Don’t be buffaloed
by the case against Cody
Marion witnessed a train wreck last week, but not the kind you’re thinking of. It was the criminal case against disgraced former police chief Gideon Cody, who raided our newsroom two summers ago.
Cody appeared via Zoom at a preliminary hearing at which special prosecutors persuaded a judge that Cody likely committed a crime when he asked Kari Newell to destroy text messages they exchanged.
One rogue cop trying to cover up running roughshod over the Constitution is a problem. But what’s really troubling is that an entire system designed to prevent such things from happening failed to do so.
Parts of what happened may have been the result of a conspiracy. Other parts involved people in positions to act who became unwilling or unable to stand up for what they knew to be right.
Cody’s hearing had little to do with the raids themselves. Arrogance, ignorance, incompetence, and cowardice helped fuel the raids. But those things aren’t criminal. Trying to cover them up is. Like Al Capone, convicted only of tax evasion, Cody is being tried only for things that happened after the raid.
Legality of the raids themselves is what an array of still-pending federal lawsuits focus on. Arrogance, ignorance, incompetence, and cowardice can be factors in those cases. Obtaining justice in them is far more important than whether Cody is sentenced to a few months of probation for urging a witness to destroy evidence.
According to a report by the prosecutors, three other officers — Zach Hudlin, Aaron Christner, and Jeff Soyez — all knew that there were perfectly legal ways for us to have obtained what they insisted we had to have stolen. They also knew that the flawed warrants they obtained limited what they could inspect and seize, but they brazenly ignored the limits.
Despite publicly denying involvement, then-mayor David Mayfield not only met with Cody and Soyez while they were planning the raids but also endorsed them 100% and encouraged them by telling those involved that the only way he could get rid of political adversary and raid target Ruth Herbel was to have her charged with a crime.
While the raids still were supposed to be secret, Soyez bragged about them to Zach Collett, another Herbel adversary. The KBI recommended against conducting them until it could examine evidence, but Christner urged that the advice be ignored.
County attorney Joel Ensey was warned by Soyez to avoid with the case — and promptly did as suggested. District Judge Susan Robson likewise inexplicably recused herself, leaving magistrate Laura Viar to sign the warrants, apparently without studying them.
Fire investigator Chris Mercer, who was involved in executing the raids, was criticized by prosecutors for submitting an after-action report completely at odds with what his body camera footage revealed.
Most telling of all, this wasn’t about a supposed crime that someone had unearthed. Both the Record and Herbel had told authorities what they had seen before any investigation began and never were questioned before they were raided.
Cody may end up getting a few months of probation. The real shame is that taxpayers will have to foot the bill for his and everyone else’s failings because the city and county have to date refused to admit responsibility or even to say they are sorry.
Cody’s hearing was a minor pit stop on a much longer and meandering road that we hope will be a first misstep in a path that leads to better law enforcement for all.
— ERIC MEYER