Special prosecutors investigating last year’s police raid on a Kansas newspaper office, the home of its owners and the home of a former city official have announced a startling update.
Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson announced in a 124-page report Monday that former Police Chief Gideon Cody will be charged with interfering with the prosecution. The Kansas City Star reports.
The charge, which is set to be filed in Marion County District Court in the coming days, appears to center on text messages between Cody and local business owner Kari Newell in the days following the Aug. 11, 2023, raid.
But the lengthy report does not blame officers for the death of Joan Meyer, 98, owner of Marion County Records, who died a day after her home was raided in the investigation.
It also cleared a Marion County Records reporter and everyone else who investigated Newell’s driving record of any wrongdoing, since information that he received a DUI ticket and had his license suspended was available on a public website.
Former Marion County Sheriff Gideon Cody will face criminal charges for interfering with the judicial process following a series of raids on a newspaper office and its owner’s home.
“It’s not surprising that impartial law enforcement officials would conclude that journalism is not a crime, but destroying evidence is,” said Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for the community newspaper. He told Fox News after the report was published.
“That’s why I’m pleased that the special prosecutor has realized that Gideon Cody is not an impartial law enforcement officer and that he should suffer the consequences for his decisions.”
Former Marion Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel, who has since filed a lawsuit against several local officials, including Cody, over the raid on her home, said she was also glad to have been cleared of any wrongdoing.
But she said she was disappointed that Cody is the only one facing a criminal charge.
“It saddens me that more people, more players, haven’t been charged because it overlooked Cody,” he told the Kansas City Star.
“There were a lot more people involved in this whole process and it caused a lot of harm to Marion and the people involved.”
Officers raided the Marion County Records Office on August 11, 2023
The Aug. 11, 2023, raids came just days after Newell, a former coffee shop owner, accused Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn of illegally accessing his private information to confirm a tip that he had been convicted of driving under the influence 15 years earlier.
Police Officer Zach Hudlin then called the Kansas Department of Revenue to inquire about its system, and a representative told him the agency was “trying to fix” a problem because “anyone can get” information, according to the special prosecutors’ report.
He then “erroneously concluded” that Zorn falsified his identity to access Newell’s driving record, he claims.
It’s unclear whether Hudlin reached that conclusion because of confirmation bias, a hasty investigation or a misunderstanding of what the representative was saying, the report said.
The report also says no one from the Marion County Sheriff’s Department interviewed Zorn about how he obtained the information.
Still, then-Police Chief Cody drafted court documents saying he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and Herbel violated state laws against identity theft or computer crimes.
Officers then raided the offices of the Marion County Record, as well as the homes of Herbel and the paper’s co-owners, Joan and Eric Meyer.
Video of the police raid on Joan Meyer’s home would later go viral, showing her screaming at officers to “get out” just a day before she died.
They also searched the home of the newspaper’s co-owners, Joan and Eric Meyer.
“Don’t touch any of that,” the Marion County Record co-owner told police in the footage as she moved around her home with a walker. “This is my house, you moron!”
The next day, the newspaper announced Joan’s death on its website: “She had been unable to eat after the police turned up at her front door. She was also unable to sleep on Friday night.
‘She watched through tears during the raid as police not only took her computer… but also reviewed her son Eric’s personal bank and investment statements.’
The woman was in “good health” for her age, but died over the weekend, Eric said.
He said that when he woke his mother up to offer her breakfast the next day, she died mid-sentence.
Eric now blames Joan’s death on the pain and stress of the raid, and a coroner’s report states that Joan died of sudden cardiac arrest.
“I’m disturbed – I chose that word carefully – because everyone knows our office was raided, but what bothers me more is that a 98-year-old woman spent her last day on earth feeling attacked by stalkers who invaded her home,” he said.
The special counsel’s report also noted that Joan might not have died if the raids had not been carried out, but concluded that the officers were not criminally responsible for her death.
Joan Meyer, 98, died of a sudden heart attack just one day after the raid on her home.
The Marion County Record later claimed the police department was trying to retaliate against its investigation into Cody’s story.
He had left the Kansas City Police Department while under internal investigation for allegedly making sexist comments to a female officer.
Eric said his paper was contacted by Cody’s former colleagues about the allegations, but the more than six anonymous sources ultimately never went public and reporters were unable to obtain Cody’s personnel file.
He said the identities of the sources were on the computer servers, which Cody’s team seized.
During the raid on the newspaper’s newsroom, Cody even searched a reporter’s desk and asked, “What’s in there? A file on me? Keep a personal file on me, I don’t care,” according to the Kansas City Star.
But the file was not removed from the newsroom during the raid, and special prosecutors concluded there was no evidence to suggest Cody carried out the raid in retaliation.
“If Chief Cody harbored any ill intent toward the Marion County Record, he managed to keep it hidden in personal communications with other officers, both verbally and electronically,” the report states.
He goes on to note that “it is not a crime under Kansas law for a law enforcement officer to conduct a poor investigation.”
A special report by prosecutors concludes that police officer Zach Hudlin “erroneously concluded” that a journalist falsified his identity to access the driving records of a local businesswoman.
But as news of the raids spread nationally, and even internationally, casting a negative light on the Marion County Police Department, Cody attempted to defend his actions.
He told Marion County Prosecutor Joel Ensey that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was “100 percent behind me.”
However, a KBI investigator said Cody “had to live in a fantasy world to get that photograph” and went on to describe the officer as “a rabid squirrel in a cage,” according to the Star.
In fact, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation found there was insufficient evidence to support the tirade against the local newspaper and overturned the police department’s warrant.
Still, Cody persisted, preparing indictment affidavits against Eric Meyer, Zorn and Herbel, accusing them of violating federal law, even though state prosecutors would have no role in such cases.
Those charges were never filed.
He then allegedly ordered Newell to delete the text messages.
Kari Newell, who accused the Marion County Record of illegally obtaining information about her prior DUI, triggered the police raid.
Amid the investigation into the raids, Cody was placed on administrative leave and resigned from his position on Oct. 2.
He has since been replaced by Hudlin.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation took over the case in mid-November and handed its investigation over to special prosecutors.
They concluded in their report that “there was no evidence that Marion police officers recognized the inadequacy of the investigation or intentionally or knowingly misled other law enforcement officers in the courtroom.”
They also said the arrest warrant against the newspaper was “insufficient to overcome the additional protections afforded to the press under the Kansas Shield Act,” which grants protection to journalists.
It also says that search warrants for newsrooms “should be sought only in extraordinary circumstances and with extreme caution.”
The newspaper is suing the city and other officials, alleging the officers violated its First and Fourth Amendment rights.
Meanwhile, the newspaper is suing the city and other officials — including Cody, Marion’s mayor and the county sheriff — alleging the raid violated its First Amendment right to protection of the press and its Fourth Amendment right to unlawful searches and seizures.
They are seeking more than $10 million in damages.
“This is the kind of thing that, you know, Vladimir Putin does, that Third World dictators do,” Meyer previously told the AP.
“These are Gestapo tactics from World War II.”
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