An ex-Kansas police chief who led a raid on a newspaper is charged with obstruction of justice

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An ex-Kansas police chief who led a raid on a newspaper is charged with obstruction of justice

2024-08-14 01:36 Last Updated At：01:40

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas police chief who led a raid last year on a weekly newspaper has been charged with felony obstruction of justice and is accused of persuading a potential witness to withhold information from authorities when they later investigated his conduct.

The single charge against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody alleges that he knowingly or intentionally influenced the witness to withhold information on the day of the raid of the Marion County Record and the home of its publisher or sometime within the following six days. The charge was filed Monday in state district court in Marion County and is not more specific about Cody's alleged conduct.

The raid sparked a national debate about press freedom focused on Marion, a town of about 1,900 people set among rolling prairie hills about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri. Also, newspaper Publisher Eric Meyer's mother, who co-owned the newspaper and lived with him, died the next day of a heart attack, and he blames the stress of the raid.

Meyer said last week that authorities appear to be making Cody the “fall guy” for the raid when numerous officials were involved. He said Tuesday that he suspects the criminal case ultimately will be resolved through a plea bargain so that Cody will not have a trial that would more fully disclose details about the raid.

“We're just being basic journalists here,” he said. “We want the whole story. We don't want part of it.”

A report from two special prosecutors last week referenced text messages between Cody and a local business owner after the raid. The business owner has said that Cody asked her to delete text messages between them, fearing people could get the wrong idea about their relationship, which she said was professional and platonic.

The Associated Press left a message seeking comment at a possible cellphone number for Cody, and it was not immediately returned Tuesday. Attorneys representing Cody in a federal lawsuit over the raid are not representing him in the criminal case and did not immediately know who was representing him.

Cody justified the Aug. 11, 2023, raid by saying he had evidence that Meyer, the newspaper and one of its reporters, Phyllis Zorn, had committed identity theft or other computer crimes in verifying the authenticity of a copy of the business owner's state driving record provided to the newspaper by an acquaintance. The business owner was seeking Marion City Council approval for a liquor license and the record showed that she potentially had driven without a valid license for years. However, she later had her license reinstated.

The prosecutors' report concluded that no crime was committed by Meyer, Zorn, or the newspaper and that Cody reached an erroneous conclusion about their conduct because of a poor investigation. Zorn used the information she had to legally search an online state database using her own name.

The prosecutors also said police search warrants signed by a judge contained inaccurate information because of the “inadequate investigation” and were not legally justified. But the prosecutors said they couldn't show that Cody had intentionally misled the judge.

The obstruction of justice charge against Cody was filed by one of the special prosecutors, Barry Wilkerson, the top prosecutor in Riley County in northeastern Kansas. The other special prosecutor is Marc Bennett, the district attorney in Sedgwick County, the home to the state's largest city of Wichita.

A conviction for a first-time offender can be punished by up to nine months in prison, though under the state's sentencing guidelines, the typical penalty is 18 months or less of probation.

The Record's publishing company and current and former staffers have filed four federal lawsuits against Cody and other former and current local officials. The publishing company's lawsuit includes a wrongful death claim and suggests total damages exceed $10 million. The city's current annual budget is about $9.5 million.

The publishing company also filed an open records lawsuit last month in state district court, seeking to force the city to turn over texts between police and other local officials.

Police body-camera footage of the 2023 raid on the publisher's home shows the publisher's 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, visibly upset and telling officers, “Get out of my house!”

The prosecutors said they could not charge Cody or other officers involved in the raid over her death because there was no evidence they believed the raid posed a risk to her life.

The prosecutors also said there was no “gross deviation” from how officers served other search warrants in the past. However, Eric Meyer said seven officers came to the house for the search.

“A couple of weeks earlier, they conducted a raid on the home of a suspected child rapist who was known to have guns in his house, and they only sent two cops for that,” he said.

Lindsey Vonn takes a low-risk approach and places 14th in her return to World Cup skiing at age 40

2024-12-21 22:19 Last Updated At：22:21

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) — Lindsey Vonn was not about to put everything on the line in her first World Cup race back after more than five years of retirement.

Not with her history of crashes and injuries.

Not with her new titanium knee.

Not at age 40.

Vonn took a low-risk approach and finished 14th in a super-G on Saturday, crossing 1.18 seconds behind Austrian winner Cornelia Huetter.

“This was the perfect start,” Vonn said. “Today is just the first step and I’m not looking for more. Today I really needed to get to the finish. I wanted to have a solid result. And that’s exactly what I did.

“There’s definitely a lot that I have left to give," Vonn added. "Today was not the day to try to do anything special.”

Still, when Vonn came down, the crowd of Swiss-flag-waving fans turned silent in anticipation and all of the other top skiers watched her run on a perfectly clear day in the Alps.

“To have her back on the world stage is just fantastic,” said Sophie Goldschmidt, president and CEO of U.S. Ski and Snowboard. “Just the attention she’s bringing to the sport and the role model she is — it’s a big day.

“These kind of moments transcend outside of just sports. We see it with Mikaela (Shiffrin) and what she’s done recently, which is just superhuman as well, setting all those records."

Vonn lost time early in her run but nearly matched the top finishers in the middle and bottom section of the Corviglia course.

When she reached the finish and saw her time, Vonn flashed a wide smile and waved to the crowd.

“I didn’t risk anything with the line. I was a little bit conservative in some sections, but overall I skied really well. Now I just need my top section to be a little faster and I’ll be in really good shape,” said Vonn, who is planning to race another super-G in St. Moritz on Sunday.

Vonn finished less than a second off the podium, which also included Olympic champion Lara Gut-Behrami in second place, 0.18 behind Huetter, and Sofia Goggia in third, 0.33 back.

“I’m really close to being there," Vonn said. "I’m just not quite there yet.”

Vonn started No. 31 under a new wild card rule for former champions. But that still meant going after all of the current top-ranked skiers had raced.

“The course was a little bit bumpy when I went and so some sections I was a little bit more conservative with my line," she said. “But in some sections I was really fast.”

Vonn had to cut her career short in 2019 due to a series of crashes and injuries, but then she had knee replacement surgery in April and had two titanium pieces inserted into her right knee. Her knee feels better than it has in years, so she decided to come back.

“The last few years of my career were so much different than they are right now," Vonn said. "I’m skiing without thinking about my knee, which I really haven’t done since I first tore my ACL in 2013. So it’s been a long time that I felt this good and I’m a little bit older, but honestly, I’m a hell of a lot stronger than I once was.”

Eight-time overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher also took advantage of the wild card rule and returned this season after five years away. But then Hirscher tore his left ACL while training in giant slalom and announced earlier this month that his comeback season was done.

Vonn left the tour with 82 World Cup wins — the record for a woman at the time and within reach of the then all-time Alpine mark of 86 held by Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark. The women’s record held by Vonn was eclipsed last year by Shiffrin, who now has an outright record 99 wins.

Shiffrin, who shares the record of five wins in St. Moritz with Vonn, isn’t racing this weekend as she recovers from abdominal surgery to clean out a puncture wound she sustained in a crash last month.

Vonn is attempting to enter unchartered territory in terms of success at an advanced age in women’s skiing.

The oldest woman to win a World Cup race was Federica Brignone, the Italian who won the giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October to start this season, at age 34.

“It’s super impressive,” said Vonn’s U.S. teammate Jacqueline Wiles, noting that Vonn didn’t have as much preseason preparation as other skiers. “If anybody could do it, she could. The more she gets comfortable and gets kind of back up to speed, she’s going to be right in there.”

So will Vonn charge harder on Sunday?

“Step by step,” Vonn said. “Patience.”

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing