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I hope that’s not the last charge levied. A police raid designed to retaliate against journalists for being journalists should result in more than one tangentia

I hope that’s not the last charge levied. A police raid designed to retaliate against journalists for being journalists should result in more than one tangential prosecution.

toomuchtodo 2y ago
There was also a settlement, although civil litigation continues. > A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small community the focus of a national debate over press freedoms. > The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but it doesn't apply to two other officials she sued over the raid: the Marion County sheriff and the county's prosecutor. Gruver's lawsuit is among five federal lawsuits filed over the raid against the city, the county and eight current or former elected officials or law enforcement officers. > Gruver's attorney did not immediately respond to emails Friday seeking comment. An attorney for the city, its insurance company, the former chief and others declined to comment but released a copy of the June 25 settlement agreement after the Record filed an open records request. He also provided a copy to The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b825c3643d407a0379893256db224d https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b...
- givemeethekeys 2y ago
  Does the defense pay for all the legal expenses incurred in addition to the settled amount? Lawsuits ain't cheap.
  - jahewson 2y ago
    It depends. Often when a suit involves the government or the public interest then there’s a statute in place that awards fees to the winner.
- batch12 2y ago
  > He also provided a copy to The Associated Press. Interesting way to reduce the value of the info and effort for the request. Send a copy to the paper's competition first/too
  - cookiengineer 2y ago
    It's the only way that he can guarantee that the information is distributed in its original form and not through the victim's bias. So I'd argue that from his perspective, that was definitely the best (read as: most democratic) option.
- starik36 2y ago
  Civil litigation basically means that the taxpayers are on the hook for any damages. I am betting if there were to be personal responsibility, these types are acts would be history.
  - ushiroda80 2y ago
    Cops should shoulder responsibility and be insured individually. Like docs.
    - basementcat 2y ago
      Should computer programmers also shoulder responsibility and be insured like doctors?
      - mrgoldenbrown 2y ago
        When I was programming as a consultant I had to have insurance for my LLC because some clients required it. It's not that weird an idea.
      - indymike 2y ago
        > Should computer programmers also shoulder responsibility and be insured like doctors? Computer programmers aren't authorized and licensed by the government to inflict violence like police officers. Computer programmers are not licensed by the government to prescribe dangerous medications or perform surgeries.
        toss1 2y ago
        And yet many computer programmers and hardware developers, with or without any kind of license or certification, write or design systems that are critical to life and limb; everything including medical systems, airplane systems, automotive systems including drive-by-wire and 'self-driving, engineering systems for design of life critical structures, etc., etc., etc. It's not all low-consequence or recoverable like front end web dev or accounting software. And conversely, many actions of physicians and cops are inconsequential (while many are also life-or-death).
phone8675309 2y ago
If they're going to push to arrest peaceful marijuana users and ruin their lives with a drug charge then the people involved in this raid should see the inside of a cell at least as long as someone up on possession because what the raid plotters have done is more corrosive to a free society than anyone smoking weed at a concert.
blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
[flagged]
- ceejayoz 2y ago
  > Does it matter that it is a police raid? Yes.
- lolinder 2y ago
  > It is unprincipled to be okay with one and not the other. The principle is very clear: officers of the law are given monopoly on the use of force by the state. That state-enforced monopoly on force comes with an enormous amount of responsibility and that responsibility means that breaches of trust should be prosecuted with prejudice. The other situation is a private entity making a decision about what kind of content it wants to host on equipment that it pays for. We can talk about whether certain companies are too big to have full freedom to make that call, but creating a parallel between that and state-ordained police officers wielding guns barging into people's homes to intimidate them into shutting up is either naive, ignorant, or disingenuous.
  - blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
    > The principle is very clear: officers of the law are given monopoly on the use of force by the state. That state-enforced monopoly on force comes with an enormous amount of responsibility and that responsibility means that breaches of trust should be prosecuted with prejudice. I don’t disagree with that aspect but also think it doesn’t invalidate what I said. After all, corporations operating the digital public square also have monopolies over a certain kind of power and that power and responsibility is far greater than any individual police officer given their reach. > but creating a parallel between that and state-ordained police officers wielding guns barging into people's homes to intimidate them into shutting up is either naive, ignorant, or disingenuous. At the scale these tech companies operate, their influence over our our political process and daily lives is far more dangerous. Freedom of speech and press are part of the first amendment in the US for a reason - a free society depends on that right and any violation of it is bad. In my view the end effect on suppressing journalism and speech is the same, whether it is a censorship friendly tech giant or a police officer breaking the law, and therefore the parallel makes sense.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

I hope that’s not the last charge levied. A police raid designed to retaliate against journalists for being journalists should result in more than one tangential prosecution.

toomuchtodo 2y ago

There was also a settlement, although civil litigation continues. > A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small community the focus of a national debate over press freedoms. > The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but it doesn't apply to two other officials she sued over the raid: the Marion County sheriff and the county's prosecutor. Gruver's lawsuit is among five federal lawsuits filed over the raid against the city, the county and eight current or former elected officials or law enforcement officers. > Gruver's attorney did not immediately respond to emails Friday seeking comment. An attorney for the city, its insurance company, the former chief and others declined to comment but released a copy of the June 25 settlement agreement after the Record filed an open records request. He also provided a copy to The Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b825c3643d407a0379893256db224d https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b...

givemeethekeys 2y ago
Does the defense pay for all the legal expenses incurred in addition to the settled amount? Lawsuits ain't cheap.
- jahewson 2y ago
  It depends. Often when a suit involves the government or the public interest then there’s a statute in place that awards fees to the winner.
batch12 2y ago
> He also provided a copy to The Associated Press. Interesting way to reduce the value of the info and effort for the request. Send a copy to the paper's competition first/too
- cookiengineer 2y ago
  It's the only way that he can guarantee that the information is distributed in its original form and not through the victim's bias. So I'd argue that from his perspective, that was definitely the best (read as: most democratic) option.
starik36 2y ago
Civil litigation basically means that the taxpayers are on the hook for any damages. I am betting if there were to be personal responsibility, these types are acts would be history.
- ushiroda80 2y ago
  Cops should shoulder responsibility and be insured individually. Like docs.
  - basementcat 2y ago
    Should computer programmers also shoulder responsibility and be insured like doctors?
    - mrgoldenbrown 2y ago
      When I was programming as a consultant I had to have insurance for my LLC because some clients required it. It's not that weird an idea.
    - indymike 2y ago
      > Should computer programmers also shoulder responsibility and be insured like doctors? Computer programmers aren't authorized and licensed by the government to inflict violence like police officers. Computer programmers are not licensed by the government to prescribe dangerous medications or perform surgeries.
      - toss1 2y ago
        And yet many computer programmers and hardware developers, with or without any kind of license or certification, write or design systems that are critical to life and limb; everything including medical systems, airplane systems, automotive systems including drive-by-wire and 'self-driving, engineering systems for design of life critical structures, etc., etc., etc. It's not all low-consequence or recoverable like front end web dev or accounting software. And conversely, many actions of physicians and cops are inconsequential (while many are also life-or-death).

phone8675309 2y ago

If they're going to push to arrest peaceful marijuana users and ruin their lives with a drug charge then the people involved in this raid should see the inside of a cell at least as long as someone up on possession because what the raid plotters have done is more corrosive to a free society than anyone smoking weed at a concert.

blackeyeblitzar 2y ago

[flagged]

ceejayoz 2y ago
> Does it matter that it is a police raid? Yes.
lolinder 2y ago
> It is unprincipled to be okay with one and not the other. The principle is very clear: officers of the law are given monopoly on the use of force by the state. That state-enforced monopoly on force comes with an enormous amount of responsibility and that responsibility means that breaches of trust should be prosecuted with prejudice. The other situation is a private entity making a decision about what kind of content it wants to host on equipment that it pays for. We can talk about whether certain companies are too big to have full freedom to make that call, but creating a parallel between that and state-ordained police officers wielding guns barging into people's homes to intimidate them into shutting up is either naive, ignorant, or disingenuous.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y ago
  > The principle is very clear: officers of the law are given monopoly on the use of force by the state. That state-enforced monopoly on force comes with an enormous amount of responsibility and that responsibility means that breaches of trust should be prosecuted with prejudice. I don’t disagree with that aspect but also think it doesn’t invalidate what I said. After all, corporations operating the digital public square also have monopolies over a certain kind of power and that power and responsibility is far greater than any individual police officer given their reach. > but creating a parallel between that and state-ordained police officers wielding guns barging into people's homes to intimidate them into shutting up is either naive, ignorant, or disingenuous. At the scale these tech companies operate, their influence over our our political process and daily lives is far more dangerous. Freedom of speech and press are part of the first amendment in the US for a reason - a free society depends on that right and any violation of it is bad. In my view the end effect on suppressing journalism and speech is the same, whether it is a censorship friendly tech giant or a police officer breaking the law, and therefore the parallel makes sense.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]