This is one of those "local news stories" that probably would have remained local were it not for the numerous bizarre details involved. Last year, we learned that the offices of a small-town newspaper in Marion County, Kansas had been raided by the police. Records, computers, and phones had been seized. The police even raided the home of the editor of the paper, potentially leading to his elderly mother dying of a stroke shortly thereafter. This sounded like a blatantly unconstitutional action, but the police insisted they had reasonable grounds to conduct the raid. Yet the details of what prompted the action made little to no sense. Now, more than a year later, charges are being filed, but not against the newspaper. The charges are being brought against the former Marion County Police Chief, Gideon Cody. Even now, however, it doesn't sound as if the charges being brought are all that serious. (NBC News)

Two special prosecutors said Monday they will file a criminal obstruction of justice charge against a former Kansas police chief who directed warrant searches of a publisher and his newsroom over its retrieval of public information.

In a 124-page report summarizing the findings of their investigation, the special prosecutors, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett and Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson, indicate that the staff of the newspaper that was raided, the Marion County Record, committed no crimes.

As of Monday, prosecutors hadn't filed any criminal charges against former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody. It was not immediately clear if they would be seeking a felony or misdemeanor charge against Cody.

If you've been following this story, you may recall that the initial raid centered around local restaurateur Kari Newell. The newspaper received a tip that Newell had previously been convicted of a DUI, something that could have prevented her from qualifying for a liquor license for her restaurant. The newspaper requested her (public) records to verify that claim. After receiving the records, the newspaper was raided and they sought to charge the editor with improperly accessing personal records, even though the records were public. (Kari Newell was reportedly tight with Police Chief Cody.)

It was later determined by a local District Attorney and others that the staff of the Marion County Record "had committed no crimes." It seems like that much should have been obvious from the beginning, honestly, but it also sounds as if the Marion Police Department could have committed a very serious crime with constitutional rights implications. No official charges had been filed as of last night, but prosecutors said they believe they have probable cause to charge former Police Chief Cody with "obstruction of an official judicial process." That could come in the form of either a low-level felony or a misdemeanor, neither of which would likely result in a significant sentence if he's found guilty.

It still sounds as if there is a lot more to this story that's not being fully explored, however. The investigation revealed details about the restaurant owner and her relationship with the police chief. The two had exchanged many text messages and the Chief at one point asked her to delete a number of those texts. That could be seen as suggestive, though not definitive. She insists that their relationship was "professional and platonic." Yet she did admit there was a relationship of some sort there. So if they had a relationship and Kari Newell learned that the local newspaper was looking into her records and she might lose her liquor license, might Newell have asked Chief Cody to intervene on her behalf? Would he have agreed to such a scheme? If so, that suggests that the raid was not simply a misunderstanding or a mistake, but an intentional effort to shut down the release of negative information about his "friend." While it's far from proven, if a police chief was misusing his office in that fashion in defiance of the newspaper editor's protected First Amendment rights, that sounds like a far more serious offense than the obstruction of an official judicial process. Perhaps we will learn more later after the charges are filed and we find out how Chief Cody pleads.