Just gets worse and worse- KS judge who approved newspaper warrant

[EleanorR]

Link to tweet

The judge who granted the search warrant against the Marion, KS newspaper once drove into a school building. This happened while her license was suspended for an earlier DUI. She had been an active prosecutor for eight years already when this happened.

The Kansas magistrate judge who authorized a police raid of the Marion County Record newsroom over its probe into a local restaurateur’s drunken-driving record has her own hidden history of driving under the influence. Judge Laura Viar, who was appointed on Jan. 1 to fill a vacant 8th Judicial District magistrate seat, was arrested at least twice for DUI in two different Kansas counties in 2012, a Wichita Eagle investigation found. She was the lead prosecutor for Morris County at the time. Viar’s DUI history could face scrutiny because the warrant she approved for the controversial raid came in response to the Marion County Record digging into the DUI history of restaurant owner Kari Newell. The Viar-authorized raid came after Newell complained about the newspaper’s investigation into her criminal background.

She was never sanctioned by the state’s attorney discipline board and won reelection multiple times as a Republican candidate for Morris County attorney.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article278237263.html

[jimfields33]

1. That's bad. But she still has to do her job.

She can’t just throw away warrant request because she did something stupid 21 years ago.

[SoFlaBro]

3. She didn't have to sign the goddamn piece of shit warrant. Twas piss-soaked bullshit.

piss

[Butterflylady]

7. Evidently she didn't do a good job.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Search warrant revoked - based on insufficient evidence that a crime had been committed

A prosecutor in Marion County, Kansas, has withdrawn the search warrant that sparked Friday’s controversial police raid of the small town’s newspaper offices.

Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said in a statement Wednesday that the warrant was based on “insufficient evidence” that a crime had been committed. The seized electronics and documents will be returned to the Marion County Record.

The news followed days of criticism of the police search of the newspaper, which appeared to be aimed at finding evidence about how the paper obtained information that a local restaurateur, who applied for a liquor license, lost her driver’s license over a DUI in 2008.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/state/kansas/article278311778.html#storylink=cpy

[SunSeeker]

24. Great. They can return the electronics to the now DEAD woman they killed with their raid.

[happy feet]

60. This!

[Ray Bruns]

31. Ok, who swore that all the information in the warrant was true.

[Recycle_Guru]

12. she gave warrant without appropriate affidavit of probable cause so fuck her

[dpibel]

20. Ever heard of recusal?

Besides, her job is to determine whether there's probable cause.

She seems not to have done her job.

I am impressed, however, that you were able to jump in and make the first post a cheerfully contrarian one!

[Pototan]

49. Flawed Judgement that was never corrected...

Last edited Thu Aug 17, 2023, 03:03 PM - Edit history (1)

...or was held to account.

That's why a person with her authority continues to do the wrong thing and make wrong decisions.

Sound familiar?

[triron]

54. Just vaguely.

[cstanleytech]

56. The point is she should not be a judge due to her clear inability to

make good judgment calls in the first place.

[ret5hd]

58. So your claim is that she did her job?

She did the job of trashing the first amendment?

Or what? What job, exactly, are you claiming she did correctly?

[SoFlaBro]

2. She's a stupid motherfucking who never was punished for her bullshit and goddamn endangement of Kids

dumb

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Yeah we definitely don't want the press digging in to DUI's too closely, do we?

* hiccup *

[SunSeeker]

26. Bingo. She should have recused.

Just like Justice Thomas should have refused on the case that sought to disclose Jan. 6 documents that could have revealed his wife's sedition.

[brush]

5. I still haven't heard the reason for the warrant...

seems a restaurant owner had a grievance against the newspaper?

4th Amendment anyone...also the 1st Amendment while we're at it.

WTF is going on nationwide...incompetents seem to be ensconced in judgeships all over the place...collecting checks and making horrible decisions affecting many in negative ways?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Prosecutor admits it shouldn't have been issued - see #8 (nt)

[IbogaProject]

28. The dui resturantier was just a 'reason'

The cops wanted an invistigaton into one of their team by tge newspaper halted.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

40. LOL

You think this is new?

The best and brightest go to the metropolitan areas. That's where the money and the shiniest cases are. The dregs go to podunkistan.

Corruption and incompetence of cops, lawyers and judges have long been the norm, not the exception, in small towns.

[brush]

41. Guess you're right. Just never really thought about it having always...

lived and worked in major metro areas. And since you've put it in such clear perspective...thank God for that.

[not fooled]

52. Yep

After living in Palo Alto and San Diego, I moved to a smallish town in AZ thinking "it'll be fine". Nope--although there are some good, intelligent people here, I was shocked to find out that many people don't do their jobs very well. Incompetence and low standards prevail. And, don't get me started on the corrupt rubes in positions of authority...it's like the movie "Chinatown" except with goobers.

I'm moving. Never again.

[Grasswire2]

55. "like the movie CHINATOWN except with goobers"

I LOL.

Was there a Marx Brothers movie like that?

[obamanut2012]

61. It's liek that in a small town

Grew up in one. Will never again live in such a toxic, bigoted, corrupt place again.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. "Laura, pour me a drink. You've had enough"

[Think. Again.]

10. oh, now I understand....

Judge Laura Viar, ".....and won reelection multiple times as a Republican candidate for Morris County attorney."

[yardwork]

11. What a disgrace.

[malaise]

13. Glad,it's being covered nationally

NOW

[EleanorR]

32. And the FBI is investigating

Hopefully the KS office has decent agents.

[malaise]

33. It is frightening

Fascist thugs

[Hekate]

14. Standards sure do differ from state to state. We had a local judge whose career was wrecked because

…in the course of a heated domestic argument she grabbed the phone out of her partner’s hands and tossed it away. No bruises, and I’m not trying to make light of this. But she did not drive into a school building while on a suspended license from a DUI. Her career was kaput.

[C Moon]

35. We have a judge who shot his wife in the chest while drunk and they were in an argument.

Now he's claiming it was an accident, and saying he's not guilty.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

42. They're more likely to differ more

Between city and small town, than they do from state to state. The incompetence is much worse in small towns than in cities, and the corruption tends to be more insidious and just plain mean, because it's always much more personal. In the city it's an indifferent sort of corruption, and the incompetent tend to be pariahs, not the norm.

[momta]

46. Indeed

Louie Gohmert used to be a judge in my home town.

[modrepub]

15. Corruption Can Happen Anywhere

Probably more so in rural areas where there's little to no oversight and statewide focus is concentrated in high population centers; no time for "little fish" when there are bigger ones available somewhere else.

[BamaRefugee]

16. Sounds like a bit of CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY in Kansas...

[Mr.Bill]

17. Her face needs to be on billboards. n/t

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

43. Her mug shot needs to be on billboards

nt

[Ford_Prefect]

18. The schadenfreude goes deep with this one...

To say nothing of obvious conflict of interest.

[Evolve Dammit]

19. How did this miscreant ever wear a robe????? JFC

[crickets]

29. 👆👆

[ThoughtCriminal]

21. How did the Federalist Society miss this one?

[moonshinegnomie]

22. deprevation of rights under color of law

arrest the judge and the cops.

[mountain grammy]

23. Republicans

Get away with it and keep on getting elected. Rewarding lawlessness is the republican value. That’s it.

[Initech]

30. Because they have a very well funded, continuously operating propaganda system behind them.

Shit, Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler have nothing on Rupert Murdoch and Alex Jones. They keep the grift going, which allows these cretins to keep getting reelected, and they continue to screw us over and over. It's way past time we break this abusive cycle.

[EleanorR]

38. Yes

And that propaganda machine tells the base day after day after day that anything republicans have done or might do, Democrats are far far worse and far more dangerous in every way. It's truly evil the lies they tell and the fear they instill.

[Marcuse]

25. How did the Federalists and djt miss recruiting her for the federal bench?

[SharonAnn]

27. They are after ALL judgeships, but especially the Federal ones.

[NBachers]

34. She's got this Aileen Cannon smarmy "I'm so pleased with myself and you can't touch me" look.

The car she crashed was Thomas Ball's to the wall of the school.

[Maru Kitteh]

36. Meanwhile if I get a ticket for a busted light or a blown stop sign, I

Have to report it immediately to my employer. If I got a DUI I would likely have to go and defend myself before the licensing board.

[NH Ethylene]

48. Really? What profession is this?

When I was still teaching, I fell asleep at the wheel while driving (after landing from a cross-country red-eye flight), veered off the road, and totaled my car. To my horror, I was charged with a misdemeanor. Luckily, I successfully fought the charge and all was well. But if I had been convicted, I would have had a criminal record and I might have had my teaching license revoked. (I never checked into it to find out for sure). I never reported this to the school district, nor was I expected to as far as I know.

[C Moon]

37. How did the gop ever miss the opporunity of giving her a seat on the SC?

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

39. kick

[dlk]

44. One hand washes the other...

[mopinko]

45. was she drunk when she signed the warrant?

seems like a fair question to me.

[NH Ethylene]

47. I'm not sure how this is relevant (other than being ironic).

Are they suggesting she is a drunk, so not capable of sensible judicial oversight?

Or are they thinking she has a grudge against the paper based on any past reporting of her DUIs?

[ret5hd]

57. Well we now KNOW she isn't capable of...

sensible judicial oversight.

So I guess the only question now is: is she a drunk.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

50. Jeanne Pirro's soulmate

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

51. OMG that tweet, hahahahahaha, dorky no chin orange man, lol

Hilarious

LOCK HIM UP!

lol

[Wild blueberry]

53. Mrs Karma has come knocking for magistrate judge, police chief, and restranteur

In a National way.

[ecstatic]

59. smh. nt