Inside the legal defense of Georgia Fort and Don Lemon

At the end of January, federal officers arrested Don Lemon — formerly of CNN, now host of “The Don Lemon Show” on YouTube — and Georgia Fort, who spent years as a local television and radio journalist in Columbus, Georgia, and Duluth, Minnesota, before returning to her native Minneapolis and going independent. Lemon and Fort were accused of conspiring with activists to disrupt a religious service at a church in St. Paul whose pastor serves as a regional director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Seven protesters were also indicted. Both Fort and Lemon say they were there solely as journalists. Lemon — who is represented by Abbe Lowell, a Washington criminal defense lawyer — and Fort — represented by Leita Walker, a First Amendment litigator in Minneapolis — have since pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against them.

I spoke to both attorneys, and have read through the filings in the case to get a sense of how Lowell and Walker plan to defend their clients against a government prosecution that could bring more than a decade in prison.

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