Judge rules that threats made by Spindler were not free speech but hate speech.
On June 10, Judge Carol Goodson granted City Council President Herb Wesson a three year restraining order against Attorney Wayne Spindler for making what many consider to be terrorist threats and hate speech against the council president as well as other members of the city council.
As part of the restraining order Spindler was required to surrender all firearms and ammunition to the Los Angeles Police Department. The Sentinel has learned that none of the firearms that have been surrendered to the Los Angeles Police Department are registered to Spindler. The LAPD and the Department of Justice are now investigating the matter.
Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., several other African American leaders, leaders from the Jewish, Latino and Armenian Community as well as women’s organizations and faith leaders from throughout Los Angeles have sent letters to the California BAR Association demanding that Spindler be disbarred as well as to District Attorney Jackie Lacey and City Attorney Mike Feurer demanding that he be charged with “Hate Crimes” and prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law.
“None of this surprises me,” Bakewell Sr. said.
“What will concern me is if we have inaction by those empowered to uphold the law and justice do nothing. We in the African American Community are always asked to trust the process and have faith in the system. This is the highest ranking African American in the City of Los Angeles and president of the City Council, it is imperative that we see him receive some level of justice in order for the common man to have any faith in the system.
“It is imperative that we not take any of these actions or threats lightly, particularly those thrust upon our political and community leaders. The horrible tragedy which occurred in Orlando, the brutal killings in South Carolina last year, the tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford in Arizona all of these events started out with small signs which people ignored. We must end the climate in America where gun ownership trumps the rights of gun victims. Wayne Spindler lives in the Valley, what possible reason could he have for needing an assault rifle? The only thing In the Valley he could have possibly been planning to hunt was possibly Council President Wesson or some of the other members of the city council which he has spewed his racist venom towards”.
In court documents he filed in protest of the restraining order on May 25, Spindler alleged that his antics directed towards Council President Wesson and other members of the city council were constituted free speech. He stated that the pictures he drew on the card were “an extension and symbolic of his free speech”. The picture, which was first published in the Los Angeles Sentinel and later broadcast over media world wide included a picture of a man in a KKK suit carrying a hangman’s noose and sign that said FUCK YOU Herb. A cross burning on one side and man (supposedly Wesson) hanging from a tree on the other. Spindler tried to defend these drawings as protest against developers, DWP and rate hikes but the judge ultimately ruled in the council president’s favor.
As of Sentinel press time no criminal charges have been filed against Spindler. The California BAR Association has been in contact with the Sentinel Offices for information regarding Mr. Spindler and our earliest news reports and were closely monitoring the June 10, hearings regarding the restraining order and other court proceedings. Furthermore, this new development of unregistered firearms may bring about additional charges against Spindler and possible federal charges as well.
