Council critic faces gun charge
Attorney accused of racial threat against black councilman is charged with having an assault weapon.
An Encino attorney who was accused last year of making racist threats against Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson now faces a criminal charge for illegally possessing an assault weapon, the city attorney’s office said Wednesday.
Wayne Spindler, who frequently appears at City Council meetings, was arrested last year after turning in a public comment card that included drawings of a burning cross, a stick figure hanging from a tree, and a sign labeling Wesson with a racial slur.
Wesson, who is African American, described the card as a threatening reminder of the history of racist attacks on the black community. Spindler said that his drawings were satirical, arguing that images such as the hanging person symbolized the Department of Water and Power “lynching” Angelenos with high rates.
Prosecutors in the district attorney’s office ultimately declined to file charges against Spindler, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to prove his comment card was a threat. But city lawyers obtained a restraining order that barred Spindler from coming near Wesson’s home, vehicle or city office.
That restraining order also required Spindler to surrender his firearms. Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for City Atty. Mike Feuer, said in a statement that Spindler had turned in three handguns and an AK-47 assault rifle — a weapon that has been “illegal for unregistered possession in the state of California since 1991” — and now faces a misdemeanor charge.
Spindler said the AK-47 he had surrendered was an “old relic” that had never been fired, purchased before the California law went into effect, and said he believed he was legally in the clear. He had filed a federal lawsuit against the city in January, alleging that his free speech and other constitutional rights had been violated.
“It’s retaliation,” Spindler said of the criminal charge.
Spindler is scheduled to be arraigned in April, Wilcox said.