Judge orders feds to turn over grand jury evidence in Cities Church case
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A federal judge in a rare move on Friday ordered the federal government to turn over testimony and evidence presented to a grand jury in the conspiracy case of 38 people arrested in connection with a protest at a St. Paul church in January.
Three independent journalists, including former CNN anchor Don Lemon and a camera operator, are among those charged. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko will examine the documents to see whether the government misled jurors as they decided whether to indict.
The grand jury indictment process is typically secret. But the Justice Department’s actions during grand jury proceedings against protesters gained additional scrutiny after a federal judge in Chicago uncovered prosecutorial misconduct in a case involving anti-ICE activists.
Defendant and independent journalist Georgia Fort initially requested access to the grand jury materials, but Micko said he’ll examine the information himself before any other steps are taken. He said the federal government must get him the information by Wednesday.
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Matthew Ebert, Fort’s attorney who is a longtime former federal prosecutor, argued the federal government has made false assertions about his client in documents like an affidavit, including a claim that Fort chanted as she covered the protest.
Ebert told the judge disclosure was necessary to maintain the integrity of the court case and prosecutors in the conspiracy case have routinely failed to follow the law.
“The presumption of regularity has collapsed,” Ebert said.
Justice Department attorney Neville Hedley said any false information in earlier documents did not make it into the indictment.
“These were not material falsehoods," Hedley told the judge. “This was a mistake, this was a miscommunication.”
Hedley also disclosed in the Friday court hearing for the first time that one of the witnesses who testified during the grand jury proceedings was Jonathan Parnell, a pastor at Cities Church. The church was targeted by protestors on Jan. 18 because another of the church’s pastors, David Easterwood, helped lead the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in St. Paul during the government’s surge into the state.
The federal government handed that transcript over to defendants’ attorneys earlier this month, but the transcript has not been made public.
Editor’s note: Story has been updated to clarify details about defendants’ arrests.
