Grand Jury Indicts Don Lemon, Georgia Fort Over Church 'Takeover'

A federal grand jury in Minnesota returned an indictment on Jan. 29 charging Don Lemon and Georgia Fort with conspiracy against rights and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, court records show.

Prosecutors allege the charges stem from a Jan. 18 takeover-style protest at Cities Church in St. Paul at about 10:30 a.m., when approximately 30 to 40 demonstrators disrupted a worship service and forced its termination, court filings show.

Abbe Lowell, Don Lemon’s attorney, said in a Jan. 29 social media post that Lemon will "fight these charges vigorously" and called the arrest "an unprecedented attack on the First Amendment," court records show.

A federal magistrate judge declined to approve arrest warrants for Lemon and four others before the indictment and an appeals court rejected a prosecutor's emergency petition earlier this month, while filings variously list seven and nine defendants, court records show.

Don Lemon is scheduled to appear in federal court in Minneapolis on Feb. 9, and Rep. Robert Garcia wrote in a Jan. 31 letter to Acting DOJ Inspector General William Blier urging an inspector general review of the arrests, records show.