Overview
- Lemon gave his first extended account on Jimmy Kimmel Live, describing agents jostling him, showing a warrant on a cellphone, and holding him for roughly 12–13 hours with limited phone access.
- A federal grand jury on Jan. 29 indicted nine people, including Lemon and journalist Georgia Fort, over a Jan. 18 disruption at Cities Church in St. Paul under conspiracy and FACE/Ku Klux Klan Act counts.
- He maintains he was acting as a journalist documenting events, not a protest participant, and his attorney Abbe Lowell says he will plead not guilty and contest the charges.
- Prosecutors have framed the case as protecting worshippers’ access and rights, following earlier magistrate refusals to authorize emergency warrants that preceded the grand jury indictments.
- Lemon was released without bond and is due in court Feb. 9 in Minneapolis; the charged offenses carry a potential sentence of up to one year if convicted.