Two special prosecutors say they plan to file an obstruction of justice charge against a former central Kansas police chief over his conduct following a raid last year on his town’s newspaper, and that the newspaper’s staff committed no crimes.

Two special prosecutors said Monday that they plan to file a criminal obstruction of justice charge against a former central Kansas police chief over his conduct following a raid last year on his town’s newspaper.

In an lengthy report summarizing the findings of their investigation, the special prosecutors, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, note that the staff of the newspaper that was raided, the Marion County Record, committed no crimes.

It wasn’t clear whether they planned to charge former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody with a felony or a misdemeanor, and either is possible. The prosecutors also hadn’t filed their criminal case as of Monday. It could be days before they file it because they were working with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which stepped in at the request of its Kansas counterpart.

  • @octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
    19•4 months ago

    Well it’s about fucking time.

    Prosecutors Marc Bennett and Barry Wilkerson concluded in their 124-page report that the staff at the Marion County Record committed no crimes before former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody led a raid on its offices and the home of its publisher. They said police warrants signed by a judge to allow the searches contained inaccurate information from an “inadequate investigation” and that the searches were not legally justified.

    Cool cool cool. Do the warrant that killed Breonna Taylor next.

    Police body camera footage of the 2023 raid on Publisher Eric Meyer’s home shows his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer, visibly upset and telling officers, “Get out of my house!” She co-owned the paper, lived with her son and died of a heart attack the next afternoon.

    Did they protect, or serve her to death? Gotta be one of the two, right?