Life

MARION — Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home, a district judge ruled Wednesday.

But Cody won’t be tried for the raids, which Marion County Record editor-publisher Eric Meyer says is the real crime.

A two-hour preliminary hearing revealed new details about the texts that Cody exchanged with Kari Newell, whose drunk driving record and request for a liquor license at her restaurant ignited an international drama two years ago. Newell took the stand and testified that Cody told her during a phone call to delete text messages between the two of them so that people wouldn’t get the wrong idea about whether they were romantically involved.

“Chief Cody had stated that he felt it would be in my best interest to delete those,” Newell said.

About six weeks after the raids, Newell texted Cody to say she was concerned about having deleted their earlier messages, she said. Cody replied that she was being paranoid.

Their exchange coincided with widespread scrutiny of the police raids in August 2023 of the newspaper office in flagrant disregard for the First Amendment and legal protections for journalists. Kansas Reflector first reported on the chilling raids.

Cody, working in coordination with the sheriff’s office, county attorney and Kansas Bureau of Investigation, had investigated whether Meyer and reporter Phyllis Zorn committed identity theft and other crimes by looking up Newell’s driving record in a public online database. A magistrate judge, ignoring the absence of evidence and state law, authorized the police raids of the newspaper office, Meyer’s home, and the home of city Councilwoman Ruth Herbel. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother died in distress a day later.

Police exceeded the scope of the search warrants by seizing reporters’ personal cellphones, work computers, and other equipment. Video showed Cody reviewing a reporter’s file on allegations that had been made against him.

At the KBI’s request, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation conducted a yearlong inquiry into whether Cody or anyone else had committed a crime. Special prosecutors Marc Bennett, of Sedgwick County, and Barry Wilkerson, of Riley County, cleared all law enforcement of any wrongdoing in carrying out the raids, which spawned five ongoing federal lawsuits.

However, CBI special agent John Zamora learned from talking to Newell that she had deleted text messages at his request, spanning a period of one week before to one week after the raids.

The prosecutors presented an exhibit at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing that totaled 31 pages of text messages, including one where Cody said he was working with a publisher to write a book about the experience.

Zamora testified that he interviewed Newell in person in December 2023.

“Just tell me what’s happening,” he recalled telling her. “What’s going on here?”

Newell told him she agreed to delete texts, at Cody’s request, because she was worried that her now ex-husband would accuse her of having an affair with Cody, Zamora said.

Wilkerson asked Zamora, who has 30 years of law enforcement experience, if he had ever directed a witness to delete messages or documents.

“No,” Zamora said.

After talking to Newell, Zamora said, he obtained the deleted text messages from Jennifer Hill, the attorney who is defending the city and county from federal lawsuits over the raid. Cody, who had given her his cellphone, had not deleted the text messages himself.

Cody’s attorney, Sal Intagliata, of Wichita, cross-examined Zamora about his investigation. According to Intagliata, the special agent told Hill that he was just trying to “check all the boxes.” Zamora said he didn’t remember making the comment.

When Newell took the stand, she said she has had no communication with Cody since leaving town amid the controversy two years ago.

Zorn and Meyer sat front and center in the courtroom, with Zorn tightlipped and taking notes and Meyer in an incredulous slouch, newspaper tucked in his pants pocket.

Cody, who now lives in Hawaii, appeared by Zoom. He sat expressionless with his chin on his hand for most of the hearing.

District Judge Ryan Rosauer rejected Intagliata’s argument that it was “a legal impossibility” to blame Cody for deleting texts that he ultimately turned over himself. The judge found probable cause that Cody had committed the low-level felony crime of interfering with the judicial process by inducing a witness to withhold information in a criminal investigation.

Cody entered a not guilty plea, and Rosauer scheduled a trial for February.

If convicted, because he has no criminal history, Cody’s sentence would be presumptive probation.

In an interview after the hearing, Meyer said he was worried about the “big picture.”

“None of this has anything to do with the crime,” Meyer said, referring to the raids on his newsroom and home.

“This is not even about the case,” Meyer said. “This is about what he did after the case.”

He also said he was concerned that Cody was being made a scapegoat for the raids, despite the widespread involvement of other people and law enforcement agencies.

“We still want some statement, an official judgment of the court, that this was wrong, so that no one can use this excuse anymore that, ‘Oh, we aren’t sure that it’s illegal to raid newsrooms, and because we’re not completely sure, we can still do it,’ which seems like a stupid excuse to me,” Meyer said.

The U.S. Marine Corps — under the watchful eyes of Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — staged a demonstration on Saturday in southern California.

It wasn’t a No Kings demonstration, though. It was more like a Yes Kings demonstration.

Some of the Marine Corps’ shells that were fired by M777 howitzers across California’s Interstate 5 prematurely detonated, sending shrapnel down on what could have been hundreds of motorists.

Why the hell did the Marine Corps fire artillery shells over Interstate 5 anyway?

Interstate 5 is the largest and most-traveled north-south freeway in California.

The military demonstration was part of an exercise marking the Marine Corps’ 250th anniversary.

Beforehand, the military predicted that the exercise would be safe, but California Governor Gavin Newsom disagreed.

“Firing live rounds over a busy highway isn’t just wrong — it’s dangerous,” Newsom said last week.

Newsom was so concerned about the plan that he ordered a 17-mile stretch closed of the freeway closed between Los Angeles and San Diego — which caused significant backups on that portion of the interstate, used by approximately 80,000 people daily.

Before the mishap, Vance’s office disputed Newsom’s claim that the live rounds were dangerous, saying the Marine Corp’s demonstration was “an established safe practice.”

“If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead,” Vance’s communications director said in a statement. “It would come as no surprise that he would stoop so low considering his pathetic track record of failure as governor.”

After the round prematurely exploded on Saturday, the whole exercise — which was expected to include the firing of approximately 60 155-millimeter shells — was terminated.

An active-duty Marine artillery officer and a former Marine artillery noncommissioned officer who spoke to the New York Times described the exercise as “unusual.”

They said the only howitzer training they had previously observed at Camp Pendleton had taken place at approved artillery ranges on the main side of base, east of the interstate, which they said were a much safer option for training.

A highway patrol official based in the area also described it as “unusual and concerning.”

Tony Coronado, the highway patrol’s border division chief, said in a statement that “it is highly uncommon for any live-fire or explosive training activity to occur near an active freeway.”

So what’s going on here? Why did the Marine Corps decide to fire live artillery shells across California’s major interstate freeway on Saturday?

Could the decision have had anything to do with the planned No Kings demonstrations in California on Saturday — the heart of anti-Trump country — and the well-known fact that Trump hates California?

Just asking.

• Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.
• Robert Reich's new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org.