A former police chief in Kansas has been charged with a felony after conducting a raid on a local newspaper and the residence of its publisher.

This incident gained significant attention last summer, sparking accusations that it infringed on free speech rights. This controversy was further intensified when Joan Meyer, the elderly co-owner of the newspaper, passed away the day after the raid.

On Monday, a special prosecutor charged Gideon Cody with one count of interfering with a judicial process concerning the raid that occurred on August 11, 2023, targeting the Marion County Record and the homes of Eric and Joan Meyer, as well as former Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel.

In an email to YSL News, Eric Meyer expressed satisfaction that he has been “FINALLY cleared of wrongdoing” and that criminal charges have been filed. However, he also expressed disappointment that the charges did not address what he considers constitutional violations.

“While special prosecutors have clearly stated that the raid was unjustified, the current charges focus not on the raid itself, but rather on an alleged cover-up afterward – specifically Chief Gideon Cody’s attempts to persuade supposed victim Kari Newell to delete messages exchanged between them,” Meyer noted in his email. “This is disheartening and is why we believe the real resolution will come through the civil suits we’ve filed in federal court.”

The Marion Police Department did not respond immediately to requests for comment. As of Tuesday afternoon, there was no defense attorney listed for Cody in court documents.

The charges relate to an alleged attempt to conceal the events of the raid, rather than the raids themselves, according to a public report released by the special prosecutors last week. The report indicated that the alleged misconduct involved text messages exchanged between Cody and Kari Newell, a local restaurant owner that reporters were investigating.

What led to the raid on the Marion County Record?

Cody had recently assumed the role of police chief at the time of the raid. After Eric Meyer emailed Cody concerning Newell’s driving record, reporter Phyllis Zorn confirmed it through publicly accessible records from the Kansas Department of Revenue. However, the newspaper chose not to publish the story because they suspected that Newell’s estranged husband might have been seeking to provoke issues during their divorce.

Cody initiated an investigation into the newspaper for acquiring Newell’s driving record, with an officer even making a call to the Kansas Department of Revenue. Officer Zach Hudlin seemingly reached a mistaken conclusion that journalist Phyllis Zorn had fabricated her identity to gain access to the KDOR records.

Cody’s investigation ultimately led to him seeking search warrants against the newspaper. After directing Newell to delete text messages post-raid, Cody was placed on administrative leave on September 29, 2023, and resigned a few days later, on October 2.

The raid drew national attention to Marion, a small town with a population of around 2,000 in central Kansas.

The special prosecutors noted, “The case is clouded with suspicions of ulterior motives, personal bias, and conclusions drawn more from assumptions than from actual investigations.”

Joan Meyer passed away after the raid

Eric Meyer

Eric Meyer shared ownership of the newspaper with his mother, Joan Meyer, who was 98 years old and passed away the day following a police raid. Eric attributed her death to the emotional strain caused by the incident. He highlighted in a federal lawsuit regarding her death that she told the officers, “If I have a heart attack and die, it’s all your fault.”

The lawsuit claims the city violated the First Amendment by conducting an excessively broad search and calls for the court to address “the unacceptable infringement of their constitutional rights and those of Joan Meyer” and to prevent future overreach by law enforcement, as exemplified by Chief Cody’s actions when he seized the newspaper’s computers and reporters’ cell phones in a misguided effort to stifle the press.”

This federal lawsuit filed by Meyer includes a notification of the intent to include a wrongful death claim.

However, the special prosecutors working on the criminal case did not charge the officers who executed the warrant with any crimes. They mentioned that a conviction for involuntary manslaughter might be reversed due to hindsight bias.

The prosecutors indicated that while it could be presumed that Meyer might not have died when she did if the warrants had not been executed, such an assumption alone isn’t sufficient for a criminal conviction. They acknowledged that the warrants likely wouldn’t succeed upon appeal but believed the officers acted in accordance with their usual procedures and weren’t being reckless.

The report emphasized, “There is no evidence to indicate that the officers intended to cause Mrs. Meyer’s death or that they were aware their actions in executing the warrant could lead to her death.”

No Wrongdoing by Marion County Record

The special prosecutors found no wrongdoing by Marion County Record employees, stating that there was “no evidence. of any crime as defined by Kansas law.”

They were less conclusive regarding the decision not to charge other individuals involved in the raid, including Cody and other law enforcement officials.

While the special prosecutors criticized Cody’s “insufficient investigation,” they stated, “there is no proof that law enforcement officials acknowledged the inadequacy of the investigation.” They asserted that local police acted under the genuine belief that they were investigating criminal behavior.

The special prosecutors determined that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation had minimal involvement and stated, “there is no evidence that they were accountable for the issuance or execution of the search warrants.” Once it became clear that the KBI had been involved before the raid, the case was handed over to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.

Current Status of the Case

The criminal complaint alleges that Cody “knowingly or intentionally induced a witness to withhold information” during a felony investigation. This complaint identifies multiple witnesses, including Meyer, Zorn, and former reporter Deb Gruver.

This charge was announced a week after Wilkerson and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, another special prosecutor on the case, released a 124-page report detailing their findings.

Bennett and Wilkerson remarked, “Journalists, attorneys, mental health professionals, and clergy members possess well-established privileges in our legal system, founded on the principles of religious freedom, freedom of the press, and the right to legal counsel. Though law enforcement can investigate when a member of these professions is suspected of a crime, they must exercise caution to limit the scope of their investigation.”

Prosecutors emphasized that investigators should consider using a subpoena or alternative methods before attempting to obtain a search warrant for entities like newsrooms, law offices, churches, or mental health professionals’ offices. They stated that search warrants should be pursued only in exceptional circumstances and with utmost caution.