Judge Laura Viar, who approved newspaper raid, has DUI arrests | Wichita Eagle

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.

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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.

Marion County Attorney Joel Ensey said Wednesday that the warrant was ordered with “insufficient evidence” to establish a connection between the materials seized and the alleged crime.

It’s unclear whether a judicial nominating commission that selected Viar for the magistrate position knew about her arrests and diversion. Members of the commission did not return calls from Eagle and Kansas City Star reporters. She would have been required to disclose both arrests in her application.

The first arrest — in Coffey County, about an hour and 15 minutes southeast of her home in Council Grove, on Jan. 25, 2012 — has not been reported.

The second — in Morris County on Aug. 6, 2012 — came amid an unopposed reelection bid for Morris County attorney. She was not supposed to be driving because her driver’s license was suspended in the Coffey County case, court records show. She reportedly drove off-road and crashed into a school building next to Council Grove’s football field while driving then-8th District Magistrate Judge Thomas Ball’s vehicle.

The Morris County arrest likely would have been a violation of her diversion agreement in Coffey County. But court records indicate prosecutors in Coffey County didn’t know about the Morris County case. And the earlier Coffey County DUI was not disclosed to the public in Morris County, where she was standing for reelection.

Because of Ball’s closeness to the case, all of the 8th District’s judges recused themselves from handling Viar’s second DUI case and a special prosecutor — Wabaunsee County Attorney Norbert Marek Jr., who was later appointed by former Gov. Sam Brownback as 2nd District judge — was assigned to handle the criminal prosecution, according to a report by WIBW.

It’s unclear what happened next. The case does not exist in the state’s court records system, and no follow-up articles appear in any publicly available newspaper archives. Marek did not immediately respond to questions sent to the 2nd District.

In Coffey County, Viar, who went by Laura E. Allen at the time, was charged and entered a diversion agreement — which was extended six months because she refused to get an alcohol and drug evaluation and stopped communicating with her lawyer.

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

The Coffey County sheriff’s deputy who made the arrest, Eric L. Smith, now serves in the Kansas Legislature as a state representative for the area. The court records indicate he also saw prescription drugs in the car.

Smith told The Eagle in a phone interview Monday that he remembers the arrest but does not recall specific details.

“I couldn’t tell you the details without looking at the report,” Smith said. “I’m not trying to blow you off, there’s just no way I would feel comfortable giving you information on a case I barely remember.”

“It was me,” he said. “I don’t have a great recollection of it. . . . I think I found out along the line (she was a county prosecutor in another jurisdiction). I did know that at some point.”

The Kansas Department of Revenue’s division of administrative hearings upheld the revocation of her driving privileges, court records show. The 31st Judicial District denied a later appeal.

Court records show she had difficulty complying with the terms of her DUI diversion agreement. Coffey County threatened to take the case to trial after she refused to comply with a requirement to seek an alcohol and drug evaluation during the diversion term. The court added six months to her diversion. It’s unclear if she ever sought the evaluation.

During the diversion, she also “refused to cooperate or communicate with” her attorney, John E. Rapp, a Wichita lawyer who specialized in DUI cases. The court granted Rapp’s request to withdraw as her attorney in early 2013, court records show. The Coffey County court record shows no signs that prosecutors were aware of the second arrest.

A court clerk for the 8th District declined to provide Viar’s contact information or to make Viar available for an interview. The clerk forwarded The Eagle’s questions to a spokesperson for Kansas Judicial Administration, who said she emailed them to Viar.

Viar has not responded to questions.

“Regarding your question that the judge explain why she signed the warrant, neither the judge nor the court can comment on a pending matter that could come before the court,” Lisa Taylor, spokesperson for the Office of Judicial Administration, said in a statement.

The Kansas Office of Disciplinary Administration, which investigates and disciplines lawyers, would not say whether it was made aware of any arrests or criminal charges while Viar was a prosecutor.

“What I can disclose to you is that Judge Viar holds an active law license and has no prior attorney discipline,” Matthew J. Vogelsberg, chief deputy disciplinary administrator for the ODA, said.

Viar’s background

Viar was Morris County’s top prosecutor from 2005, when she was appointed to the position two years after graduating with a law degree from Washburn University, until 2022, when she was appointed to the 8th District magistrate position.

Gov. Laura Kelly passed over Viar in 2021 when she was one of three nominees for an open judge position in the 8th Judicial District.

During her time as prosecutor, she worked in a dual role as city attorney for the nearby town of Cottonwood Falls from 2015 to 2022.

In late 2022, a judicial nominating commission selected Viar to fill a magistrate judge vacancy in Morris County after Judge Margaret White retired. To keep the seat, she must stand for a retention vote during the 2024 general election.

If retained, she will serve a four-year term.

The other two candidates for the magistrate position were the owner of a Council Grove dance company and a Morris County detective.

Their answers to interview questions — including criminal and civil history — are considered confidential under Kansas Supreme Court rules. A criminal history does not automatically disqualify candidates. But lying on an application could be a disqualifier.

Under Kansas law, magistrate judges have only three eligibility requirements: be a resident of the county where they preside, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and either be a lawyer admitted to practice in the state or able to pass an examination given by the Kansas Supreme Court to become certified within 18 months.

Viar is one of 85 magistrate judges in Kansas. They are paid $76,000 to more than $100,000 a year. Kansas magistrate judges don’t have the full power and authority of full state district court judges, but they do wield significant influence over the criminal justice system.

They can sign search warrants within their jurisdictions, such as the Marion County case.

Under state law, they have the authority to conduct traffic trials, cigarette or tobacco infractions or misdemeanor charges, to conduct felony first appearance hearings and preliminary examinations of felony charges, and to hear misdemeanor and felony arraignments.

The raid

Viar’s decision to approve a search warrant of the Marion County Record on Aug. 11 has come under intense scrutiny from First Amendment advocates across the U.S., with many calling the move unconstitutional and illegal.

On Wednesday, the Marion County prosecutor withdrew the search warrant.

Joan Meyer, a 98-year-old co-owner of the Record, died the day after the raid, which included a search of her home and seizure of some of her belongings. In an interview before her death, she called the raid “Hitler tactics.”

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation took over the investigation on Monday and is in the process of reviewing “prior steps taken and determine how best to proceed with the case.”

Marion police Chief Gideon Cody — who was under investigation by the Marion County Record at the time he seized their computers, cellphones and other documents — sought the search warrant to find evidence of computer crimes and identity theft after a complaint by Marion restaurant owner Newell, who was seeking a liquor license for her restaurant inside the Elgin Hotel in Marion.

Newell was upset that Record reporters used a public state database to confirm she lost her driver’s license over a DUI.

The warrant Viar approved allowed Cody and his officers to forensically examine “for evidentiary purposes” all of the data, images, documents and electronic communications in the seized devices, which included one reporter’s personal cellphone. It also included “documents and records pertaining to Kari Newell,” the warrant says.

The warrant also authorized Marion police to search all of the Marion County Record and its journalists’ digital communications devices and digital storage media that wasn’t used to look into Newell, “to exclude from seizure those which have not been involved in the identity theft.”

The Record has indicated it plans to bring a federal lawsuit against the authorities involved in the search and seizure of the Record’s newsgathering materials, which could be used to identify anonymous sources and the information they provided.

This story was originally published August 16, 2023 1:32 PM.