Don Lemon Pleads Not Guilty to Civil Rights Charges Over Coverage of Minnesota Church Protest

Don Lemon has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from his reporting of a protest at a Minnesota church, setting up a case that could see free press and religious protections collide.

Lemon entered his plea during a brisk court appearance on Friday, multiple outlets reported, after he was arrested last month in Los Angeles. He and eight others have been charged with violating civil rights laws by allegedly crossing a line from activity protected by the First Amendment to impeding others’ rights to practice their religious beliefs.

During the brief hearing, Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s attorney, told the court that there are First Amendment issues involved in the case since the former CNN anchor was acting as a journalist chronicling the protest rather than participating in it, reported The Associated Press.

Lemon has been charged with conspiracy against rights, which bars groups of people from intimidating others against practicing their religious beliefs, and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which aims to ensure access to reproductive health care facilities and places of worship. The government also brought a case against another journalist, Georgia Fort, who also entered the church to cover the demonstration.

Lemon only spoke at Friday’s hearing to answer in the affirmative to several procedural questions from the court asking if he understood his rights. Lowell moved for authorities to return Lemon’s phone, saying the seizing of the device was “over-execution.”

Also at issue in the hearing was grand jury transcripts, which Lemon’s legal team is seeking to obtain. Lowell said prosecutors took an “unusual” path to charge the journalist, referring to another court previously declining to sign an arrest warrant against him.

The arrest followed Lemon, who now hosts a show on YouTube and other social platforms, livestreaming a demonstration that began outside a St. Paul church. He followed protestors as they went inside, saying that a church official also worked at a local ICE office. He proceeded to interview protestors, congregants and a pastor.

Prosecutors will likely look to make Lemon’s coverage of the protest more nuanced than it initially appears. In one exchange, Lemon can be seen engaging in an increasingly contentious interview near the entrance with a church-goer, who said he felt “violated” by the protest.

“I’m not saying it’s pretty or messy or couldn’t be better, but that this is part of a much larger dialogue” in which those arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement cause “a great deal of chaos and havoc and danger for American citizens,” the attendee said.

Lemon replied, “Do you believe that? Honestly let me talk to you just on the facts,” which elicits a response from the church-goer that the former CNN anchor is “not a journalist” and that the interview is over. He then follows the attendee out of the church, saying to the camera “he doesn’t want to listen to facts.”

At a hearing last month in Los Angeles, Marilyn Bednarski, a lawyer who represented the journalist for the proceeding, said the case will prove whether the journalist’s coverage of the demonstration was a “matter of legitimate First Amendment activity or something that crossed the line.” Lemon was released on a no money bond over objections from prosecutors to impose a $100,000 bond, keep him restricted to New York, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. and force him to surrender his passport.

Outside the Minnesota courthouse, dozens of protestors stood outside the building, chanting “Protect the press.”