(TheConservativeTimes.org) – The police chief in Marion, Kansas who led the raid on a weekly newspaper in August resigned on Monday, just days after he was suspended by the mayor, the Associated Press reported.
Marion Mayor Dave Mayfield announced the resignation of Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody at a city council meeting on Monday.
The mayor, who suspended Cody last Thursday for unspecified reasons, told the Associated Press on Monday that he would not comment on Cody’s resignation, saying it was “a personal matter.”
Cody’s resignation comes weeks after a prosecutor said there was insufficient evidence to justify the August searches of the Marion County Record, Councilwoman Ruth Herbel’s home, or publisher Joan Meyer’s home. Meyer, 98, collapsed and died just one day after police raided her home.
In the affidavits requesting the warrants, Cody alleged that Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn illegally obtained the driving records of restauranteur Kari Newell. The chief alleged that the Department of Revenue informed him that the information had been downloaded by Zorn and an individual claiming to be Kari Newell.
The police raid on the Marion County Record put the city at the center of a furious national debate over freedom of the press and shone a spotlight on Chief Cody’s tactics. Already, Cody faces one federal lawsuit with additional lawsuits expected.
Eric Meyer, the paper’s publisher and editor, told the Associated Press that Cody’s resignation is “long overdue.” He noted that it took over six weeks just to get him suspended.
Cody’s resignation follows the release of body-cam footage from the August raid at the Record that shows an officer rifling through the desk of a reporter who was looking into Chief Cody. The officer then calls Cody over to look at the documents he found.
The Record’s attorney Bernie Rhodes told the Associated Press that the August raid was meant to discover the identities of the paper’s sources.
Councilwoman Herbel, whose home was searched, told the Associated Press, “I’m glad we’re rid of him.”
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