Pastor SLAMS St Paul over city attorney's refusal to charge Don Lemon, anti-ICE agitators over church storming

The lead pastor of Cities Church in St Paul, Minnesota, has criticized the city’s mayor after agitators who stormed the church in January, including former CNN reporter Don Lemon, have avoided state charges related to the incident.

In a statement on Wednesday, city attorney Irene Kao said, "Our office has a legal and ethical obligation to file charges only when the available evidence establishes probable cause and supports a reasonable likelihood of conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."

She said that following a "careful evaluation of the video footage, investigative reports, and other available materials, prosecutors determined that the current evidence is insufficient to meet that standard for criminal charges under Minnesota state statutes." She added, "The right to peacefully protest is protected, as is the right to exercise one’s religious beliefs. Balancing these equally important rights is paramount to our decision today."

Cities Church pastor Jonathan Parnell wrote following the decision, "The city of Saint Paul has officially determined the January 18 invasion of our church and the desecration of our worship to be a 'peaceful protest.’"

He added in a video, "Mayor Her, on April 20, in your address on the state of Saint Paul, you said that you are committed to listening and to acting and to lifting Saint Paul higher to its full potential. But I wonder, do you include Evangelical Christians in that commitment, or do you only care about those you agree with? You have left us to wonder this."

He wrote in a follow up, "According to the city attorney’s logic, it is perfectly fine for agitators to invade a mosque, a cathedral, or a temple, shout in people’s faces, terrorize their children, and shut down their religious gathering. Just call it a 'protest.' That is the kind of city Kaohly Her and Irene Kao want."

While the agitators will not be facing state-level charges, 39 people in total, including Don Lemon, have been charged at the federal level with felonies.

Dozens of demonstrators interrupted a Sunday service at the church on January 18 to protest federal immigration operations that were occurring in the city at the time. They chanted slogans such as "ICE out" and "Justice for Renee Good," an agitator who was fatally shot by an ICE agent after attempting to hit an agent with her car in Minneapolis.

Among those charged is William Kelly, who filmed himself harassing churchgoers. He said at one point, "As you can see, all these pretend Christians, all these comfortable white people, who are living lavish, comfortable lives while children are dragged into concentration camps. You’re living real nice lives with your lattes, doing absolutely nothing for your Latino and Somali brothers and sisters."

He was confronted by a couple of congregants, to which he yelled, "You are a fake Christian. Why are you not standing with your Somali and Latino communities? Why do I not see you out at Whipple every day protesting this attack on humanity? Where are you? You’re sinners. You’re pretending to be Christian," later yelling at them, "shame." 

Lemon has pleaded not guilty to charges related to the church storming, and has claimed that he was there in a journalistic capacity. He told Jim Acosta that churchgoers did not believe he was a journalist. "And I think they were looking at me, and because the bulk of the protesters were black, maybe they thought because I’m black that – and I kept saying, ‘I’m not a protester. I’m here covering the protest. I’m not with them."