Ruling Will Allow Trial of Artist Over Building Mural

Ruling that the legality of Westwood’s half-finished Statue of Liberty mural needs to be decided by a jury, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge refused Wednesday to dismiss charges against an artist who claims the city violated his right to free speech by halting his painting.

“This matter will go to the appellate court, no matter which way I rule,” said Judge T.K. Herman as he cleared the way for Los Angeles officials to prosecute artist Mike McNeilly.

Lawyers for McNeilly said they will immediately petition to delay the trial while they ask a higher court to overturn Herman’s ruling.

If they are not successful, jury selection is scheduled to begin today at the Airport Courthouse. McNeilly faces five misdemeanor charges in connection with the 120-foot image of Lady Liberty that was partially painted on a 12-story office building at Wilshire Boulevard and Gayley Avenue without a city permit.

If convicted, he could face six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

McNeilly, 46, says he didn’t apply for a permit because he believed he wouldn’t be granted one by the city Cultural Affairs Commission due to Westwood-area City Councilman Mike Feuer’s objections to wall-size “super-graphics.”

According to McNeilly, the commission refuses mural requests if the local community’s council representative doesn’t endorse the permit application. And in McNeilly’s view, that translates to unconstitutional prior restraint.

Deputy City Atty. James Axtell told Herman that the Los Angeles municipal ordinance doesn’t give any council member veto power over murals. Feuer has supported the installation of large public murals in his 5th Council District in the past, Axtell said.

In the case of McNeilly’s mural, Feuer merely “put his 2 cents worth in” after the artist belatedly filed for a city permit following his arrest in late February 1999, Axtell added.

Attorney Bob Ross, who represents building owner John Muller, disagreed. He displayed a city document that calls for a muralist to include a letter from the local council member when applying for a permit.

Lawyer Gary Mobley, representing McNeilly, sought unsuccessfully to get Herman to order Feuer to testify before the judge ruled on the motion to dismiss the case on constitutional grounds.

“We’re being stonewalled,” Mobley said.

Outside the courtroom, McNeilly said he has been overwhelmed by public support for his half-finished mural--which he said he painted for free as a salute to American war veterans who are buried at the nearby Los Angeles National Cemetery.

McNeilly said that once the trial begins, he has a trump card he believes will clear him of the misdemeanor charges.

“The Liberty mural is an ideological and political piece. And ideological and political pieces are exempt from city permits. These boneheads don’t even know their own ordinance,” McNeilly said.

He also contended that the city secretly offered to drop all charges last week.

“They said they would let me finish the mural and leave it up through the Fourth of July. Then I would have to paint over it,” he said. “It would be like this never even happened.”

But he turned down the offer on principle, McNeilly said.

“We aren’t being belligerent. We just don’t feel they can limit free speech like they have,” he said.

City attorney’s office prosecutor Gloria Dabbs-Mann declined to comment. “I’m not at liberty to talk about negotiations,” she said--obviously no pun intended.