Judge Orders Unredacted Discovery in Cities Church Protest Case as Defense Attorneys Allege Government Obstruction
Contributing writer Clint Combs reports on Magistrate Judge Doug Micko's order requiring prosecutors to turn over unredacted discovery documents in the case against the 39 by May 22, as defense attorneys argue the government's redactions of law enforcement names and witnesses have made a legal defense functionally impossible, while a separate ruling found ICE agents likely violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of peaceful protesters.
Magistrate Judge Doug Micko ordered prosecutors on behalf of the Trump administration to turn over unredacted discovery documents in their case against the 39 by May 22.
Three defendants: Thomas Teir, Monique Cullars-Doty and Trahern Crews, and their attorneys, stood outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul on May 14, five months after protesters challenged Cities Church Pastor David Easterwood’s role as acting field director for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in St. Paul.
Defense attorneys argued the government had handed over roughly 9,000 pages of pretrial disclosures with nearly every name of St. Paul police officers, witnesses and federal immigration agents redacted. The omissions made it functionally impossible to mount a legal defense, Crews’ attorney said.
“Every name of law enforcement officers, every name of witnesses who were present at the church on Jan. 18, every witness from other agencies, deleted from the reports,” said Robert Richmond. “In the government’s view, only the government should have access to the witnesses who actually saw what happened, because their fear is that those witnesses will tell the truth that this was a peaceful protest.”
Defense attorneys say they will return to court and seek sanctions, which could range from penalties against government counsel to restraints on the prosecution’s case, if the Trump administration fails to comply.
Two days before the Cities Church protest, U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez issued a scathing 63-page ruling in a case brought by Susan Tincher, Abdikadir Noor and four others in Tincher v. Noem. The plaintiffs argue that ICE agents pepper-sprayed and intimidated peaceful protesters and observers at the height of the Trump administration’s militarized immigration crackdown.
Judge Menendez found that video evidence contradicted Easterwood’s sworn declarations and that the pastor’s claims carried significantly less weight than sworn testimony from plaintiffs and witnesses.
Easterwood claimed that Noor was “leading some of the protesters” by “threatening to interfere, acting aggressively, pushing up into ICE officers’ faces, shouting obscenities and throwing rocks at ICE officers.”
The judge flatly rejected that account, saying video evidence showed the 43-year-old Somali-American from Fridley “backing away from the car” and using his arms to signal other protesters away from agents.
Easterwood also claimed that Northside resident Tincher “attempted to push the ICE officer out of the way.” The pastor’s testimony was contradicted by eyewitnesses including Katherine Rollins and Nik Sorensen. Court documents show Rollins said Tincher did not “physically resist the agents in any way” and “did not taunt or threaten the agents.”
The court found it was likely that ICE agents had violated the First and Fourth Amendment rights of peaceful protesters, temporarily barring agents from arresting or pepper-spraying people engaged in peaceful protest, or stopping vehicles, without probable cause.
Bruce Nestor, attorney representing Cullars-Doty, argued there is a direct link between Easterwood’s sworn court declarations and the protests that landed 38 activists and journalists in federal court.
“The events on Jan. 18 were about holding a high public official accountable for his official actions,” Nestor said. “David Easterwood had submitted affidavits that were not credible in light of the video evidence that showed a pattern and practice of federal agents retaliating against, intimidating, threatening, falsely arresting, using chemical munitions and using less-lethal munitions as part of their political operation to sow terror in the community.”
Cullars-Doty accused federal prosecutors of prioritizing a political stunt over legal preparation. During the first round of arrests, federal agents misidentified Satara Strong-Allen, wife of defendant and St. Paul School Board Member Chauntyll Allen, in a hotel hallway, knocking her head against the wall before realizing she was not Nekima Levy Armstrong. Strong-Allen was released and arrested nearly a month later.
“The government put the cart before the horse,” Cullars-Doty said. “They moved so fast because they wanted the good PR to say that they were coming after our local activists.”
Levy Armstrong alleged a key witness in the government’s case made fabricated claims. “There was a so-called victim who fabricated an entire story about being harmed during the protest,” Armstrong said, “and it came forward that that individual was not even present at Cities Church on Jan. 18.”
Nestor questioned who is actually driving the case against the protesters. Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell called St. Paul police that Sunday. No arrests were made.
“Their qualifications tend to be that they are associated with extreme right-wing legal organizations that are anti-abortion, that are anti-immigration, that have a history of litigating positions from the extreme right of the culture wars,” Nestor said. “And they’re now taking over the Civil Rights Division and weaponizing it against their political opponents.”
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division had roughly 380 attorneys before Trump began his second term, with half having left within the first week. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Keenan was unable to produce an arrest warrant at Judge Micko’s request, forcing an unprecedented court recess.
Clint Combs welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.