U.S. District Court Judge Laura M. Provinzino ordered two people released after the Department of Justice argued they should be held in jail over an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church.
In a nine-page order on Friday, Provinzino asserted that the government did not meet its burden to deny the release of defendants Nekima Valdez Levy-Armstrong and Chauntyll Louisa Allen under the Bail Reform Act. Levy-Armstrong and Allen were charged with interfering with the "free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States."
According to the DOJ, their group "disrupted the religious service and intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short and forced parishioners to flee the church out of a side door, which resulted in one female victim falling and suffering an injury."
The charges could result in a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. The DOJ moved for a stay after Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko ordered the defendants to be released without bond.
However, Provinzino found that the government failed to present evidence that the defendants intended to flee.
"In conducting a de novo review, it is the Court's position that, on this record, the United States has not met its burden to demonstrate a serious risk of flight," the judge wrote. "There is no evidence that (for example) the Defendants own homes abroad or even outside of Minnesota, or that they have family abroad, or close ties to a particular foreign country, or that they have made any plans or preparations to flee, or that they have ever knowingly evaded law-enforcement officers."
The judge ordered Levy-Armstrong and Allen to turn over their passports and refrain from applying for travel documents while they faced charges.
"The United States' Application for Review or Reconsideration of Order Setting Conditions of Release or Detention (18 U.S.C. § 3142) and Request for Hearing (ECF No. 7) and Motion for Emergency Stay and for Review and Revocation of Release Orders (ECF No. 17) are DENIED," she added. "Defendants are hereby ORDERED RELEASED."
