FILE - A stack of the Marion County Record sits in the back of the newspaper's building, awaiting unbundling, sorting and distribution, Aug. 16, 2023, in Marion, Kan. Two special prosecutors said Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, that they plan to file a criminal obstruction of justice charge against a former central Kansas police chief over his conduct following a raid last year on his town's newspaper, and that the newspaper's staff committed no crimes. (AP Photo/John Hanna, File)
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A former central Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness for an investigation into his conduct of withholding information from authorities.
The single charge against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days. The charge was filed Monday in state district court in Marion County and is not more specific about Cody’s alleged conduct.
However, a report from two special prosecutors last week referenced text messages between Cody and the business owner after the raid. The business owner has said that Cody asked her to delete text messages between them, fearing people could get the wrong idea about their relationship, which she said was professional and platonic.
Cody justified the raid by saying he had evidence the newspaper, Publisher Eric Meyer and one of its reporters, Phyllis Zorn, had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in verifying the authenticity of a copy of the business owner’s state driving record provided to the newspaper by an acquaintance. The business owner was seeking Marion City Council approval for a liquor license and the record showed that she potentially had driven without a valid license for years, though she later had her license reinstated.
The prosecutors’ report concluded that no crime was committed by Meyer, Zorn or the newspaper and that Cody reached an erroneous conclusion about their conduct because of a poor investigation. The charge was filed by one of the special prosecutors, Barry Wilkerson, the top prosecutor in Riley County in northeastern Kansas.
Police body-camera footage of the 2023 raid on Publisher Eric Meyer’s home shows his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, visibly upset and telling officers, “Get out of my house!” She co-owned the paper, lived with her son and died of a heart attack the next afternoon.
The prosecutors said they could not charge Cody or other officers involved in the raid over her death because there was no evidence they believed the raid posed a risk to her life. Eric Meyer has blamed the stress of the raid for her death.
