Overview
- An Eighth Circuit panel declined to order arrests for Don Lemon and four others, leaving a magistrate judge’s refusal to issue warrants in place.
- U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko approved charges for three protesters — Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly — but rejected warrants for Lemon, his producer, and two others over the Jan. 18 church disruption.
- Chief U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz criticized the government’s emergency maneuver as unprecedented and noted prosecutors could revise affidavits or seek indictments from a grand jury.
- Judge L. Steven Grasz wrote separately that filings showed probable cause for the five disputed warrants, though the panel concluded the government had other adequate paths to pursue.
- The Justice Department has formally withdrawn its immediate warrant request, and prosecutors may still seek further charges through a grand jury or renewed filings.