Marion County Record

Special prosecutors charged former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody with one count of interference with the judicial process, a low-level felony, for asking a restauranteur to delete text messages after his controversial raid of the Marion County Record.

Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody is charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness for a probe into his conduct of withholding information from authorities.

A year after the police raid on the Marion County Record newsroom in Kansas, a survey found that even journalists were unclear about protections afforded to them under state and federal law.

Even though a special prosecutors report released this week clears nearly everyone in the unprecedented Marion County Record raid of criminal wrongdoing, it does nothing to diffuse allegations of police malfeasance — or concerns about a corrupt local government.

The former police chief of Marion, Kansas, will face criminal charges for his role in a raid of the Marion County Record. The raid made national headlines last year and drew attention from state investigators and First Amendment advocates.

A report from special prosecutors cleared Marion County Record reporters of any wrongdoing, and accuses former Marion County Police Chief Gideon Cody of obstructing the judicial process — a low-level felony.

After the raid of the Marion County Record, Deb Gruver quit and filed a federal lawsuit against Police Chief Gideon Cody for his “malicious and recklessly indifferent violation” of her constitutional rights. Earlier this month, Gruver and Cody reached a $235,000 settlement.

A lawsuit from former council member Ruth Herbel alleges that the August 2023 raids on her home and the Marion County Record were acts of retaliation by the mayor, police chief and sheriff — and accused officials of "judge-shopping" for warrants.

A small Kansas newspaper, the Marion County Record, was the target of a raid by the local police force last August. Now, the paper is suing the police and other government officials arguing that they violated the First Amendment.

The lawsuit claims that the Marion mayor, police chief and other local officials violated the First Amendment freedom of the press, the Fourth Amendment prohibition on warrantless searches, and federal and state laws that protect journalists and their sources from police raids.

After seizing records and devices from the Marion County Record offices, then-Police Chief Gideon Cody allegedly had a “pizza party” with the county sheriff to debrief him. Cody initiated the unprecedented August newspaper raid under the pretense that a reporter committed identity theft by accessing public records.

The Marion County Record search warrant signed by Kansas magistrate Laura Viar appeared to violate federal law protecting journalists from police raids. The Kansas Commission on Judicial Conduct did issue Viars "informal advice" to research appropriate federal and state laws before approving warrants.