TOPEKA, KS – Former Kansas Police Chief Gideon Cody has been charged with felony obstruction of justice after persuading a potential witness in an investigation of a raid last year on a weekly newspaper, according to NPR.
The charge against Cody detailed by NPR alleges he knowingly influenced the witness to withhold information from the investigation on the Marion County Record, either on the day of the raid or within the following week.
The charge was filed in state district court in Marion County Monday, but NPR explains that it is not detailed about Cody’s alleged actions.
Two special prosecutors referenced text messages between Cody and the business owner after the raid Cody asked her to delete, “fearing people could get the wrong idea about their relationship” which she argued was “professional and platonic” in NPR’s reporting.
NPR reports the business owner was seeking approval from Marion City Council for a liquor license and, on record, she had potentially driven without a valid permit for years despite getting it reinstated.
Cody explained he had evidence the newspaper, Publisher Eric Meyer, and reporter Phyllis Zorn had committed identity theft and other computer crimes when verifying the authenticity of the business owner’s state driving record copy, reported NPR.
The charge and report filed by the top prosecutor in Riley County, Barry Wilkerson, concluded neither Meyer, Zorn, or the newspaper had committed a crime and the conclusion by Cody was reached because of a poor investigation.
NPR describes how The Associated Press messaged about receiving Cody’s cell phone number to no avail, and the attorneys representing Cody in the federal lawsuit do not know who is representing him in the criminal case.
Police body-camera footage of the raid in August on the publisher’s home shows an upset Joan Meyer, the publisher’s 98-year-old mother and co-owner of the paper, telling the officers, “Get out of my house!”
NPR writes she died of a heart attack the next day.
The prosecution explains it could not charge the officers or Cody with her death since there was no evidence the raid posed a risk to her life, but according to NPR, “Eric Meyer has blamed the stress of the raid for her death.”
