From KTLA coverage.
That handsome devil in the screenshot is Wayne Spindler, a Los Angeles attorney who frequently takes the floor at L.A. City Council meetings. Usually he complains about the agenda and his utility rates and all the other stuff people who regularly attend council meetings complain about. He’s also worn that hood to meetings before without incident because that’s standard city council attire.
But last week, Spindler dialed up his public advocacy with some visual aids that the police feel crossed the line into constituting a direct threat against the president of the city council. From The Root:
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Attorney Wayne Spindler, 46, was arrested after he allegedly drew images on a comment card of a man hanging from a tree, a cross burning and a KKK hood holding a noose and sign that read “Herb = [n–ger],” according to Raw Story.
The “Herb” in question is Herb Wesson, the first African American to hold the position of President of the Los Angeles City Council.
Spindler, who addressed the council wearing a KKK hood [ed. note: other sources suggest Spindler wore the hood on prior occasions], told ABC 7 that it was all a misunderstanding.
Oh? Do tell…
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“The cross burning is the city burning down from corruption, the hood is City Hall coming after us for our money, and the tree is me and everybody getting lynched as taxpayers,” Spindler told the news station.
Ahem.
I, for one, think that’s a fantastic explanation of why no reasonable onlooker could have possibly interpreted any racial violence overtones from a man who often dons a white hood emblazoned with a swastika drawing a cross burning and a lynching. I don’t understand why the police just didn’t get it before they arrested him. I mean, it’s so obvious when you look at the drawing in context:
Spindler, who is now free on $75,000 bail, is poised for a free-speech throwdown over his right to draw… whatever that was versus California’s legal protections against threats and intimidation. The law Spindler is charged with violating, per the L.A. Times coverage, requires the offending speech to be:
so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety….
It’s hard to imagine that comment card — in isolation — rising to the level of such a specific threat. And yet, taken in conjunction with Spindler’s past costume choices, it’s easy to see why the police might be more wary of Spindler’s innocent interpretation of the drawing. An interesting factual history to unravel in any event.
Regardless of the criminal law question at hand, this certainly seems to be questionable behavior for a legal professional. It’s not like states haven’t disciplined lawyers for less outrageous outbursts.
Perhaps the state bar will have something to say about this incident before it’s all over.
Here’s some further KCAL coverage if you’re interested:
Los Angeles Lawyer Who Wore KKK Hood to Council Meeting Arrested [The Root]
Los Angeles Lawyer Who Wore KKK Hood to Council Meeting Arrested [Black Matters US]
When does free speech become a threat? [Los Angeles Times]
Joe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.