KS - Police raid local newspaper’s office and co-owner’s home, co-owner subsequently dies, Marion, 11 August 2023

[Countem]

Kansas lawmakers want report on last year’s police raid of Marion newspaper

Dozens of Kansas lawmakers launched an effort Tuesday to direct the state’s attorney general to release information from an investigation into a police raid last year on a weekly newspaper, but it wasn’t clear that their measure would get a hearing in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

www.kwch.com

 

[Countem]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/us/marion-kansas-newspaper-reporter-lawsuit-2023-raid/index.html

PZ is suing current and former officials with the city of Marion and officials with the county of Marion for damages in the amount of $950,000 and attorney’s fees, the lawsuit states.

 

[Countem]

This Sunshine Week, Kansas officials should finally clear the Marion County Record's journalists • Kansas Reflector

Welcome to Sunshine Week, an annual opportunity to celebrate the public's right to know and promote the need for government transparency.

kansasreflector.com

 

[303gmf]

This Sunshine Week, Kansas officials should finally clear the Marion County Record's journalists • Kansas Reflector

Welcome to Sunshine Week, an annual opportunity to celebrate the public's right to know and promote the need for government transparency.

kansasreflector.com

What the heck?
Colorado investigators and Riley Co attorney traveling there soon?

 

[tlcya]

odd. what do Colorado investigators have to do with a case that happened in kansas?

 

[Incredholt]

odd. what do Colorado investigators have to do with a case that happened in kansas?

Kansas Bureau of Investigation asked them last December

https://twitter.com/x/status/1733255567534096783

also -
the optics of KBI doing the investigation by itself is prob not good...

Police chief who raided Marion newsroom sent text to county DA saying KBI is '100% behind me'

Text messages obtained by the KSHB 41 I-Team reveal Gideon Cody claimed the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was "100 percent behind" him one day after the raids on Marion County Record and two homes.

www.kshb.com

 

[303gmf]

Kansas Bureau of Investigation asked them last December

https://twitter.com/x/status/1733255567534096783

also -
the optics of KBI doing the investigation by itself is prob not good...

Police chief who raided Marion newsroom sent text to county DA saying KBI is '100% behind me'

Text messages obtained by the KSHB 41 I-Team reveal Gideon Cody claimed the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was "100 percent behind" him one day after the raids on Marion County Record and two homes.

www.kshb.com

Oh makes much more sense now!
Was hoping this case didn’t get any stranger
Kkkkobachs paw involved concerning enough

 

[Countem]

Third federal lawsuit issued following raid of the Marion County Record newspaper

Following a police raid on a Kansas newspaper, a third federal lawsuit has been filed.

www.kmbc.com

Marion County Record's officer manager, CB, filed the lawsuit on Friday, naming the city of Marion, former Marion police Chief GC, and several city officials as defendants. […] CB alleges violations of her First and Fourth Amendment rights and her right to privacy.

Colorado authorities wrapping up investigation into Marion police who raided Kansas newspaper • Kansas Reflector

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is nearly finished with its inquiry into potential criminal activity surrounding the raid on the Marion County Record last year and will turn over findings to special prosecutors later this month, state authorities said Tuesday.

kansasreflector.com

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is nearly finished with its inquiry into potential criminal activity surrounding the raid on the Marion County Record last year and will turn over findings to special prosecutors later this month, state authorities said Tuesday.

Kansas newspaper claims unprecedented police raid caused death of publisher’s 98-year-old mom: lawsuit

The newspaper alleges that law enforcement used complaints against the Marion County Record as an excuse to attack the newspaper.

nypost.com

This article has the following link to the 137-page complaint filed by the Marion County Record.

https://mnks.us/images/5528suit.pdf

KSHB 41 I-Team receives national IRE award for series of reports tied to Marion, Kansas newspaper raid

KSHB 41 earned national recognition Friday for its ongoing coverage of the raid on the Marion Record newspaper last August.

www.kshb.com

 

[Countem]

Kansas prosecutors reviewing nearly 10,000 pages of documents in Marion newspaper raid • Kansas Reflector

Kansas special prosecutors have received "a detailed synopsis" of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation's ongoing review of last year's police raid on the Marion County Record.

kansasreflector.com

 

[Countem]

Former Marion vice mayor files federal lawsuit in connection with 2023 police raids

Ruth Herbel says she and the newspaper 'The Marion County Record" were targeted by retaliatory police raids last summer

www.kmbc.com

The former vice mayor of Marion is filing a federal lawsuit against city officials for violating her constitutional rights.

 

[Countem]

Former reporter settles part of her lawsuit over a police raid on a Kansas newspaper for $235,000

A former reporter for a weekly Kansas newspaper has agreed to accept $235,000 to settle part of her federal lawsuit over a police raid on the paper that made a small city the focus of a national debate over press freedoms.

apnews.com

Former reporter DG has partially settled her lawsuit for $235,000. The settlement removed the former police chief in Marion from her lawsuit. The Marion County sheriff and the county’s prosecutor are still included.

 

[sds71]

Sedgwick County district attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County attorney Barry Wilkerson, appointed special prosecutors in the case of the raid on a Marion County newspaper last year, announced they will file a criminal case against former Marion police chief Gideon Cody.

The final report on the case from Bennett and Wilkerson said that Cody will be charged with interference with the judicial process, a severity level 8, nonperson felony. Cody faces between seven and 23 months in prison if convicted.

Cody instigated a raid on the Marion County Record last August at the home of publisher Eric Meyer and at the home of a then-City Council member who had been critical of the mayor.

At the time, Cody said he had evidence that the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn and the city council member had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in obtaining information about a local business owner’s driving record. All of his targets said they did nothing illegal, and no charges were ever filed.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25032529/special-prosecutors-press-release-re-marion-county-852024.pdf

Former Marion police chief will face criminal charge in newspaper raid

Gideon Cody resigned in October, a week after an announcement during a City Council meeting that he had been suspended.

www.kwch.com

 

[tlcya]

Sedgwick County district attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County attorney Barry Wilkerson, appointed special prosecutors in the case of the raid on a Marion County newspaper last year, announced they will file a criminal case against former Marion police chief Gideon Cody.

The final report on the case from Bennett and Wilkerson said that Cody will be charged with interference with the judicial process, a severity level 8, nonperson felony. Cody faces between seven and 23 months in prison if convicted.

Cody instigated a raid on the Marion County Record last August at the home of publisher Eric Meyer and at the home of a then-City Council member who had been critical of the mayor.

At the time, Cody said he had evidence that the newspaper, reporter Phyllis Zorn and the city council member had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in obtaining information about a local business owner’s driving record. All of his targets said they did nothing illegal, and no charges were ever filed.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25032529/special-prosecutors-press-release-re-marion-county-852024.pdf

Former Marion police chief will face criminal charge in newspaper raid

Gideon Cody resigned in October, a week after an announcement during a City Council meeting that he had been suspended.

www.kwch.com

I have been wondering what ever came of this investigation into the events leading up to the raid. Thank you for the update!

 

[tlcya]

A felony obstruction charge could be punished by up to nine months in prison for a first-time offender, though the typical sentence would be 18 months or less on probation. A misdemeanor charge could result in up to a year in jail.

The special prosecutors, District Attorney Marc Bennett in Segwick County, home to Wichita, and County Attorney Barry Wilkerson in Riley County in northeastern Kansas, concluded that neither Meyer or Zorn committed any crimes in verifying information in the business owner’s driving record through a database available online from the state. Their report suggested Marion police conducted a poor investigation to “reach erroneous conclusions.”
Police Chief To Face Criminal Charges After Raiding Newspaper Office

 

[sds71]

A special prosecutor in court documents filed Tuesday says former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody “induced a witness to withhold information” in the days after Cody led a raid on a newspaper office, the publisher’s home and the home of a city councilwoman.

Special prosecutor Barry Wilkerson, of Riley County, charged Cody with interference with judicial process, a low-level felony, in Marion County District Court. If convicted, the presumed sentence would be probation.

Wilkerson and special prosecutor Marc Bennett, of Sedgwick County, announced last week they would file the charge against Cody. But they determined Cody and other officials didn’t break the law by planning and conducting an illegal and unconstitutional raid.

The prosecutors wrote that Cody, his officers, Sheriff Jeff Soyez and his deputies, Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents, County Attorney Joel Ensey and Magistrate Judge Laura Viar didn’t realize their “inadequacy” in accusing journalists and a political outcast of committing identity theft because they obtained Kari Newell’s driving record — a public document.

Former Marion police chief charged with witness interference after raid on Kansas newspaper • Kansas Reflector

A special prosecutor in court documents filed Tuesday says former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody "induced a witness to withhold information" in the days after Cody led a raid on a newspaper office, the publisher's home, and the home of a city councilwoman.

kansasreflector.com

 

[sds71]

Small town Kansas newspaper editor death stares police chief

Eric Meyer, the editor of the Marion County Record, was seen giving Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody death stares as he made his first court appearance on Monday.

www.dailymail.co.uk