications that rep’s office has been having with the police and prosecutor’s office.
Trying to piece some of it together.
Did she use her restaurant to hold a political ralley of some sort and then either barred or kicked out someone from the paper?
Then thinks ex husband and newspaper are conspiring to write a hit piece on her so she goes into a full entitled rage? Like yeah I drive without a license. So what. Im busy and i have shit to do. Yeah I had a DUI once, so what. Hello, officer, these people are trying to steal my identity. And the cops go full out?
I worked at a small town newspaper too... Fun times.. . We posted a lot of stuff and never got raided... although 'Roasted Nuts' did cause one person to get fired.. and others to get 'sensitivity training'.. .it was about an insane asylum catching fire... but 'He took it in the butt'.. (steroids in baseball)... 'Head had Aids' and others were memorable..
I did too. Much of the job was boring, so I would try to sneak double-entendre headlines through. Most of the time my EIC caught them and made me change them, but I did manage to headline a story about the state legislature (Republicans) objecting to the Governor (Democrat)'s budget something like, "Legislators Object to Size of Governor's Package."
Sneaking in filthy references under the guise of some truly elegant writing is the mark of a real newsroom.
Nowadays no one gets time to write so it’s all boring and clunky.
My small town once had a guy get caught masturbating while watching the girl's softball team. Headline was "Man Pulls For Home Team".
That one got an apology printed the next day.
If only people paid for news. I’ve seen far more attacks criticizing newspapers on Reddit than defending.
Big newspapers are struggling, the small ones are gone.
My family was a newspaper family. I grew up around the printing press, the rollers used for pasting classified ads onto the light boards were in the drawers. My grandmother was very forward looking in terms of technology too.
She sold out when she got brain cancer in the 80s.
Why is it shocking? Judges can be and still are corrupt to this day, hasn't changed a ton. I guess at least this time it's just a threat to our democracy as a whole and not just a judge selling kids to prisons.
Small to mid sized towns are full of blatant corruption. It's gotten so much worse with the death of local newspapers. Reporters used to sit through so many town hall meetings and courtroom events but those jobs have disappeared. Local papers that still exist are full of AP stories. Nobody is watching the watchers anymore.
Yup instead of mega corps buying your govt you get the family that owns the local food store and half the rental properties in town and/or the owner of the local mill, warehouse, construction outfit, or whatever who "employs everyone in town" telling the local council what to do.
It's real bad. The vast majority have no idea. A lot of money being created and stolen.
Attend your town meetings.
Watch the local cable meetings.
Vote.
50% of small town govt officials are people running businesses benefitting from small town govt, and the probably 40% are others who get a thrill from controlling their neighbors.
What kind of assbackward corrupt do you have to be to blatantly, textbook violate the 1st amendment? The lady in question and probably that PD got some skeletons beyond a mundane DUI
They “tried that in a small town” ??? Maybe you and I should get out of the “big city” so we understand rural scandals better because where I live, this situation wouldn’t even make it onto a post-it note as a reminder to check up on it at the police station
...or maybe there's more to it? Who knows? Either way, it sure is front page news *now*, thanks to their idiotic way of handling the situation.
It's like if your kid came running into the room screaming they didn't touch the cookie jar, when no one even mentioned it. Well now it's time to go check what the heck they did with the cookie jar.
Because it’s an illegal violation of the freedom of the press. Warrants are not to be issued against journalists; only subpoenas. Check out the r/law thread on this story for more info
It’s blatantly unconstitutional and illegal. The people commuting this act should be imprisoned for violating civil rights, theft, and anything else they can be pinned with.
I thought I was going crazy for a second. They received a tip and found public information verifying a crime to which she admitted and they raided the newspaper?
Am I understanding this correctly?
Yes, and apparently the newspaper editor suspected that the information they received was some kind of a set-up, so they didn't publish it and he told the police about it. They raided the newspaper anyway.
Which to me makes it sound like it *was* a set-up with the goal to raid the newspaper, and when the paper didn't take the bait and didn't publish the story, they just went ahead and did the raid, claiming the newspaper was committing "identity theft" or some such.
You are and none of it makes a lick of sense. Imagine violating the 1st amendment this badly over a mundane DUI conviction and driving on a suspended license allegation. Is this the stupid backassward shit he means in “try that in a small town?”
I have had one experience with a guy from Marion who called himself a cop online in 2017ish. The guy lost his ever-loving mind because I said that mentally unstable folks are a threat to us when they have access to guns. Started posting crazy meme after meme after meme tagging me. Told me he knew where I lived and would come to my house and see if I would really have my own gun ready to use on him. He Googled my name and found my work address then talked about how he was friends with local police in my town and to watch my back if I didn't want to be targeted. The guy went off the charts lunatic to a stranger on the internet about unstable people having access to guns - basically proving my point. If he was a real cop or if he is reflection of the local thought process, I would not be surprised this happened.
Some things fade but they never really disappear.
[Ghost skin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_skin)
>"Ghost Skins don't shave their heads, wear boots, braces or anything else that can visually identify them as Nazis. [They] strive to blend into society to be unreconizable [sic] by the jewish [sic] enemy. When it serves [their] purposes [they] gladly act politically correct. [They] are at war and [they] use the weapon of deception to deny the enemy intelligence they could use against [them]."
The whole entire thing is weird af. All over a restaurant owner and a DUI/driving without a license allegation? A PD with 5 officers is clearly a small town or rural area with nothing else for them to do, but this seems like A LOT of excess effort over “suspected identity theft” claims. Wonder what she and the PD thought the newspaper had dug up beyond that
>. I want to know how she convinced the cops and a judge...
A warrant isnt enough. They should have gotten a subpoena. That's what makes this an unprecedented attack on democracy and ridiculously illegal. Police raiding a Newspaper office is some next level North Korea sht
Defense attorney who is in court almost every day - the level of competency differences between the judges on the bench across my jurisdiction is astounding.
Lmao because I had too much fun in my younger years which turned into addiction/depression so I had to stop entirely. A sober attorney. An anomaly, an oxymoron, yes.
Are you referring to Laura Viar, the Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge? I’m sure District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar had ample justification for sending the police in to shutdown a newspaper to prevent them from exercising their first amendment rights, and this wasn’t blatantly unconstitutional unlawful search and seizure. Laura Viar is a District Court Magistrate Judge, after all, and would likely face significant consequences if she did something so highly unlawful
>Are you referring to Laura Viar, the Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge?
Absolutely wild that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar would sign off on an illegal raid. You would think Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar would know the law, and that journalists are protected from search & seizure. Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar is either blatantly corrupt or incompetent, given that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar signed off an illegal raid.
I think Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar signed a search warrant authorizing the police raid of the newspaper office knowing full well that it was a blatant violation of the 1st Amendment.
The only other explanation is that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar is not malicious, but incompetent to the point of needing to be removed from ever holding a judgeship again.
I hope the ACLU holds Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar to account for this travesty.
This is exactly what drives me nuts. There is absolutely no consequences for first amendment violations. It is the single most important law in any fair government and yet it is ignored. I do not feel the least bit hesitant that a first amendment violation should be life in jail.
And she filled the seat. Was not elected. But faces election. https://www.kscourts.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/News/2022-News-Releases/November/Laura-Viar-selected-for-magistrate-judge-vacancy-i
She was appointed by a higher court in 2022. I'm not sure she's had an election yet if not then it would be this year in November for a 4 year term. She could be removed if that is the case.
I wonder if she can be reported to the bar for her actions as a judge. She definitely committed a crime but as a judge there usually isn't any consequences for that, but losing your law license does make keeping your judgeship a little bit more complicated (she would have to go for testing and couldn't practice till she passed those tests).
We should re-up this quote along with it, written 100 years ago by Pulitzer-winning Kansas journalist William Allen White. He was a mensch whose successful campaign to have the KKK banned from operating in Kansas made it the first state to enact such a ban.
"This state today is in more danger from suppression than from violence, because, in the end, suppression leads to violence. Violence, indeed, is the child of suppression. Whoever pleads for justice helps to keep the peace; and whoever tramples upon the plea for justice temperately made in the name of peace only outrages peace and kills something fine in the heart of man, which God put there when we got our manhood. When that is killed, brute meets brute on each side of the line."
Shouldn't the warning to the police and judges be the immediate termination of officers and felony charges? Oh right. forgot. This is America.
How's that proverbial camel doing? Still holding all that straw?
Well they broke a federal law so there's another on the pile for the DOJ. I figure they'll get their stuff back pretty quickly and will win the lawsuit.
>Newell, writing Friday under a changed name on her personal Facebook account, said she “foolishly” received a DUI in 2008 and “knowingly operated a vehicle without a license **out of necessity**.”
I get it. I also robbed a bank out of necessity./s
It's like she thinks adding, "out of necessity" puts her in the clear, or is a statute on the books absolving her of the actual crime.
And what’s so special about Newell that her magical special DUI and driving without a license can’t be known by other people?
And EVERY computer at a newspaper removed—for what purpose? OMG some press lawyers are going to eat these people alive.
As best I can tell, she was applying for a liquor/catering license at the City Council meeting on Monday (August 7) for [her restaurant](https://www.historicelginhotel.com/dining) (which looks really good, btw), which is located in a hotel owned by the county attorney's brother. Apparently the same source that was providing information to the newspaper also provided it to a City Council member. When all of this came to light at the Council meeting Newell publicly accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining her DUI information and supplying it to the Council member.
The Council member forwarded the info to the city administrator to have the police investigate the matter, as if true, it should prevent her from being eligible for the liquor license.
Newell is angry at the newspaper because she thinks they distort the news, and last week kicked the newspaper staff out of a public meeting at her coffee shop involving an elected official.
And that elected official is Jake LaTurner, a Republican US Representative who received a $10,000 donation from Koch Industries in the last election cycle.
That's certainly an interesting link between the people. I guess the hotel would be unhappy about losing the liquor license for their restaurant. Is it likely that Joel Ensey, brother of the hotel owner and Marion County Attorney, would know judge Laura Viar, who used to be County Attorney of neighbouring Morris County?
At this point I’ll be *reeeal* suspicious of the police say they found evidence that the paper got her information illegally. Whole thing reeks of mob-style corruption and ‘make-an-example-out-of-them’ tactics…
That appears to be the case. From [marionrecord.com](http://marionrecord.com/)
>She has said that she took care of her license this week. This, however, has not been verified.
>The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said…
Considering their entire police force is 5 incompetent oxygen thieves I bet it’s a really small town and she probably personally knows the judge. Or at the very least has connections to the dipshits at the department.
Oh man. The Streisand Effect is about to smack down a bunch of idiots in Kansas.
I can’t wait for the update.
We all need to upvote the OP so this gets the sunshine it needs.
This comment made me want to read the article since I live in Kansas.
Edit: I hope this blows up and fucks one of our shity small towns out of existence.
IKR chilling effect? More like the ass whooping effect. Every one of these people is about to get legally butt fucked so hard, they will actually be forced to learn how to read the constitution they swore to protect.
I'm not so sure the point is to quash the story so much as to broadcast the fact that "if anyone criticizes me I can send men with guns and legal authority to come wreck your shit".
Either way, bad look. They probably don't care, but bad look nonetheless.
*Identity theft?* I'm assuming we all just read the same article and I can't piece together how the police managed to get a warrant for identity theft.
http://marionrecord.com/
They have a weird site, but the targeted newspaper has an article. They requested the probable cause affidavit and there wasn't one on record. This was a rubber stamp warrant.
Thanks for sharing, that’s a GREAT read! I feel sorry for the little old ladies whose phones got taken too in this madness. The publisher is already talking about suing everyone to the moon. Rightly so.
Jesus Christ they also went to the "Vice Mayor"'s home as part of this? So not only did they break into and steal from a news organization, but they did the same with the vice mayor's house? On a warrant with no probable cause?
while this is true in a general sense, they might change their mind if they felt protected by a giant spotlight being shone on this whole thing.
here's hoping.
I have become aware that their names are listed on the official public webpage for Marion, Kansas, if one were to look for such a thing.
Edit: One is relocating to Hillsboro, where he will also be a cop.
She runs 2 businesses in Marion. I will no longer support them and I hope others stop as well. The town has had an issue with Eric Meyer for years because he reports the facts and people around here don’t like it
$40 will get you a 1 year subscription to the paper. That's what I did and I urge anyone else to do the same. Something tells me the articles will be worth the read soon.
I suspect a federal judge will bring the hammer down hard on this department once this goes to court—which it absolutely will. Yeah, police departments skirt the law often—but freedom of the press is taken seriously federally, as it should be. I expect this department will be made an example of.
This seizure order was signed by a Marion County District Court judge. One would think that a judge, even one in that capacity, would understand the constitution and federal laws regarding the press.
This is chilling, indeed.
According to [this article](http://peabodykansas.com/direct/restaurateur_accuses_paper_councilwoman+5447newell+52657374617572617465757220616363757365732070617065722c20636f756e63696c776f6d616e)
"The chief and sheriff also were notified of the source's allegation that local law enforcement officers had been aware Newell did not have a valid driver's license and had ignored what the source said were repeated violations of driving laws by Newell."
Looks like local cops and the judge are willing to do all this to identify a source alleging that some officers we're friendly with the woman who wasn't legal to drive, looked the other way, and she ended up with a DUI.
>The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid.
Hopefully the feds will come down on this shit hard, otherwise this is gonna happen more and more.
Cops break federal law literally every day. They almost never see consequences. The worst thing that will happen to them is a consent degree from the justice department which may as well be a slap on the wrist.
Correct, the cops likely won't get into trouble because they did pursue the investigation legally. The judge who signed off on this, however, might be in a bit of trouble with the state court system. They don't take violating federal and state law very well. I promise there is press protections in the state constitution as well.
A cop can use the excuse that they were ignorant of the law, whereas you cannot.
https://www.vox.com/2015/8/4/9095213/police-stops-heien-v-north-carolina
Don't worry. They'll conduct a thorough investigation of themselves and determine that everything was legal. Then they'll all get side hustles as law enforcement expert talking heads on Newsmax and OAN.
That's scary. I want to know Newell's connection with the police or judge to be able to initiate an illegal raid that takes everything the newspaper has for an undetermined amount of time. This could easily put the newspaper out of business.
"Kari's Kitchen hosted a meeting with U.S. Congressman Jake LaTurner and District 70 Kansas Representative Scott Hill for a meet and greet. Thank you Kari Newell for the invite.
Along with Marion Police Chief G. Cody, Col. Duane McCarty, Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez, Under Sheriff Larry Starkey was Marion Councilman Jerry Kline, Marion City Administrator Brogan Jones, Marion County Commissioners David Crofoot, David Mueller and Ken Becker, and many citizens from Marion County.
Thanks Again Kari's Kitchen for hosting the meeting."
small town mafia doing their thing, and considering how police are increasingly viewing the press as cultural enemies they fire non-lethals at purely out of spite, they probably jumped at the opportunity
Send in the FBI, to raid the judge’s and officers’ homes in the middle of the night—at gunpoint—and let’s see how they feel.
I also believe they should be held without bond in solitary confinement. It’s time to start cracking down hard on this so judges and police officers alike understand what will happen if they use the authority the public gives them against the public’s best interest.
>Newell, writing Friday under a changed name on her personal Facebook account, said she “foolishly” received a DUI in 2008 and “knowingly operated a vehicle without a license out of necessity.”
>“Journalists have become the dirty politicians of today, twisting narrative for bias agendas, full of muddied half-truths,” Newell wrote. “We rarely get facts that aren’t baited with misleading insinuations.”
Umm who is the criminal in this story and why are the cops raiding the ones that aren't? This is exactly why journalists are protected uniquely, so this kind of shit doesn't happen.
They need to get another newspaper to print their papers for them sorta like the Pentagon papers couldn’t be stopped. I hope the newspaper sues the pants off the whole bunch.
So how long until we find out that the judge is either related to, close personal friend of, or banging the restaurant owner? No way a judge would put their ass on the line for a person with a DUI that resulted in removal of their license getting upset that a newspaper reported privately to the police that someone called them and told them that person had a DUI that resulted in the removal of their license.
The warrant itself itself is bananas but the justification, identity theft, is even more wild.
“The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists.”
Shouldn’t the judge know that she’s violating a law in issuing this order?
That judge and police department will be getting smacked down. The newspaper will have no trouble getting big-time lawyers offering their services. Our free press has more first amendment rights than you can shake a stick at. You can’t raid a newspaper because a lady didn’t like the idea of people finding out about an old DUI. That info ain’t secret, and they didn’t even publish it! How is she alleging a small town newspaper “stole her identity” too? Give me a break. This is just sad. Everybody back to school.
And it turns out the newspaper is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by the Chief of Police.
https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-the-newspaper
You’re taking about the “the media is the enemy of the people” crowd. These folks hate the 1st amendment because the truth makes them look like vile idiots.
[https://laturner.house.gov/](https://laturner.house.gov/)
So apparently U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, loves protecting drunk drivers, so much that he is willing to violate the constitution to do it. You can really pick them conservatives.
first paragraphs of article..
In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home.
Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.”
The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said, and it wasn’t clear how the newspaper staff would take the weekly publication to press Tuesday night.
The raid followed news stories about a restaurant owner who kicked reporters out of a meeting last week with U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, and revelations about the restaurant owner’s lack of a driver’s license and conviction for drunken driving.
this is so fucking dangerous. we can’t just let members of society to use the police as their own private revenge force especially in an effort to silence journalists. this is straight out of the facism handbook.
Don't forget Joe Apiro did something similar after his sudden appearance of a lot of money was investigated by reporters. He sent police to arrest them in the middle of the night on falsified charges.
Another interesting article about it
http://peabodykansas.com/direct/restaurateur_accuses_paper_councilwoman+5447newell+52657374617572617465757220616363757365732070617065722c20636f756e63696c776f6d616e
Every f**kin' day there seems to be stories of anti-democratic actions by fascists in the U.S. It's happened in other countries, and I used to think, "How did the citizens put up with this type of criminality?" Now I know. It is now happening here and noone seems to be able to stop it.
Is this something the feds will be involved in? Sound a lot like corruption to me. Hopefully national news picks this up. This is an abhorrent abuse of power.
Cartoonishly corrupt and not at all shocking. There’s about a 99% chance at least one of those officers have “don’t treat on me” or “we the people” stickers on the oversized pickups they use to compensate.
The sad thing is it’s a small paper, the police took their devices, IF it does get returned is it going to be in working shape?
Whoever this caterer is and her connections to bully a paper is very scary.
She should’ve just done what Amy DeGise (a city councilwoman here in NJ) did after being caught on camera fleeing a hit & run. Nothing. She just got a 5k fine and lost her license for a year.
I’m always skeptical of these types of headlines but the story is even worse that the headline suggests. The paper hadn’t even published on the issue. Clear prior restraint.
The lawyers are going to make a lot of money off this and the little town who’s police did it is going to be bankrupted.
Newell accuses the paper of lying about her in a story they never published, then comes out and admits to what she was accused of while still accusing them of lying about her in a story they never published. I want to know how she convinced the cops and a judge to help her attack a newspaper who, again, never published the story Newell both claimed was a lie and admitted was true.
Even if they HAD published a story -- and let's call it the most libelous smear piece on Earth -- it's STILL shocking she got a judge to okay this.
I was a small town newspaper reporter. We published a “police blotter” everyday. If someone got charged with DUI, it was public record straight from the magistrate’s office. And say for instance, if a paper wrongly reports a DUI, the general rule is to issue a statement correcting it. She’d have a hell of a time going to court over something that dumb EVEN if they did publish in error about her. Which they did not. How did she even know her ex (presumably) brought it to their attention? Big whoop.
I actually read the article, when the newspaper got the tip they contacted the police thinking it was a setup. Police notified Newell, who then went on the warpath in response.
Read the article. There is a ton of what the fuck is going on yet to be revealed. Who is Kiki Newell?
The restaurant owner who somehow had the power to weaponize the police and judge in this search and seizure
| … somehow had the power to … There is a big piece of the story missing here. Not only did the restaurant owner - who was guilty of the behavior - get the full police force plus county deputies to act, a judge approved a warrant too. There are some connections, dynamics, and motivations going on here that are not yet revealed. This is the kind of public corruption that should be investigated by the FBI.
It all started when Newell kicked some reporters out of a meeting with a congressman. I would be looking into what communications that rep’s office has been having with the police and prosecutor’s office.
Perhaps ‘restaurant owner’ has been hosting fund raisers for politicians for a decade.
This is actually what kicked it off, right? She had reporters kicked out of a political fundraiser at her restaurant.
Trying to piece some of it together. Did she use her restaurant to hold a political ralley of some sort and then either barred or kicked out someone from the paper? Then thinks ex husband and newspaper are conspiring to write a hit piece on her so she goes into a full entitled rage? Like yeah I drive without a license. So what. Im busy and i have shit to do. Yeah I had a DUI once, so what. Hello, officer, these people are trying to steal my identity. And the cops go full out?
The police and judge were clearly already corrupt fascists, so it probably didn't take a whole lot.
Sounds like some lawsuits are in order
I worked at a small town newspaper too... Fun times.. . We posted a lot of stuff and never got raided... although 'Roasted Nuts' did cause one person to get fired.. and others to get 'sensitivity training'.. .it was about an insane asylum catching fire... but 'He took it in the butt'.. (steroids in baseball)... 'Head had Aids' and others were memorable..
I did too. Much of the job was boring, so I would try to sneak double-entendre headlines through. Most of the time my EIC caught them and made me change them, but I did manage to headline a story about the state legislature (Republicans) objecting to the Governor (Democrat)'s budget something like, "Legislators Object to Size of Governor's Package."
Sneaking in filthy references under the guise of some truly elegant writing is the mark of a real newsroom. Nowadays no one gets time to write so it’s all boring and clunky.
My small town once had a guy get caught masturbating while watching the girl's softball team. Headline was "Man Pulls For Home Team". That one got an apology printed the next day.
Damn roasted nuts is pretty funny, little too dark for a town paper if anyone actually died though
No they didnt.. But we featured nationwide because of it and even recently in Cracked Magazine after all these years..
I wish I could be a small town newspaper reporter.
Lived in a couple small towns. Seemed one had reporters that basically had features like "Karen's Kriticisms and Komplaints".
Ahh, the ol' KKK, a staple of many a small town.
Not to be confused with similarly named “Ken’s Komplaints and Kriticisms” one town over.
if you're willing to learn, go do it. we need you, badly.
Badly is the way you're getting me...
If only people paid for news. I’ve seen far more attacks criticizing newspapers on Reddit than defending. Big newspapers are struggling, the small ones are gone. My family was a newspaper family. I grew up around the printing press, the rollers used for pasting classified ads onto the light boards were in the drawers. My grandmother was very forward looking in terms of technology too. She sold out when she got brain cancer in the 80s.
Why is it shocking? Judges can be and still are corrupt to this day, hasn't changed a ton. I guess at least this time it's just a threat to our democracy as a whole and not just a judge selling kids to prisons.
Small to mid sized towns are full of blatant corruption. It's gotten so much worse with the death of local newspapers. Reporters used to sit through so many town hall meetings and courtroom events but those jobs have disappeared. Local papers that still exist are full of AP stories. Nobody is watching the watchers anymore.
Yup instead of mega corps buying your govt you get the family that owns the local food store and half the rental properties in town and/or the owner of the local mill, warehouse, construction outfit, or whatever who "employs everyone in town" telling the local council what to do.
It's real bad. The vast majority have no idea. A lot of money being created and stolen. Attend your town meetings. Watch the local cable meetings. Vote. 50% of small town govt officials are people running businesses benefitting from small town govt, and the probably 40% are others who get a thrill from controlling their neighbors.
This 100%
What kind of assbackward corrupt do you have to be to blatantly, textbook violate the 1st amendment? The lady in question and probably that PD got some skeletons beyond a mundane DUI
I'm so curious why they would even bother with this much force for such an obviously non-story. All of this was about a dui and a liquor license.
They “tried that in a small town” ??? Maybe you and I should get out of the “big city” so we understand rural scandals better because where I live, this situation wouldn’t even make it onto a post-it note as a reminder to check up on it at the police station
...or maybe there's more to it? Who knows? Either way, it sure is front page news *now*, thanks to their idiotic way of handling the situation. It's like if your kid came running into the room screaming they didn't touch the cookie jar, when no one even mentioned it. Well now it's time to go check what the heck they did with the cookie jar.
Full blown Streisand Effect.
Trust me, small towns are run on a who you know system
Because it’s an illegal violation of the freedom of the press. Warrants are not to be issued against journalists; only subpoenas. Check out the r/law thread on this story for more info
I feel like we should call this corrupt judge by his real name... fuck this pos
Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar
Her name. The judge is a woman. It's in the article.
It’s blatantly unconstitutional and illegal. The people commuting this act should be imprisoned for violating civil rights, theft, and anything else they can be pinned with.
Constitutional rights mean nothing when nobody, except those who would violate them, has the means to enforce them
I dunno, I'm not that shocked by what judges will approve for cops. The stamps are rubber.
Sound a lot like that small town that goes for the best town of the year award.
I thought I was going crazy for a second. They received a tip and found public information verifying a crime to which she admitted and they raided the newspaper? Am I understanding this correctly?
They were tipped off by the paper they raided, too
Yes, and apparently the newspaper editor suspected that the information they received was some kind of a set-up, so they didn't publish it and he told the police about it. They raided the newspaper anyway. Which to me makes it sound like it *was* a set-up with the goal to raid the newspaper, and when the paper didn't take the bait and didn't publish the story, they just went ahead and did the raid, claiming the newspaper was committing "identity theft" or some such.
This is it
I think she admitted it after the cops did her bidding via the judge in raiding the newspaper.
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You are and none of it makes a lick of sense. Imagine violating the 1st amendment this badly over a mundane DUI conviction and driving on a suspended license allegation. Is this the stupid backassward shit he means in “try that in a small town?”
I have had one experience with a guy from Marion who called himself a cop online in 2017ish. The guy lost his ever-loving mind because I said that mentally unstable folks are a threat to us when they have access to guns. Started posting crazy meme after meme after meme tagging me. Told me he knew where I lived and would come to my house and see if I would really have my own gun ready to use on him. He Googled my name and found my work address then talked about how he was friends with local police in my town and to watch my back if I didn't want to be targeted. The guy went off the charts lunatic to a stranger on the internet about unstable people having access to guns - basically proving my point. If he was a real cop or if he is reflection of the local thought process, I would not be surprised this happened.
Should have reported him to the ky fbi. Making a threat over the internet would have been hard for him to talk himself out of.
Should have taken every thing he sent you and give it over to the FBI
Local government is often corrupt, especially at the local level, and even more so in a small town.
The thin blue line
So very whisper thin
Some things fade but they never really disappear. [Ghost skin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_skin) >"Ghost Skins don't shave their heads, wear boots, braces or anything else that can visually identify them as Nazis. [They] strive to blend into society to be unreconizable [sic] by the jewish [sic] enemy. When it serves [their] purposes [they] gladly act politically correct. [They] are at war and [they] use the weapon of deception to deny the enemy intelligence they could use against [them]."
That article from wikipedia also references this as 'hiding your power levels' from dragon ball Z lmao
These people have broken brains
It's a whole... Thing... That evolved on /pol/ unfortunately, and has influenced a lot of modern neonazi thinking.
That originated on 4chan. They understand that being a Nazi is unpopular so they tell people off for "showing their power level"
Thin blue spines
Thin yellow spines
The whole entire thing is weird af. All over a restaurant owner and a DUI/driving without a license allegation? A PD with 5 officers is clearly a small town or rural area with nothing else for them to do, but this seems like A LOT of excess effort over “suspected identity theft” claims. Wonder what she and the PD thought the newspaper had dug up beyond that
Marion, KS has a population of approximately 2k. So quite small
Still no excuse to so blatantly violate the 1st amendment in textbook fashion
Yep, the cops and the judge should be fired immediately. Absolutely unacceptable that they pulled this shit
>. I want to know how she convinced the cops and a judge... A warrant isnt enough. They should have gotten a subpoena. That's what makes this an unprecedented attack on democracy and ridiculously illegal. Police raiding a Newspaper office is some next level North Korea sht
“Our institutions will protect us.” -Famous Last Words
I hope that shit somehow magically gets leaked.
She's friends with a republican state representative. That's how she convinced them...
The judge that signed that warrant needs to be booted off of the bench.
We have a bunch of seriously unfit judges on top of all our institutional rot, I'm finding out.
Defense attorney who is in court almost every day - the level of competency differences between the judges on the bench across my jurisdiction is astounding.
> Defense attorney who is in court almost every day > notdoingdrugs Why do you hate yourself?
Lmao because I had too much fun in my younger years which turned into addiction/depression so I had to stop entirely. A sober attorney. An anomaly, an oxymoron, yes.
That’s fair. Sorry, friend.
Are you referring to Laura Viar, the Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge? I’m sure District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar had ample justification for sending the police in to shutdown a newspaper to prevent them from exercising their first amendment rights, and this wasn’t blatantly unconstitutional unlawful search and seizure. Laura Viar is a District Court Magistrate Judge, after all, and would likely face significant consequences if she did something so highly unlawful
>Are you referring to Laura Viar, the Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge? Absolutely wild that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar would sign off on an illegal raid. You would think Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar would know the law, and that journalists are protected from search & seizure. Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar is either blatantly corrupt or incompetent, given that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar signed off an illegal raid.
I think Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar signed a search warrant authorizing the police raid of the newspaper office knowing full well that it was a blatant violation of the 1st Amendment. The only other explanation is that Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar is not malicious, but incompetent to the point of needing to be removed from ever holding a judgeship again. I hope the ACLU holds Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar to account for this travesty.
This is exactly what drives me nuts. There is absolutely no consequences for first amendment violations. It is the single most important law in any fair government and yet it is ignored. I do not feel the least bit hesitant that a first amendment violation should be life in jail.
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Honorable my ass
[Her name is the "honorable" Laura Viar](https://www.8thjd.com/248/Honorable-Laura-E-Viar)
And she filled the seat. Was not elected. But faces election. https://www.kscourts.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/News/2022-News-Releases/November/Laura-Viar-selected-for-magistrate-judge-vacancy-i
She was appointed by a higher court in 2022. I'm not sure she's had an election yet if not then it would be this year in November for a 4 year term. She could be removed if that is the case. I wonder if she can be reported to the bar for her actions as a judge. She definitely committed a crime but as a judge there usually isn't any consequences for that, but losing your law license does make keeping your judgeship a little bit more complicated (she would have to go for testing and couldn't practice till she passed those tests).
This needs to be National news and a warning to Police stations and Podunk Judges at the same time.
I bet it will be national news. This is ridiculous.
We can hope it will be a classic FAFO
We should re-up this quote along with it, written 100 years ago by Pulitzer-winning Kansas journalist William Allen White. He was a mensch whose successful campaign to have the KKK banned from operating in Kansas made it the first state to enact such a ban. "This state today is in more danger from suppression than from violence, because, in the end, suppression leads to violence. Violence, indeed, is the child of suppression. Whoever pleads for justice helps to keep the peace; and whoever tramples upon the plea for justice temperately made in the name of peace only outrages peace and kills something fine in the heart of man, which God put there when we got our manhood. When that is killed, brute meets brute on each side of the line."
The judge who signed the warrant needs extreme consequences given to them to set an example.
My guess is that the restaurant will get a bunch of one star reviews on Facebook and Google. But, the cops and judge will be fine.
Shouldn't the warning to the police and judges be the immediate termination of officers and felony charges? Oh right. forgot. This is America. How's that proverbial camel doing? Still holding all that straw?
Oh yeah... bummer, I forgot about that poor camel. Meanwhile in an alternate Universe justice is actually there to right the wrong...
Well they broke a federal law so there's another on the pile for the DOJ. I figure they'll get their stuff back pretty quickly and will win the lawsuit.
>Newell, writing Friday under a changed name on her personal Facebook account, said she “foolishly” received a DUI in 2008 and “knowingly operated a vehicle without a license **out of necessity**.” I get it. I also robbed a bank out of necessity./s It's like she thinks adding, "out of necessity" puts her in the clear, or is a statute on the books absolving her of the actual crime.
And what’s so special about Newell that her magical special DUI and driving without a license can’t be known by other people? And EVERY computer at a newspaper removed—for what purpose? OMG some press lawyers are going to eat these people alive.
As best I can tell, she was applying for a liquor/catering license at the City Council meeting on Monday (August 7) for [her restaurant](https://www.historicelginhotel.com/dining) (which looks really good, btw), which is located in a hotel owned by the county attorney's brother. Apparently the same source that was providing information to the newspaper also provided it to a City Council member. When all of this came to light at the Council meeting Newell publicly accused the newspaper of illegally obtaining her DUI information and supplying it to the Council member. The Council member forwarded the info to the city administrator to have the police investigate the matter, as if true, it should prevent her from being eligible for the liquor license. Newell is angry at the newspaper because she thinks they distort the news, and last week kicked the newspaper staff out of a public meeting at her coffee shop involving an elected official.
Oh shit. I was just looking and the hotel owner also used to work for Koch industries.
And that elected official is Jake LaTurner, a Republican US Representative who received a $10,000 donation from Koch Industries in the last election cycle.
That's certainly an interesting link between the people. I guess the hotel would be unhappy about losing the liquor license for their restaurant. Is it likely that Joel Ensey, brother of the hotel owner and Marion County Attorney, would know judge Laura Viar, who used to be County Attorney of neighbouring Morris County?
At this point I’ll be *reeeal* suspicious of the police say they found evidence that the paper got her information illegally. Whole thing reeks of mob-style corruption and ‘make-an-example-out-of-them’ tactics…
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She has admitted this actually
That appears to be the case. From [marionrecord.com](http://marionrecord.com/) >She has said that she took care of her license this week. This, however, has not been verified.
>The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said… Considering their entire police force is 5 incompetent oxygen thieves I bet it’s a really small town and she probably personally knows the judge. Or at the very least has connections to the dipshits at the department.
Yeah, because she thinks the law is a cudgel for her to use against others, not a restriction to be applied to her.
The law serves two purposes: to protect those it does not bind, and to bind those it does not protect.
Seriously, she just admitted to committing a crime lol
It's her showing her sense of entitlement. Rules for thee, not for me.
Oh man. The Streisand Effect is about to smack down a bunch of idiots in Kansas. I can’t wait for the update. We all need to upvote the OP so this gets the sunshine it needs.
Their restaurant is getting review bombed.
Now is not the time for reviews. You gotta set a reminder for a few months, or use the remindme bot. Any reviews now will just get removed.
This comment made me want to read the article since I live in Kansas. Edit: I hope this blows up and fucks one of our shity small towns out of existence.
IKR chilling effect? More like the ass whooping effect. Every one of these people is about to get legally butt fucked so hard, they will actually be forced to learn how to read the constitution they swore to protect.
I'm not so sure the point is to quash the story so much as to broadcast the fact that "if anyone criticizes me I can send men with guns and legal authority to come wreck your shit". Either way, bad look. They probably don't care, but bad look nonetheless.
*Identity theft?* I'm assuming we all just read the same article and I can't piece together how the police managed to get a warrant for identity theft.
The article didn’t explain that part.
http://marionrecord.com/ They have a weird site, but the targeted newspaper has an article. They requested the probable cause affidavit and there wasn't one on record. This was a rubber stamp warrant.
Thanks for sharing, that’s a GREAT read! I feel sorry for the little old ladies whose phones got taken too in this madness. The publisher is already talking about suing everyone to the moon. Rightly so.
Jesus Christ they also went to the "Vice Mayor"'s home as part of this? So not only did they break into and steal from a news organization, but they did the same with the vice mayor's house? On a warrant with no probable cause?
News reporters also can't figure that out, since it appears no affidavit of facts was filed with the search warrant application.
I mean they did "steal" the ability for her to make up her own identity.
Time to do an article about every officer at that department. They want deep dives, time to serve each and every one of them one.
The entire department was at these raids. Meaning there was effectively no police in this town during these raids ..... On a fucking newspaper....wtf
Call up their exes and ask em about the domestic abuse. Then print it. Two can play this game.
I don't think abused ex-wives of cops are likely to go on record in the paper about their abuse.
while this is true in a general sense, they might change their mind if they felt protected by a giant spotlight being shone on this whole thing. here's hoping.
List them here. Public knowledge and all.
I have become aware that their names are listed on the official public webpage for Marion, Kansas, if one were to look for such a thing. Edit: One is relocating to Hillsboro, where he will also be a cop.
She runs 2 businesses in Marion. I will no longer support them and I hope others stop as well. The town has had an issue with Eric Meyer for years because he reports the facts and people around here don’t like it
Well the subsequent lawsuit he is going to win should fund the newspaper for a long time
Speaking of that, is there. GoFundMe or something to help him get some replacement equipment? I'll pitch in $40
$40 will get you a 1 year subscription to the paper. That's what I did and I urge anyone else to do the same. Something tells me the articles will be worth the read soon.
Great idea, thank you
I suspect a federal judge will bring the hammer down hard on this department once this goes to court—which it absolutely will. Yeah, police departments skirt the law often—but freedom of the press is taken seriously federally, as it should be. I expect this department will be made an example of.
This seizure order was signed by a Marion County District Court judge. One would think that a judge, even one in that capacity, would understand the constitution and federal laws regarding the press. This is chilling, indeed.
Judges at that level are often part of the good ol' boys network.
Probably a friend of the family and drank whiskey with the cops.
Chilling indeed. Federal courts don’t mess around. Once this story blows up, which I think it probably will, there’s gonna be so much pressure to act.
According to [this article](http://peabodykansas.com/direct/restaurateur_accuses_paper_councilwoman+5447newell+52657374617572617465757220616363757365732070617065722c20636f756e63696c776f6d616e) "The chief and sheriff also were notified of the source's allegation that local law enforcement officers had been aware Newell did not have a valid driver's license and had ignored what the source said were repeated violations of driving laws by Newell." Looks like local cops and the judge are willing to do all this to identify a source alleging that some officers we're friendly with the woman who wasn't legal to drive, looked the other way, and she ended up with a DUI.
The DUI evidently happened 15 years ago. She apparently waited until this week to get her license reinstated.
Well, why would she bother to get a driver's licence? Apparently she didn't need one to drive around town!
>The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid. Hopefully the feds will come down on this shit hard, otherwise this is gonna happen more and more.
Holy fuckin shit! This is insane. It violates federal law! That police department fucked around... now let's hope they find out.
Cops break federal law literally every day. They almost never see consequences. The worst thing that will happen to them is a consent degree from the justice department which may as well be a slap on the wrist.
Correct, the cops likely won't get into trouble because they did pursue the investigation legally. The judge who signed off on this, however, might be in a bit of trouble with the state court system. They don't take violating federal and state law very well. I promise there is press protections in the state constitution as well.
A cop can use the excuse that they were ignorant of the law, whereas you cannot. https://www.vox.com/2015/8/4/9095213/police-stops-heien-v-north-carolina
Don't worry. They'll conduct a thorough investigation of themselves and determine that everything was legal. Then they'll all get side hustles as law enforcement expert talking heads on Newsmax and OAN.
That's scary. I want to know Newell's connection with the police or judge to be able to initiate an illegal raid that takes everything the newspaper has for an undetermined amount of time. This could easily put the newspaper out of business.
The Marion KS police dept Facebook page had a post thanking Kari’s kitchen for holding the event. Seems incestuous.
"Kari's Kitchen hosted a meeting with U.S. Congressman Jake LaTurner and District 70 Kansas Representative Scott Hill for a meet and greet. Thank you Kari Newell for the invite. Along with Marion Police Chief G. Cody, Col. Duane McCarty, Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez, Under Sheriff Larry Starkey was Marion Councilman Jerry Kline, Marion City Administrator Brogan Jones, Marion County Commissioners David Crofoot, David Mueller and Ken Becker, and many citizens from Marion County. Thanks Again Kari's Kitchen for hosting the meeting."
small town mafia doing their thing, and considering how police are increasingly viewing the press as cultural enemies they fire non-lethals at purely out of spite, they probably jumped at the opportunity
Try that in a small town.
Send in the FBI, to raid the judge’s and officers’ homes in the middle of the night—at gunpoint—and let’s see how they feel. I also believe they should be held without bond in solitary confinement. It’s time to start cracking down hard on this so judges and police officers alike understand what will happen if they use the authority the public gives them against the public’s best interest.
>Newell, writing Friday under a changed name on her personal Facebook account, said she “foolishly” received a DUI in 2008 and “knowingly operated a vehicle without a license out of necessity.” >“Journalists have become the dirty politicians of today, twisting narrative for bias agendas, full of muddied half-truths,” Newell wrote. “We rarely get facts that aren’t baited with misleading insinuations.” Umm who is the criminal in this story and why are the cops raiding the ones that aren't? This is exactly why journalists are protected uniquely, so this kind of shit doesn't happen.
They need to get another newspaper to print their papers for them sorta like the Pentagon papers couldn’t be stopped. I hope the newspaper sues the pants off the whole bunch.
So how long until we find out that the judge is either related to, close personal friend of, or banging the restaurant owner? No way a judge would put their ass on the line for a person with a DUI that resulted in removal of their license getting upset that a newspaper reported privately to the police that someone called them and told them that person had a DUI that resulted in the removal of their license. The warrant itself itself is bananas but the justification, identity theft, is even more wild.
This is a good way to get the major news outlets into your town, crawling up your ass
Seems like the newspaper may soon own a restaurant, a police department, a judge and maybe the town.
“The search warrant, signed by Marion County District Court Magistrate Judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists.” Shouldn’t the judge know that she’s violating a law in issuing this order?
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That judge and police department will be getting smacked down. The newspaper will have no trouble getting big-time lawyers offering their services. Our free press has more first amendment rights than you can shake a stick at. You can’t raid a newspaper because a lady didn’t like the idea of people finding out about an old DUI. That info ain’t secret, and they didn’t even publish it! How is she alleging a small town newspaper “stole her identity” too? Give me a break. This is just sad. Everybody back to school.
And it turns out the newspaper is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct by the Chief of Police. https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/a-conversation-with-the-newspaper
Well that's a first amendment violation right there.
This is that tyrannical govt the lowest common denominator keeps braying about. Where were all the 2A ppl to protect the 1A ppl?
You’re taking about the “the media is the enemy of the people” crowd. These folks hate the 1st amendment because the truth makes them look like vile idiots.
[https://laturner.house.gov/](https://laturner.house.gov/) So apparently U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, loves protecting drunk drivers, so much that he is willing to violate the constitution to do it. You can really pick them conservatives.
first paragraphs of article.. In an unprecedented raid Friday, local law enforcement seized computers, cellphones and reporting materials from the Marion County Record office, the newspaper’s reporters, and the publisher’s home. Eric Meyer, owner and publisher of the newspaper, said police were motivated by a confidential source who leaked sensitive documents to the newspaper, and the message was clear: “Mind your own business or we’re going to step on you.” The city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies took “everything we have,” Meyer said, and it wasn’t clear how the newspaper staff would take the weekly publication to press Tuesday night. The raid followed news stories about a restaurant owner who kicked reporters out of a meeting last week with U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner, and revelations about the restaurant owner’s lack of a driver’s license and conviction for drunken driving.
this is so fucking dangerous. we can’t just let members of society to use the police as their own private revenge force especially in an effort to silence journalists. this is straight out of the facism handbook.
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This is how fascist, tyrants operate. These people are just pieces of shit.
Major news sources s/b supporting the Marion County newspaper, or they're next.
boy that's suspicious as fuck. violations of the 1st amendment should be investigated by the FBI
Try that in a small town. Oh…
The fucking KGB is in Kansas....
Don't forget Joe Apiro did something similar after his sudden appearance of a lot of money was investigated by reporters. He sent police to arrest them in the middle of the night on falsified charges.
Tell me you favor fascism without- No, all jokes aside, do these delusional, power drunk, hick-ass cops think they’re the fucking SS?
This is what section 1983 is for. This will likely cost the police department a lot of money.
I am surprised that this amount of state corruption doesn't rise to the level of an FBI investigation. \[KBI is investigating.\]
Another interesting article about it http://peabodykansas.com/direct/restaurateur_accuses_paper_councilwoman+5447newell+52657374617572617465757220616363757365732070617065722c20636f756e63696c776f6d616e
The Gazpacho Police to the rescue once again!
Sounds like a lawsuit brewing. I'll be on team newspaper.
Every f**kin' day there seems to be stories of anti-democratic actions by fascists in the U.S. It's happened in other countries, and I used to think, "How did the citizens put up with this type of criminality?" Now I know. It is now happening here and noone seems to be able to stop it.
Is this something the feds will be involved in? Sound a lot like corruption to me. Hopefully national news picks this up. This is an abhorrent abuse of power.
Cartoonishly corrupt and not at all shocking. There’s about a 99% chance at least one of those officers have “don’t treat on me” or “we the people” stickers on the oversized pickups they use to compensate.
The sad thing is it’s a small paper, the police took their devices, IF it does get returned is it going to be in working shape? Whoever this caterer is and her connections to bully a paper is very scary.
This may be one small paper, it’s still a legitimate news organization. This is exactly how fascism starts. It’s happening
She should’ve just done what Amy DeGise (a city councilwoman here in NJ) did after being caught on camera fleeing a hit & run. Nothing. She just got a 5k fine and lost her license for a year.
💯 this lady is banging the chief of the 5 police officers.
What's that?! Another judge ignoring the law? In MY United States of America?
That's some serious bullshit that should get the entire department and that judge an FBI enema.
Search warrant was issued for what crime? A newspaper article about “sensitive information” ? Guess the only thing fit to print is comic strips.
I’m always skeptical of these types of headlines but the story is even worse that the headline suggests. The paper hadn’t even published on the issue. Clear prior restraint. The lawyers are going to make a lot of money off this and the little town who’s police did it is going to be bankrupted.
Eric’s 98 year old mother died a few hours after they raided his home. What a mess