Overview
- A court filing shows Joseph H. Thompson, a former senior prosecutor in Minnesota who resigned last month, has joined lead counsel Abbe Lowell on Lemon’s defense.
- Thompson’s departure was part of a wave of resignations from the Minnesota U.S. attorney’s office reported after disputes over the Justice Department’s handling of the Renee Good shooting.
- Lemon faces two felony counts—conspiracy against the free exercise of religion and a FACE Act charge—stemming from his livestream coverage of a Jan. 18 protest inside St. Paul’s Cities Church.
- Lemon has said he was present as an independent journalist and plans to plead not guilty; he was arrested Jan. 30 and released without bond.
- Arraignment is scheduled Friday in St. Paul for Lemon and several co-defendants, with nine people indicted in total and additional arraignments set next week.