Editor’s note: The headline has been adjusted to include the word “accusations.” The story has been updated to include additional details about the investigation and portions of a statement Eric Meyer provided to The Blaze News.
A former police chief who once publicly declared his department would be “exonerated” for a search of the home and offices of a small-town Kansas newspaper owner has now been charged with a felony in connection with that search.
Gideon Cody is the former police chief of Marion, Kansas, a city of fewer than 2,000 people about 60 miles north of Wichita. A year ago, he led the search of the Marion County Recorder’s Office and the home of its owner, Eric Meyer.
Currently, Cody is Felony Obstruction of Justice In connection with those searches, he allegedly asked local business owner Kari Newell to delete text messages that may have led investigators to believe their relationship was romantic, rather than strictly professional.
Last August, Cody obtained a search warrant from Marion County District Court Judge Laura Vier to seize computers, cell phones, digital communications, servers, hard drives and all documents and records related to Newell. As The Blaze News previously reported, Newell had been convicted of drunk driving and may have previously driven while license suspended, yet was still attempting to obtain a liquor license for his business.
“We want the whole story, we don’t want parts of it.”
At the time, Newell blasted Meyer and the Record, claiming the paper obtained information about her past through “illegal” means. Meyer acknowledged that he had been tipped off about Newell’s past but did not print the story because he feared Newell’s estranged husband had leaked the information to sabotage his wife’s efforts to obtain a liquor license.
Meyer noted that Newell’s information is also public record.
As soon as news of the attack broke, critics across the country quickly decried it as a clear attack on First Amendment protections for the press.
All five members of the Marion Police Department, including Cody, and two sheriff’s deputies reportedly participated in the raids on the Marion County Recorder’s Office and Meyer’s home.
Mr. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, a co-owner of the Record, who was at his home while police were executing the search warrant, died of a heart attack the day after the raid.
Additionally, footage of the raid showed Cody apparently using the opportunity to snoop around files that Meyer and his news outlets were keeping on him.
Despite the appearance of fraud, Marion Police Department statementThe statement, issued shortly after the raid and ostensibly written by Cody, argued that the raid would ultimately be “justified.”
The special prosecutor appointed to investigate the case ultimately disagreed, and in a 124-page report released earlier this month, prosecutors exonerated Meyer and concluded that he had not committed any crimes in his investigation into Newell’s past.
The prosecution further argued that Cody conducted an “inadequate investigation” and presented false premises about the search warrant to Judge Veer, but the prosecution did not accuse Cody of intentionally misleading the judge.
Cody, who resigned from the Marion Police Department in October, is currently KSHB The offence is classified as a “non-personal felony of severity level 8”. If convicted, he could face up to 23 months in prison, but as he has no prior criminal history, it is unlikely he will receive the maximum sentence.
District Judge Ryan Rothauer has been assigned to Cody’s case. It is unclear when Cody is next scheduled to appear in court.
Now, Meyer is celebrating the acquittal. “We’re happy that we’ve finally been officially acquitted,” he said. VOA News.
Still, Meyer believes Cody has been made a scapegoat for a fiasco caused by multiple officials and agencies. “We want to know the whole story, not just parts of it,” Meyer said.
“We’re just basic journalists here.”
As previously reported by The Blaze News, Meyer has previously filed multiple lawsuits related to the attack, including a wrongful death lawsuit, and he estimates the damages could exceed $10 million, an amount that seems impossible for a city with an annual budget of just $9.5 million to afford.
“The last thing we want is to bankrupt a city or county,” Meyer said after filing the initial lawsuit in April, “but we have a duty to our democracy and to countless news organizations and people across the country to challenge these egregious and reckless violations of the First and Fourth Amendments of the Constitution, as well as federal laws restricting searches of news organizations.”
The special counsel said the officers who conducted the raid did not commit “material deviations” from procedures for executing search warrants.
In response to a request for comment, Meyer sent a lengthy statement to Blaze News expressing gratitude that “the fraud has finally come to light” and frustration with the system in general.
“While the special counsel clearly noted that the raid was wrong, the charges in the indictment do not relate to the raid itself, but rather to the cover-up that followed, including Chief Gideon Cody’s attempts to have the alleged victim, Kari Newell, delete text messages she exchanged with him,” Meyer told The Blaze News.
“We are not even given the right to vote on the elected officials involved. The magistrate judge is from another county and our county does not get to vote on whether to keep her in office. The local prosecutor refused to file for re-election. No one’s name will appear on the ballot this fall and the courts will end up having to appoint people who are not accountable to the voters.”
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