UPDATE: Police chief who led raid of Marion County Record resigns; questions raised about role of county attorney

Gideon Cody
(Photo by KSHB, Kansas City)

The police chief who led a raid on the Marion County Record newsroom has resigned just three days after being suspended, reports Eric Meyer of the Record.

The resignation by Marion (Kansas) Police Chief Gideon Cody was effective immediately. Mayor David Mayfield made the announcement at a meeting of the Marion City Council on Monday, according to Meyer.

Patrol officer Zach Hudson has been named as the interim chief, and "is the sole remaining member of the Marion police force fully certified as a law enforcement officer," Meyer reports.

Hudson told Meyer after the appointment that he would resume giving the newspaper "weekly reports about police activities. Cody had stopped a 50-year tradition of providing such reports after taking office four months ago," according to the report.

Hudson was present for the Aug. 11 raid on the newspaper, Meyer reports, and called Cody's attention to a confidential file that contained information the newspaper had obtained about Cody's alleged problems while working with another law enforcement agency. The fallout from the Marion County Record newsroom raid continues as the police chief who led the raid has been suspended from his job.

Mayfield suspended Cody last Thursday, reports Phyllis Zorn of the Record. Mayfield had previously resisted calls to suspend Cody until the Kansas Bureau of Investigation released its review. KBI's investigation is ongoing, and it is unclear what made Mayfield change his mind. The city's code allows the mayor to suspend a city official, but only the council has the authority to fire one.

Police body camera footage recorded this file during the raid.
(Marion County Record photo)

Previous reporting on the raid noted that Cody was being investigated by the Record, and he did not want their negative findings published. "Newly reviewed body camera video of the Aug. 11 raid reveals that police went out of their way to inspect confidential material a Record reporter had obtained about Cody's misdeeds with the Kansas City Police Department," Meyer reported. The video showed a file labeled "Capt. Gideon Cody," but there is no recording of to what extent Cody reviewed the file, if any.

The Record has also uncovered evidence that the county attorney, Joel Ensey, knew about the search three days prior to it occurring, according to the news site TheMessenger.com. Meyer reports, "Ensey eventually withdrew the warrants, which he admitted were 'legally insufficient,' but did not do so until five days after the raid. The Messenger.com reported that among more than 200 emails it received was a lengthy email. . . that Cody had sent to Ensey three days before Cody obtained the search warrants."

"When KBI eventually does release its report, it typically would go to the county prosecutor -- in this case, Ensey," Meyer adds. "The Record plans to ask for a special prosecutor to be appointed instead."