Don Lemon and Georgia Fort have each filed several motions seeking to dismiss the charges against them stemming from their involvement in the Jan. 18 storming of Cities Church in St. Paul.
“The government is trying to criminalize Fort’s lawful journalism in covering a protest that received national attention,” one of Fort’s motions says.
Fort and Lemon, along with other notable figures such as William Kelly and Nekima Levy Armstrong, were among the 38 individuals charged in connection to the incident. Both Fort and Lemon have argued that they were not active participants in the mob but were there simply as journalists. The individuals charged in the case targeted Cities Church because they believed one of the pastors worked for ICE.
“If the First Amendment is to mean anything, it must halt the government’s prosecution against Fort for doing precisely what it protects: covering and reporting on newsworthy events,” Fort’s motion says.
Attorneys for Fort and Lemon each filed motions this week accusing the Department of Justice of a “vindictive prosecution,” failing to state an offense, and violating the First Amendment. Additionally, Lemon’s attorneys argued that the charges contain statutory and constitutional deficiencies.
“If the mere act of entering the scene of a crime to document it transformed a reporter into a participant, investigative journalism as we know it could not exist,” Lemon’s attorneys write in one of the motions.
The defendants in the case are charged with conspiracy against rights and with violating a religious worship provision of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
However, the attorneys argue that none of the allegations brought forward by the federal government amount to the force, threat of force, or physical obstruction required for a FACE Act violation. They also argue that the indictment fails to satisfy any of the necessary elements for a conspiracy against rights charge.
“The superseding indictment is completely devoid of facts suggesting that Fort (a) agreed to join a conspiracy (b) to oppress, threaten, or intimidate anyone (c) through the use of force, true threats, or physical obstruction,” one of Fort’s motions says.
Like Lemon, Fort’s attorneys also accuse federal prosecutors of engaging in a “vindictive prosecution” in order to punish her for her journalism.
One of the motions claims the government continued pursuing Fort after multiple judges declined to find probable cause to charge her and submitted at least 15 search warrant affidavits to judges in multiple jurisdictions stating that Fort had participated in chanting inside the church. According to Fort’s attorneys, the government later acknowledged that she had not chanted.
“The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to prosecute Ms. Fort for engaging in constitutionally protected journalism,” the motion says.
True North Legal general counsel Renee Carlson, one of the attorneys representing Cities Church, said in a prior statement that the “First Amendment does not allow premeditated plots or coordinated actions to violate the sanctity of a sanctuary, disrupt worship, and intimidate small children.”
“There is no ‘press pass’ to invade a sanctuary or to conspire to interrupt religious services,” she added.
Protesters continued to demonstrate outside Cities Church for many months after the Jan. 18 disruption, with pastor Jonathan Parnell saying protesters “held signs with obscenities and yelled harassing comments at families and individual worshippers” on Easter morning.
The Cities Church invasion inspired a wave of legislation across the country cracking down on disruptions of worship services. However, a similar bill was blocked in the Minnesota House.
Hayley Feland
Hayley Feland previously worked as a journalist with The Minnesota Sun, The Wisconsin Daily Star, and The College Fix. She is a Minnesota native with a passion for politics and journalism.
