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You may recall the highly unconstitutional raid on a small Kansas newspaper last year. It contributed to the death of an elderly publisher but her untimely demise hasn’t officially been linked, yet. Criminal charges have now been filed against former Marion Police Department Chief Gideon Cody. Prosecutors announced Monday that he stands accused of “interfering with the judicial process.”
Illegal raid leads to charges
There are still a whole bunch of unanswered questions surrounding the illegal and unconstitutional raid of a newspaper publisher in Marion, Kansas, last year.
One loose end is coming closer to being tied up, involving the police chief. Gideon Cody had his own personal agenda and used his office as a weapon against the Meyer family and their staff.
The charges coincide with the release of a 124-page report about the raid and what led up to it. Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson put it together.
NEW: Former Police Chief will be charged in the case of the 2023 raid on a 98-year-old newspaper owner, who died of a sudden heart attack just one day after the raid at her home
Former Police Chief Gideon Cody will be charged with interfering with the judicial process
The… pic.twitter.com/jPUTjUUrqH
— Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) August 6, 2024
It notes that prosecutors found probable cause that Cody “committed the crime of obstruction of justice,” defined under Kansas law as “knowingly or intentionally” inducing a “witness or informant to withhold or unreasonably delay” the production of testimony, information or documents.
They take most of the 124 pages explaining how the charge relates to “Cody’s text exchange with local restaurant owner Kari Newell after the raid.” The report also “explains what happened before, during and after police executed search warrants at The Marion County Record, the home of its publisher Eric Meyer and the home of a local city councilwoman in August 2023.”
It was the search of the publisher’s home which did Joan Meyer in. The 98-year-old co-owner of the newspaper passed away within hours.
Investigating identity theft
Despite the fact that the raid was intrusive and a violation of the First Amendment, the Marion County Sheriff was allegedly investigating “identity theft” and “unlawful acts concerning computers.”
That was all supposedly based on “the belief that reporter Phyllis Zorn unlawfully obtained Newell’s driving records before the paper published a story about her.”
A week later, after Joan Meyer was dead, “County Prosecutor Joel Ensey withdrew the search warrants and asked authorities to return seized materials.” They didn’t have legal probable cause for the raid in the first place.
BREAKING: Former Marion, Kansas, Police Chief Gideon Cody — who raided local newspaper — will face criminal charge
From @katie_reports & me #ksleg https://t.co/CMorAc9SLV
— Jonathan Shorman (@jonshorman) August 5, 2024
“Insufficient evidence exists to establish a legally sufficient nexus between this alleged crime and the places searched and the items seized.”
It was all a personal vendetta of the police chief. “The specter of ulterior motives, personal animus and conclusions based not on investigation but rather on assumptions permeates much of this case,” the report notes. While the raid was illegal, all the cops except Chief Cody thought they were simply doing their job.
The report says they all “genuinely believed they were investigating criminal acts.” There wasn’t enough for the prosecutors to link Ms. Meyer’s death but that’s why the courts also have civil remedies. Several federal civil cases are pending.
