Officers raided the newsroom as well as the publisher's home in August 2023.
Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn is seeking $950,000 in damages from the city of Marion, its former mayor, its former police chief, its current interim police chief, the Marion County Commission, the county sheriff and a former sheriff’s deputy. | John Hanna/APTOPEKA, Kansas — A reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper that police raided last year filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against its hometown and local officials, saying the raid caused her physical and mental health problems.
But the lawsuit alleges Cody was “infuriated” that the newspaper was investigating his background before he became Marion’s chief in May 2023. It also said Zorn was on Cody’s “enemies list” for laughing off a suggestion that they start a rival paper together. “I’m certainly not anti-law enforcement because that’s what I did, but this kind of stuff just drives me crazy,” Rathbun said in an interview. “I know law enforcement, how they should react, and ... this is not it.”
Marion City Attorney Brian Bina said he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment, adding that typically the city’s insurance company would later hire a lawyer. The amount sought by Zorn is more than the city raises annually from property taxes to help fund its budget, which was $8.7 million for 2023.
Cody maintained that he had questions about how the newspaper verified the authenticity of a state document confirming that the local restaurant owner’s driving record had been suspended for years over a past drunken driving offense, according to documents released by the city in response to open records requests.
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