MN - Journalist Don Lemon arrested for church protest, Minneapolis, 18 Jan 2026

[Inthedetails]

Those charges have to brought through the St Paul PD and as we have seen they sort have their hands tied by their city leaders.

The police were not even called to the scene, iirc. (Correct me if I'm wrong)

And federal judges (plural) REJECTED the case, and they clearly are not tied by city leaders.

My opinion.

 

[Ruminations]

Well I think you are wrong. But I don't think any journalist should follow into a church and interview people while this is going on. That is becoming PART of the story, not covering it. Invading a church or place of worship is dangerous and incites VERY strong feelings. The "pastor/attorney" that led this protest knew this and is counting on it. DL is a smart guy, he knew what he was doing. I think it is disgusting and an insult to journalism. Does he think this increases people's of journalists? It doesn't. Stop making this about Trump. This is about a church in Minnesota.

You feel that way. But how do other journalists feel?

SPJ strongly condemns arrests of journalists covering anti-ICE demonstration in Minnesota | Society of Professional Journalists

www.spj.org

I trust a journalism to evaluate quality journalism over a stranger on the internet.

MOO

 

[Ruminations]

The journalist was in the church at the time the woman was injured fleeing the church. For unknown reasons, the journalist has not reported on the woman who was injured due to the loud, disruptive people that were at church on Sunday morning.

It is surprising that the journalist did not report on injuries that occurred during the incident. That seems newsworthy.

<modsnip>

It's is alleged in a dubious charging document that over eager, under credentialed prosecutors finally were able to file (we think- it's not signed) on the third attempt after two strikes.

It is an allegation. It is not proven.

Journalists, if they saw it, would very likely report it. That is one reason I don't believe it is legit. I think we just might learn it was hearsay and conjecture that would never make the trial, even if the case does.

So now, we are reeling way off topic to a broken arm that might have occurred, and might be related to the cities church protest, but we are not discussing the topic of this thread: The arrests of journalists.

MOO

 

[otto]

We don't know it even happened.

It's is alleged in a dubious charging document that over eager, under credentialed prosecutors finally were able to file (we think- it's not signed) on the third attempt after two strikes.

It is an allegation. It is not proven.

Journalists, if they saw it, would very likely report it. That is one reason I don't believe it is legit. I think we just might learn it was hearsay and conjecture that would never make the trial, even if the case does.

So now, we are reeling way off topic to a broken arm that might have occurred, and might be related to the cities church protest, but we are not discussing the topic of this thread: The arrests of journalists.

MOO

A woman swore under oath that she suffered a broken arm while fleeing the church with crying children.

A journalist was present. A journalist should report on injuries suffered during the loud, disruptive incident in the church. Because the journalist did not report the injury, we should disbelieve that it happened?

paragraph 43; affidavit in support of arrest warrant

 

[Ruminations]

But you can't compare these. Don Lemon's charges stand on their own. Good's death is no defense. In fact, it will likely be used by the prosecution against him.

<modsnip>

Good's murder is going to be used against him?

That doesn't even make sense.

Good's murder was horrific, especially seeing a glove box filled with toys that belong to her 6 year old. But Lemon didn't shoot her.

What happened at cities church was rude, maybe rising to a level of minor charges on the part of the protesters, but I will take being called a nazi over being shot dead everytime. (Hint: being called a nazi hurts less if you are not a nazi.)

But I am simply not following how you are concluding that a murder in the same neighborhood on a different day is somehow going to be evidence that covering a protest as a journalist was a chargeable crime? Please explain.

MOO

 

[Sillybilly]

Sorry, too many alerts coming in. Have to close the thread for a bit folks.

 

[Sillybilly]

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Thank you.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Interesting. Sonza’s work history doesn’t appear to include any courtroom or experience, typical for Ohio Republican appointments to important positions requiring legal qualifications.

Orlando Sonza

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

ballotpedia.org

So this guy with no courtroom experience is going to prosecute these journalists. That will be interesting.

Ah, no.

Looking a bit more in depth, Sonza was a prosecutor in the Hamilton County (OH) prosecutor's office; the county includes Cincinnati. Meet Orlando Sonza, candidate for for Ohio's 1st Congressional District

Interesting background, and not in a negative sense.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Ah, no.

Looking a bit more in depth, Sonza was a prosecutor in the Hamilton County (OH) prosecutor's office; the county includes Cincinnati. Meet Orlando Sonza, candidate for for Ohio's 1st Congressional District

Interesting background, and not in a negative sense.

He's certainly well-educated and seems to do well academically. I'd expect him to have a better grasp of the Constitution. This is a BS case created against Lemon and Fort only to help him make a national name for himself.

MOO.

 

[J. J. in Phila]

He's certainly well-educated and seems to do well academically. I'd expect him to have a better grasp of the Constitution. This is a BS case created against Lemon and Fort only to help him make a national name for himself.

MOO.

He does have prosecutorial experience, which Betty P. raised.

My opinion is that it has nothing to do with Sonza, because it is a strong case.