Ex-chief challenges prosecutors; defense wants out

See BREAKING NEWS update

By JUDD WEIL

Staff writer

Weeks before he is scheduled to stand trial, former Marion police chief Gideon Cody and his lawyers are arguing over how to defend him.

A hearing today will determine whether Sal Intagliata and Audra Asher of Triad Legal can withdraw from defending Cody.

The attorneys asked the court be released from the case last week because of an “actual conflict of interest” and a breakdown in attorney-client communication that they said undermined their ability to effectively represent him.

They cited as precedent a rule that a lawyer can withdraw when a client “insists upon pursuing an objective that the lawyer considers repugnant or imprudent.”

“A trial court is required to grant a motion to withdraw upon a showing of irreconcilable conflict between a defendant and his or her attorney,” they wrote.

In response, Cody, representing himself, filed his own motion Monday asking a judge to privately examine disagreements with his attorneys

Cody asked for a closed-door hearing regarding his relationship with his attorneys, saying the sides disagreed over whether constitutional and procedural issues should be raised or preserved before trial.

He also identified concerns involving potential prosecutorial disqualification, investigative independence, due process, and preserving issues for appeal but did not ask the court to appoint new counsel.

Cody is charged with one count of interfering with a judicial proceeding by inducing a witness to withhold or delay information after he conducted a now-disavowed raid on the Record newsroom and two Marion homes in August 2023.

His five-day jury trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 24 but could be delayed if Judge Ryan Rosauer grants the attorneys’ request to withdraw.

Cody’s attorneys did not respond to a request for comment, but special prosecutor Marc Bennett, Sedgwick County’s district attorney, did.

“Defense counsel filed the motion to withdraw as counsel in the case,” Bennett replied in a written statement. “A hearing has been set to allow the judge the opportunity to review the motion and rule on the merits. What comes next will be determined by the resolution of the motion.”

Under Kansas sentencing guidelines, Cody probably would face a sentence of only probation if convicted of the charge.