The federal magistrate judge who refused to charge former CNN anchor Don Lemon over a church invasion and dismissed key charges against protest organizers is married to an assistant attorney general working for Minnesota AG Keith Ellison—the same Ellison who appeared at the church scene immediately after the disruption and defended the protesters on Lemon’s YouTube show.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko blocked Attorney General Pam Bondi’s prosecution at every turn Thursday. He refused to sign criminal charges against Lemon, crossed off federal charges against two other defendants writing “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” on their warrants, and ordered immediate release over prosecutors’ objections. His wife, Caitlin Micko, works as an assistant attorney general in Ellison’s office. Three months earlier, the same judge released a man who posted a $45,000 bounty on Bondi’s head.
On January 18, roughly 30 protesters invaded Cities Church in St. Paul during Sunday worship, chanting “ICE out” and forcing the service to end. They targeted Pastor David Easterwood, who serves as both church pastor and acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office. Eleven days earlier, ICE agent Jonathan Ross had shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, in south Minneapolis.
Attorney General Pam Bondi moved fast. Within five days, Justice Department agents arrested civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong, St. Paul School Board member Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and activist William Kelly. All three faced conspiracy charges under 18 USC 241, which prohibits conspiring to intimidate persons exercising constitutional rights. Armstrong and Allen also faced charges under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which protects both reproductive health facilities and places of worship from force, threats, or obstruction.
Don Lemon livestreamed the entire operation. Before entering the church, he interviewed Armstrong, kissed her on the cheek, and thanked her for the invitation. He called the participants “resistance protesters” planning an operation to “surprise people, catch them off guard, and hold them to account.” Inside the sanctuary, Lemon narrated: “I’m looking at a young man in the corner. He’s frightened. He’s crying. He’s scared.”
Thursday’s hearing exposed the conflict. Magistrate Micko refused to sign the criminal complaint against Lemon—highly unusual, as magistrate judges almost always approve warrants at the probable cause stage. For Armstrong and Allen, he crossed off the FACE Act charges, writing “NO PROBABLE CAUSE” in the margin. He let only the conspiracy charge stand, ordered both released immediately, and denied detention hearings.
Federal prosecutor Robert Keenan argued “crimes of violence.” Micko replied he saw no “threat or use of force.” The hearing opened with chaos—prosecutors hadn’t provided arrest warrant copies to defendants or attorneys, triggering gasps and cheers from supporters in overflow rooms.
Multiple sources confirmed to Fox News and CBS that Micko’s wife, Caitlin Micko, works as an assistant attorney general in Ellison’s office. The court declined to confirm or deny the marriage but said it “does not provide information about the personal lives of judges.” LinkedIn confirms a person by that name holds that position. Jack Posobiec reported Caitlin Micko has “anti-ICE posts on LinkedIn.”
Ellison didn’t just employ the magistrate’s wife. He appeared at the Cities Church scene in a Don Lemon interview clip immediately after the protest. Monday, he went on Lemon’s YouTube show to defend the protesters. “The protest is fundamental to American society,” Ellison told Lemon. “It’s freedom of expression.” He accused the Trump administration of selective outrage and said “they’re getting tender about a church service now.”
Ellison claimed the FACE Act doesn’t apply. “The FACE Act is designed to protect the rights of people seeking reproductive rights,” he told Lemon, “so that people for a religious reason cannot just use religion to break into women’s reproductive health centers.”
The claim is false. The FACE Act explicitly protects “any person lawfully exercising or seeking to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship.” Congress added church protections in 1994.
Ellison knows this. In 2020, as Minnesota attorney general, he filed a federal brief arguing a Minneapolis woman violated mosque parishioners’ First Amendment rights. In 2015, as a congressman, he urged Obama’s Justice Department to investigate FACE Act violations at a Phoenix mosque. “These demonstrators argue they are exercising their First Amendment rights,” Ellison wrote then. “What they fail to understand is that First Amendment rights are not absolute; they are limited to protect the safety and rights of others.”
On CNN, Ellison called the invasion “First Amendment activity” and signaled he won’t enforce Minnesota trespass and disorderly conduct laws against the protesters. He tweeted: “Grateful to Don Lemon for being on the ground in Minnesota to help lift up this fight for truth and fairness.”
Micko’s pattern runs deeper. On October 9, someone posted a TikTok bounty: “WANTED: Pam Bondi — REWARD: $45,000 — DEAD OR ALIVE (Preferably Dead).” The image showed Bondi with a sniper-scope red dot on her forehead. Caption: “cough cough – when they don’t serve us then what?”
The FBI traced it to Tyler Maxon Avalos, 30, of St. Paul—a man with felony stalking, felony domestic battery, and misdemeanor assault convictions. His account displayed anarchist symbols and linked to an “Anarchist FAQ.” The FBI arrested him October 16. On October 22, Magistrate Douglas Micko released Avalos on personal recognizance. No cash bond. GPS monitoring and curfew, but he walked.
The timing exposes the disparity. While Micko blocked church protest charges and freed a man threatening Bondi’s assassination, the Justice Department announced it won’t investigate ICE agent Jonathan Ross for shooting Renee Good. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said January 19: “Everybody can watch the videos and see that [Ross] got attacked with a car that was trying to take his life.”
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called it “bullshit” and “garbage,” asking how Ross still held his cell phone if Good’s vehicle ran him over. Six federal prosecutors in Minnesota resigned over “the Justice Department’s push to investigate the widow of Renée Good and the department’s reluctance to investigate the shooter,” The New York Times reported. The Criminal Section Chief and three deputies in the Civil Rights Division resigned January 13. FBI Minneapolis supervisor Tracee Mergen resigned after leadership killed her civil rights investigation into the shooting.
Lemon’s post-hearing actions tell the story. He immediately deleted his entire Twitter/X timeline and went silent—lawyer advice, not journalist behavior. He hired Abbe Lowell, a high-powered Washington attorney.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon told Megyn Kelly the Justice Department will “pursue this to the ends of the Earth.” Micko’s refusal doesn’t end Lemon’s exposure. The grand jury reconvenes next week. Justice can resubmit charges to a different magistrate or seek indictments directly, bypassing Micko.
The conflict stands: a federal magistrate blocking a federal prosecutor while married to an assistant attorney general whose boss publicly defends the defendants, appeared at the scene, went on a defendant’s show to argue no legal basis exists for charges, and signals he won’t enforce state laws against them. Micko joined the bench in April 2023 after working as an assistant federal public defender.
Neither Micko’s chambers nor Ellison’s office responded to questions about recusal.
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