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U.S.|Kansas County Agrees to Pay $3 Million Over Police Raid of Newspaper
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/11/us/marion-county-record-raid-settlement.html
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The search of The Marion County Record’s office in 2023 touched off a national conversation about press freedom.
Nov. 11, 2025, 9:37 p.m. ET
A county in central Kansas has agreed to pay more than $3 million and apologize for a 2023 raid on local newspaper that raised press freedom concerns and turned the small town of Marion, Kan., into a battleground over the First Amendment.
Under the terms of the agreement reached on Monday, county officials pledged to pay $1.2 million to Eric Meyer, the editor of The Marion County Record, and the estate of his mother, Joan, a former editor and associate publisher of the paper. The county also agreed to pay $300,000 to the company that publishes the paper, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.
Another $650,000 will be paid to Ruth Herbel, the city’s former vice mayor, and her husband, whose home was raided, and $900,000 will be divided among two reporters and another member of the newspaper’s staff, according to Bernie Rhodes, a lawyer for the paper.
As part of the agreement, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office also issued a statement in which it expressed its “sincere regrets” for its participation in the drafting and execution of the warrants that were used to search the newspaper’s office and Mr. Meyer’s and Ms. Herbel’s homes.
“This likely would not have happened if established law had been reviewed and applied prior to the execution of the warrants,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
A lawyer for Marion County did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
On Aug. 11, 2023, police officers and county sheriff’s deputies raided the office of The Record and the two homes. The raid of The Record’s newsroom drew condemnation from free speech advocates and touched off a nationwide debate over First Amendment rights.
