# Police stage 'chilling' raid on small Kansas newspaper, seizing computers (due to divorce conflict?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [August 12, 2023, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438 "2023-08-12T02:57:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![mjmartin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3d9bf3/32.png) [@mjmartin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mjmartin)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/101 "2023-10-04T18:08:34Z")
Now, and 30 miles away, I am sure you’re correct. A year from now and 100 miles away… Let’s just say I don’t have much faith in people or the system holding assholes like this accountable. Hell, he hasn’t even been charged with anything, and officers with criminal convictions get new jobs all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/102 "2023-10-04T18:21:23Z")
I’m in the “he’ll have a job soon camp” I’m betting that there are a lot of people out there who think he did the right thing, and that his firing was just a liberal plot to malign a good god-fearing man ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/103 "2023-10-04T19:34:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > OTOH, @Mighty_Mouse may wel have a point that there are an awful lot of one-horse towns and even one-horse counties full of ignorant no-horse losers with 2-bit police or sheriff’s departments who’d be happy to take anyone with a pulse willing to live in that og-foresaken shithole they call “home”. That wasn’t my point. I live in a prosperous, highly educated suburb in arguably the most liberal state in the country. Our former police chief became “former” after a lawsuit was settled for a few hundred thousand with a female civilian employee who was groped by male officers in the chief’s presence, during a “training exercise” He found another job in the same state in another somewhat less prosperous but even more lily white suburb. His replacement in our town was run out of a more diverse community after expressing support for Derek Chauvin on social media. Now neither of them had criminal convictions, but neither does the cop in Kansas as far as I can see. BTW, the hole in the police department budget made by the settlement with the victim of sexual assault was filled by laying off ALL the crossing guards. Of course the school department had to hire the crossing guards, and in turn lay off a bunch of classroom aides. Leading to a bunch of lawsuits from special education students. But most people in town still idolize the cops. People with degrees from Harvard, MIT and Dartmouth. Lawyers, Engineers, Captains of Industry. Not just yobbos. Businesses are falling over each other to fete them ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/104 "2023-10-04T20:12:02Z")
He’ll have another job in no time. He’s simply being persecuted for having the balls to take on the no-good radical mainstream press. Plenty of towns will be happy to have someone like that. Notoriety is good thing these days among a certain population. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/105 "2023-10-04T20:21:58Z")
If indeed he’s rehired quickly that fact ought to come to the WWW’s general awareness pretty shortly thereafter. So for once we’ll know the outcome to all our respective confident predictions. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/106 "2023-10-04T20:27:15Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > If indeed he’s rehired quickly that fact ought to come to the WWW’s general awareness pretty shortly thereafter. OTOH, even if he doesn’t find another LEO job quickly, I won’t ever be able to smirk and say ‘I told you so’. Unless he announces that he’s leaving law enforcement forever, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2023, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/107 "2023-10-05T11:07:01Z")
Don’t know if this is paywalled or not. Former police chief Cody has issued a response to the lawsuit filed against him. > **[Former Marion police chief responds to federal lawsuit filed against him by...](https://kansasreflector.com/2023/10/04/former-marion-police-chief-responds-to-federal-lawsuit-filed-against-him-by-kansas-reporter/?emci=82289605-0d63-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&emdi=a834e293-5d63-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&ceid=118034)** > > Former Marion County Police Chief Gideon Cody denies much of the allegations against him in response to a federal lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2023, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/108 "2023-10-23T22:24:23Z")
Update: [Youtuber LegalEagle has released a video covering the whole mess up to now.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CX1aJRUzPY&t=874s) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2023, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/109 "2023-10-24T03:29:34Z")
This showed up at the bottom of the page. Yeah, he’ll be lucky if his employment future even involves the phrase “Want fries with that?” Not that there’s anything wrong with working fast food in itself, just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/110 "2023-10-27T13:45:59Z")
City of Marion continues to flout the law. > **[Marion denies raided newspaper’s request for city officials’ texts, flouting...](https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article281056113.html)** > > “If this denial is allowed to stand, it is a primer for gutting the Kansas Open Records Act,” an attorney for the Marion County Record said. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/111 "2023-10-27T19:53:00Z")
Thanks for the update. Yeah - if the City had zero culpability, or even a deniable amount, they’d want to put as much forward as to “clear the record” or “come clean”. Instead, they’ve dug in beyond what I would have expected when they let the sheriff go. Methinks I was not wrong when I brought up the Oklahoma officials case way back in #6. I feel a very, Very strong taste of “How DARE you report on us” from all the city government bodies involved. Of course, it could be an even more simple issue. They may have talked _in the clear_ about actionable, criminal intent and are doing just CYA and Delay. It wouldn’t surprise me at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/112 "2024-04-02T11:09:46Z")
Update: Owner and publisher of the newspaper has filed a lawsuit, the fourth such suit resulting from the raid. In part, the suit is on behalf of his mother, who died a day after the cops raided her house. > **[Marion County Record publisher files lawsuit against city for ‘threatening...](https://www.kwch.com/2024/04/01/marion-county-record-publisher-files-lawsuit-against-city-threatening-democracy/)** > > The lawsuit alleges the raid was an “intolerable violation of ... constitutional rights." ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/113 "2024-07-05T22:37:53Z")
**Former reporter settles part of her lawsuit over a police raid on a Kansas newspaper for $235,000** > The settlement removed [the former police chief](https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-police-chief-bodycam-footage-ec4fccb570436562e5b25d3329ef43b0) in Marion from the lawsuit filed by former Marion County Record reporter Deb Gruver, but it doesn’t apply to two other officials she sued over the raid: the Marion County sheriff and the county’s prosecutor. [https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b825c3643d407a0379893256db224d](https://apnews.com/article/kansas-newspaper-raid-lawsuit-b0b825c3643d407a0379893256db224d) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/114 "2024-08-05T22:18:31Z")
> **[Prosecutors plan to charge former Kansas police chief over his conduct...](https://www.yahoo.com/news/prosecutors-plan-charge-former-kansas-163229577.html)** > > Two special prosecutors said Monday that they plan to charge a former central Kansas police chief with obstruction of justice over his conduct following a police raid last year on the local weekly newspaper. Prosecutors Marc Bennett and Barry... ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/115 "2024-08-05T22:19:24Z")
Good. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/116 "2024-08-06T20:42:58Z")
Agreed. Here’s CNN’s coverage: > **[Former Kansas police chief will face criminal charge after raid on...](https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/06/us/kansas-police-chief-newspaper-charge/index.html)** > > The former police chief who led a raid last year on a small Kansas newspaper will be charged with interfering with the judicial process for actions he took after the raid, special prosecutors announced in a report Monday. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/117 "2024-08-06T20:55:26Z")
If I’m understanding it right, this prosecution is for impeding the investigation into the raid itself. So he’s being prosecuted for interfering with other police (and DAs), but not for the actual raid itself. So lying on the warrant and conducting an illegal raid was fine. Hopefully that will change. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/118 "2024-08-06T20:56:28Z")
Note that what he’s being charged with is not the raid itself or anything that led up to it, but some as-yet-unspecified action he took after the raid which the prosecutor believes constitutes obstruction of justice. Ninjaed. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/119 "2024-11-25T07:31:33Z")
Small bump: I was curious about the status of this matter, so I went and looked for an update. I figure it’s worth letting people know the prosecution against the former police chief is continuing to grind forward. This is from a few weeks ago. > **[Former Kansas police chief who led newspaper raid returns to face criminal...](https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-10-08/former-kansas-police-chief-marion-county-record-newspaper-raid-charges)** > > 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... (I also agree with the comments from the newspaper’s publisher. It’s weird that the ex-chief is being held out as the sole fall guy. This is clearly not the whole story.) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438/120 "2024-11-25T19:13:34Z")
Thanks for following up on this. It sounds like the story is being gently buried, for lack of attention outside the town. Too bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/police-stage-chilling-raid-on-small-kansas-newspaper-seizing-computers-due-to-divorce-conflict/988438.md?page=7)