By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Former Marion police chief Gideon Cody is scheduled for trial Feb. 2 after an Oct. 15 preliminary hearing and arraignment in Marion County District Court.

Cody is charged with interference with judicial process for allegedly inducing former restaurant and coffee shop owner Kari Newell to delete texts between them days after he led a raid Aug. 11, 2023, on the office of Marion County Record and the homes of owners Eric and Joan Meyer and the city’s vice mayor at that time, Ruth Herbel.

District Judge Ryan Rosauer bound Cody over after listening to testimony from Newell and Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent John Zamora.

Cody then pleaded “not guilty.”

The five-day trial is set to begin Feb. 2.

The charge, filed Aug. 12, 2024, involves text messages exchanged between Cody and Newell in the days following the raid.

Zamora and another agent were sent to investigate the raid and events surrounding it in December, 2023. He questioned police officers, the sheriff and deputies, Marion’s then-city administrator, former mayor David Mayfield, Herbel, Newell, the insurance company lawyer defending the city, Record employees, and others.

Zamora testified at Cody’s preliminary hearing about what he had learned from Newell and by obtaining from Cody’s phone text messages between her and Cody.

During testimony at the hearing, Newell read an Aug. 18, 2023, text Cody sent her that contained a phone number.

“It was a phone number of a publisher that he was working with as he wanted to start writing a book and wanted me to involve my version of what was occurring,” Newell said.

Despite an earlier court order for Cody to appear in person for his preliminary hearing and arraignment, he appeared by Zoom.

His lawyer filed a motion contending that having to attend in person “would require a substantial distance and multiple days away from work and home.”

Rosauer told Cody he had a right to be physically present and asked whether he voluntarily surrendered that right.

As the hearing began, Cody appeared to be nervous, then to listen attentively to testimony, then to spend time looking away from his computer camera.

As the hearing ended and Rosauer announced his decision that Cody should be tried on the charge, Cody held both hands, fingers bent downward, in front of his mouth and appeared sad.

Attorney Sal Intagliata of Wichita, and co-counsel Audra Asher of Sterling appeared in defense of Cody.

Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson and Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett are special prosecutors for the case.

The hearing gave onlookers and prosecutors a preview of Cody’s defense: that he kept texts between himself and Newell and intended to give them to someone at some point.

Bennett told Rosauer such intentions were not a question during a preliminary hearing but would be resolved at the trial.

Newspaper owner Eric Meyer couldn’t say he felt satisfied with the outcome of the hearing.

“Satisfied isn’t the right word,” Meyer said. “This is just a very small slice of the overall case and really doesn’t have anything to do with the actual raid itself, but rather attempts to potentially cover up afterward.

“The real proof of this will come out in federal court cases, which may be many months, if not years, in coming.”

Five lawsuits stemming from the raids were filed against the city and county. One is resolved.

“Look at what this case is costing,” Meyer said. “All the expenses of bringing people, including a Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent, to testify. Plaintiffs, the defendant, and most importantly taxpayers are spending a heck of a lot of money when all that was needed was for someone to ’fess up.”

Besides his criminal case in Marion County, Cody is being sued in Leavenworth County by Cynthia Wooton and Channing and Brandon Cole.

The plaintiffs claim in a petition filed Feb. 27, 2023, that they purchased a house from Cody for $260,000 and later discovered a 12-by-20 foot hole on the property that had been filled with construction debris and large trash items before it was covered in dirt.

Their lawsuit alleges violation of Kansas Consumer Protection Act, fraud, and negligence.

They claim the hole was dug and filled by employees of Cody while remodeling the house. They also claim the house has several other defects, including heating and air conditioning, electrical, and plumbing defects.

Marion County Record is listed as a witness in the Leavenworth suit but has not been contacted by lawyers for the plaintiffs.

Jury trial in that case originally was scheduled for August but has been reset to Jan. 5.