Kansas raid tied to 98-year-old's death in First Amendment showdown to result in criminal charges

The former Kansas police chief who led raids on a Marion County newspaper, journalists and its 98-year-old co-owner will face criminal charges after an independent investigation found evidence he interfered with the legal process.

Joan Meyer, the 98-year-old co-owner of the Marion County Record, died the day after police knocked on her door with an improperly obtained search warrant. She had appeared on home security video demanding officers "get out." Prosecutors later withdrew the warrants, stating then-Police Chief Gideon Cody had not provided sufficient evidence to obtain them properly.

"It’s not surprising that fair-minded law enforcement officials would conclude that journalism is not a crime, but destroying evidence is," Bernie Rhodes, an attorney for the newspaper, told Fox News Digital Monday. "So I’m pleased that the special prosecutors realized that Gideon Cody is not a fair-minded law enforcement officer, and that he should suffer the consequences for his decisions."

After an independent investigation, special prosecutors revealed Monday plans to charge Cody, who resigned last year, with interfering in the judicial process, the Kansas City Star reported earlier.

KANSAS PROSECUTOR WITHDRAWS SEARCH WARRANTS USED IN CONTROVERSIAL NEWSPAPER RAID AFTER OWNER'S DEATH

The special prosecutors, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, also found that neither the newspaper nor its journalists had committed any crimes before they were raided.

"We believed that the special prosecutors who are independent, not from Marion, would conduct exactly what they've done, an independent review," Rhodes said.

According to their 124-page report, obtained by the Star, the raid likely played a role in Meyer's death, but the officers who conducted it were not criminally responsible.

Separately, the Record is suing the city and other officials, including Cody, the mayor and the county sheriff, in connection with the alleged First Amendment violation.

Sunday marks one year since the raids on Meyer's home and the Record's newsroom. 

LAST WORDS FROM MATRIARCH OF SMALL TOWN PAPER WHO DIED AFTER DUBIOUS POLICE RAID: ‘HITLER TACTICS’

Prior to the incident, journalists at the paper looked into allegations that a candy shop owner named Kari Newell allegedly drove a car while her license was suspended for a prior DUI. The paper was subsequently accused of identity theft and unlawfully accessing a computer, leading to the confiscation of computers, smartphones and other equipment.

Reporters had looked into Newell's DUI but had not published a story, with editors finding a potential conflict of interest in the source who initially reached out with the information. However, after the raids, the paper revealed that its tipster also alleged that police knew about Newell's suspended license and let her slide when caught driving anyway.

Newell at the time told Fox News Digital she would not be commenting on the matter.

Before she died, according to Rhodes, Joan Meyer described the police department's behavior as "Hitler tactics."

The Marion County Record was founded in 1874 by E.W. Hoch, whose family owned the newspaper for more than a century before Meyer and her husband bought it in 1998 to save it from takeover by a corporate chain, according to the Reflector. Bill Meyer, who died in 2006, had worked with the paper since 1948.

Separately, a state panel has cleared the magistrate judge who first signed the warrants.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.