Staff members from The Breeze calculate around 900 images were confiscated Friday morning.

Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst says she executed a search warrant with police to get pictures to help identify people involved in violence at "SpringFest." The affidavit for the warrant has been sealed.

During the weekend block party, more than a dozen people were arrested, some for allegedly assaulting police and participating in riots. Not only did staffers have to sort through those images with officers, the editor-in-chief of "The Breeze" Katie Thisdell, was also busy seeking legal advice.

Thisdell says, during the seizure, she stated that under the "Privacy And Protection Act," she didn't have to surrender the images. She says that's when she was faced with a tough decision: either surrender the photos or lose computers that are vital to production.

"When I got the panicked message that the Commonwealth's Attorney, and police officers were in the newsroom. I wasn't exactly sure where to go next," says Thisdell.

At this time, newspaper staff are consulting with legal counsel and with the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Virginia.

The Executive Director of SPLC, Frank LoMonte, says the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office violated federal law with the search warrant.

He explains, "Prosecutors first have to show that they have exhausted all of the other reasonable options available to them before they knock on the news media's door.

"These journalists weren't afforded any opportunity to respond. This was sprung on them by surprise, in a very intimidating manner, where they weren't given a fair opportunity to consult with legal counsel and become advised of their rights."

LoMonte says the Privacy Protection Act gives journalists the right to make an argument before a judge about why their materials should not be released, before those materials can be seized by investigators.

He says the Commonwealth's Attorney ignored this law by seizing the photographs Friday morning.

"What's especially questionable was the intimidating manner that the government went about their business," says LoMonte. "To bring a show of force of a truckload of police officers who are completely unnecessary for the job, and then to demand immediate compliance with no opportunity to consult legal counsel just smacks of intimidation.

The SPLC is working to find a lawyer to represent "The Breeze," to try to get the photographs returned.

LeMonte says, if a judge finds that the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office violated the Privacy Protection Act, the office could face a fine and would likely not be able to use the photographs in the ongoing investigation into SpringFest violence.