Marion County Record lawyer speaks out on recent police raid: 'It's not a crime to be a reporter'...

Police seized computers, cell phones and documents during raids on the offices of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher on Friday. Now, the lawyer for the newspaper is speaking out.
The raids on the offices of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher have garnered international attention and raised concerns about the power of police to undermine the work of journalists.

Bernie Rhodes, an attorney based in Kansas City, is working as the newspaper's lawyer. In a letter to Marion Chief of Police Gideon Cody, he echoed the sentiments of First Amendment experts, arguing that it was illegal for the police to carry out those searches.

"The only thing that police were doing was looking for evidence of reporting. The only thing that the reporter did was what she was taught in journalism 101: verify information she received. That's not a crime. So, whatever (the police chief) told the magistrate judge to get a search warrant can't be the truth," Rhodes said.