JUSTICE HOUR

Marion County Record Publisher Files Federal Suit Against City, County Officials

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which has investigated the case, will present their findings to prosecutors later this month.

Marion County Record publisher Eric Meyer filed a federal lawsuit against city and county officials in Kansas on Monday, alleging the town’s then-mayor David Mayfield tried to use an August raid on the Record’s newsroom to silence Meyer as part of a personal vendetta against him. Meyer has claimed the raids on the newsroom and the home he shared with his 98-year-old mother and co-publisher, Jane Meyer, led to her death less than a day later. The lawsuit also names former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody, acting Marion Police Chief Zach Hudlin, Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez, and other officials. “Many of those who perpetrated stormtrooper-style bullying with a needlessly huge contingent of armed officers remain in office or have been promoted,” Meyer told KSHB. “Even newly elected officials have refused to disavow the tactics used—tactics that failed to silence our newspaper but proved fatal to my 98-year-old mother.” The Kansas Bureau of Investigation told KHSB on Tuesday it passed the investigation onto the Colorado Bureau of Investigation late last year, and agents from the CBI will present their findings to Kansas prosecutors later this month.