Two "exit guides" and their prominent assisted-suicide organization are suing Anoka County authorities alleging that their free-speech rights were violated when they were interrupted by law enforcement during a recent meeting with a terminally ill woman.

Kevin Bradley of Mankato and Edmund Ballou of Naperville, Ill., and the Florida-based Final Exit Network filed their lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul against Sheriff James Stuart and County Attorney Tony Palumbo in an effort to prevent investigators from looking in a backpack and duffel bag that were seized from them with state court permission on May 4 at the 37-year-old woman's Columbia Heights home.

Along with asking the federal court to issue a temporary injunction that would halt any further investigation by county authorities and prevent either man's prosecution, the suit wants a "final judgment" that the state's law banning assisted suicide is unconstitutional because "it criminalizes speech that enables a suicide in the absence of any physical assistance in suicide," the suit reads.

Ballou, 72, said Thursday that law enforcement "did what they needed to do" when they targeted the meeting with the woman and confiscated the bags; however, "I think they are terribly mistaken."

The County Attorney's Office declined Thursday to comment on the specific allegations made by the Final Exit guides, but its spokeswoman, Elizabeth Mohr, said the office intends to respond in writing to the court in the coming weeks.

As for whether charges will be filed, Mohr said investigators have yet to turn over the case for review by prosecutors, and "we will not speculate on whether or not this case merits charges until we have seen the investigative file."

The Sheriff's Office declined to comment on the suit.

In making their case that speech alone promoting assisted suicide should not be a crime, Ballou and Bradley pointed out in their suit that state law would make it a crime should anyone hand a copy of the widely read book "Final Exit" to someone contemplating suicide because that could be construed as assisting someone with ending their life.

By having this law on the books, the suit reads, "the state maintains that a librarian is guilty under the Minnesota statute for showing a library patron where to find 'Final Exit' on the shelves, provided only that the patron first mentioned he or she was contemplating suicide."

In May 2015, a jury found Final Exit Network guilty of assisting in the suicide of 57-year-old Doreen Dunn of Apple Valley and interfering with the death scene. It was the first time the national group had been convicted of a felony for assisting a suicide.

In the verdict, the network was not convicted on the issue of free speech but for instructing another on specific suicide methods. The group's sentence was a fine of $30,000 and nearly $3,000 in restitution for funeral and burial expenses.

This week's suit offers its version of what happened during the men's visit to the home of the woman, who is not identified by name in the filing:

Sheriff's deputies showed up at the residence within minutes of Ballou and Bradley arriving and before any attempted suicide had occurred or even before the men could say anything about the purpose of their visit.

The deputies said they had information that an assisted suicide would take place there. They then "forcibly seized Ballou's backpack and Bradley's travel bag" and said they would not look inside the bags until getting court approval.

They also said they had warrants to conduct a forensic examination of a laptop in the backpack and an iPad in the travel bag.

Court records do not reveal whether deputies won the go-ahead to look inside the bags or examine the computer devices, and Ballou told the Star Tribune that he has yet to learn whether the bags have been searched.

The explanation from the deputies about their intentions left Ballou and Bradley with "more than ample reason to believe they are threatened with imminent prosecution and punishment ... for the exercise of their right to freedom of speech [and] are threatened with imminent arrest."

The woman seeking the assisted suicide attempted to take her life in January, according to a Sheriff's Office application for a search warrant filed in Anoka County District Court.

Authorities were later tipped to the woman wanting an assisted suicide. However, her husband said the latest plan was called off and then notified law enforcement that Ballou and Bradley were at his home to " aid [his wife] in her journey," the search warrant application quoted him as saying.

Columbia Heights police showed up and heard from Ballou and Bradley that "they were there to help [the woman] and provide guidance with her journey," the court document continued.

Investigators researched the backgrounds of the two men and saw that they "have found ways to complete the end of life cycle peacefully ... and Ballou specifically speaks about something referred to as 'Monoxide Magic,' " the filing noted.

Asked about the reference to Monoxide Magic, Ballou said Thursday, "I have no idea what they are talking about. They probably found it on the internet."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482