Marion pays reporter $850,000 for 2023 newspaper raid while ex-chief's trial stalls
In August 2026 the City of Marion agreed to pay $850,000 to former Marion County Record reporter Phyllis Zorn to settle her federal lawsuit over the August 2023 police raid on the newspaper, its publisher's home and a former council member's home, led by then-Police Chief Gideon Cody. A federal judge preliminarily ruled in March 2025 that police had no reasonable basis to believe Zorn or anyone at the paper had committed a crime. Marion County had already agreed in 2025 to pay more than $3 million to settle five raid lawsuits, including $600,000 to Zorn, and the city paid former reporter Deb Gruver $235,000 in 2024. Suits by publisher Eric Meyer and former councilwoman Ruth Herbel are still pending. Cody, charged after a state investigation with interfering with the judicial process, has pleaded not guilty; his trial was postponed with no new date.
Zorn said her long national nightmare is over.
In November, Marion County agreed to pay more than $3 million to resolve claims brought in five lawsuits.
Not yet contacted for this story.
Not yet contacted for this story.
Pleaded not guilty to the interference charge.
No outcome recorded yet.