Former Police Chief Charged After Controversial Newspaper Raid

A Kansas judge ruled that former Police Chief Gideon Cody likely committed a felony by inducing a witness to delete text messages following his 2023 raid on the Marion County Record.

While Cody faces a February trial for interference with the judicial process, newspaper publisher Eric Meyer expressed frustration that law enforcement remains unpunished for the widely condemned raids themselves.

Three years after police raided the Marion County Record, the chief who led it has yet to face a jury. Gideon Cody saw his February trial pushed to summer after lawyers argued a Sundance documentary could taint jurors, then delayed again when his entire defense quit days before an August hearing KWCH. A judge found probable cause last October that inducing a witness to delete texts interfered with justice; conviction carries presumptive probation Kansas Reflector. Meanwhile raid payouts passed four million dollars, including $850,000 for reporter Phyllis Zorn agreed this month, though every officer was cleared of wrongdoing in the raid itself, and publisher Eric Meyer still wants a court to say plainly that it was wrong.