'What a bunch of jerks and idiots. I wish she had called them a few more names'
A former police chief in a small Kansas town is facing a charge he interfered with the judicial process over a First Amendment fight that included a raid on the local newspaper office – and the home of the 98-year-old newspaper owner who collapsed and died the next day.
The Kansas City newspaper reports the charge will be against Gideon Cody in Marion County District Court.
That’s according to Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, who were given appointments as special prosecutors to review the Aug. 11, 2023, invasion by police of the Marion County Record publication.
They looked at 10,000 pages of documentation and released a 124-page report that analyzed the execution of search warrants in the case.
The report explains the anticipated charge “appears centered on text messages exchanged between Cody and Kari Newell, a local business owner, following the raid.”
The searches were done at the home of former Vice Mayor Ruth Herbel and the home of the newspaper’s publishers, Joan Meyer, and her son Eric Meyer.
It was Joan Meyer who collapsed and died the next day.
The report acknowledged that Joan Meyer was extremely upset by the searches and may not have died Aug. 12 if the raids had not been carried out. But the investigators noted the officers were not “criminally” responsible for the death.
The warrants for the invasions and searches later were dropped by prosecutors who said there was “insufficient evidence” for them.
Cody quit his job in the weeks following the invasions and searches and multiple lawsuits have been generated, including one by the newspaper which is seeking $10 million for violations of the First and Fourth Amendments.
Herbel also sued, and expressed disappointment only Cody would face charges.
The searches were ordered on the false claims that a Marion County Record reporter, Phyllis Zorn, illegally obtained information about Newell’s DUI conviction on the Kansas Department of Revenue’s website.
Newell was upset that the public record was being available to the town, and a police officer, Zach Hudlin, contacted the state agency to ask about the details.
A state official “said the agency was ‘trying to fix’ an issue because ‘anybody can pull it up,'” so Hudlin presumed wrongly that Zorn falsified her identity to obtain Newell’s driving record, the report said.
Officials in the town then, without interviewing Zorn, launched the searches.
The special report now clears Zorn “and everyone else who obtained Newell’s information,” because it’s public record.
The newspaper alleged it was targeted for retaliation because it was looking into reports Cody left another police department, in Kansas City, while under internal review for allegedly making sexist remarks.
Shortly later the special prosecutors were named to investigate.
The investigators found that there simply was no evidence to provide justification for the raid on the newspaper and the owner’s home.
The video (including Joan Meyer’s salty language):
The disastrous situation developed because the Record also had been investigating Newell regarding her possession of a liquor license, which could have been revoked.
One online commenter showed little patience for the officers: “I have no words to describe how I feel about this. I can’t believe they didn’t have someone for her. 98 year old woman with a bunch of men going through her house and they didn’t have the forethought to have support for her. What a bunch of jerks and idiots. I wish she had called them a few more names.”
And another: “All for a bogus warrant signed off by a corrupt judge, corrupt police chief, and corrupt KBI.”
WATCH: ‘Unprecedented raid’ on 98-year-old’s home, she dies next day
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