Cities Church defendants head to court to challenge charges
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Hearings continued Thursday for people federally indicted in connection with the January anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul.
Defendants and their supporters packed the St. Paul Federal Courthouse this week for hearings addressing more than five dozen motions filed in the case, including requests to have charges dismissed. Two more hearings are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Nov. 9 and Nov. 10.
During the Jan. 18 protest at Cities Church, demonstrators chanted in opposition to a church pastor who at the time was a high-ranking ICE official. Prosecutors allege they engaged in “intimidation, threats, interference and physical obstruction.” All 38 defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
But one motion filed claims the case's superseding indictment fails to state an offense that meets the legal definition of use of physical force, threats of violence, or fully blockading exits or entrances.
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Per the indictment, federal prosecutors claim defendants "oppressed, threatened and intimidated the church's congregants" by occupying physical space. It also claims their chants of "This is what community looks like" and "ICE out of Minnesota" were threatening.
But the motion to dismiss claims that the actions outlined in the indictment "even if proved true, fails as a matter of law to meet the elements of the charged offense."
In a news release about the scheduled hearings, defendants called the case a "politically motivated prosecution by the Trump administration."
This is reflected in a motion that claims defendants have been singled out for selective or vindictive prosecution under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act; the 1994 law was passed in response to violent anti-abortion protests at clinics.
To Levy Armstrong, who was the subject of a doctored photo posted to the White House X account, charges are "a clear targeted attack." She and her fellow defendants say they will keep pushing until all charges are dropped.
"There are so many gaping holes, so much nonsensical information that has come forth, and a lack of integrity on the part of those prosecutors representing the Justice Department," Levy Armstrong said during a news conference after the first hearing held Tuesday.
The government has previously accused defendants of attempting to “micromanage the government’s prosecution.”
