Couple suspected of recording racist leaked City Hall audio won't be charged: Report
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles' city attorney will not prosecute the couple suspected of secretly recording a conversation between four Latino political leaders that led to the resignation of the Los Angeles City Council president and leader of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, according to a media report Wednesday.
Santos Leon and Karla Vasquez, a married couple who worked for the L.A. County Federation of Labor, were suspected of illegally recording the conversation between Nury Martinez, president of the L.A. City Council at the time, councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo, and Ron Herrera, the head of the labor federation in 2021.
The recording contained racist remarks made by Martinez and led to her resignation from the City Council and Herrera's resignation from the labor federation.
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Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto decided not to prosecute Leon and Vasquez, the Los Angeles Times reported. Prosecutors with the L.A. County District Attorney's Office previously declined to charge Leon or Vasquez with felonies.
On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Feldstein Soto said in an email sent to The Times that there is "insufficient evidence to meet the constitutional standard of proof" for misdemeanor charges against Leon or Vasquez.
The recording became public in 2022 and sparked a controversy that reached national levels. President Joe Biden called for the resignation of those on the recording and other members of the L.A. City Council responded similarly.
Biden calls on Nury Martinez, 2 other LA City councilmembers to resign after racist audio leak
President Joe Biden's press secretary on Tuesday said he believes that Nury Martinez and other councilmembers should resign from the Los Angeles City Council over racist remarks heard in leaked audio recordings.
Recording a conversation without the participants' consent is illegal under California law, with rare exceptions.
City Councilman Mike Bonin called on the body to remove Martinez as council president after the audio revealed that she used racist language in an attack on Bonin's 2-year-old son during the conversation from October 2021.
The remarks were made during a talk with Cedillo, de León, Martinez and Herrera in a conversation that focused on the politically sensitive process of redrawing council district boundaries. Their talk also touched on the efforts to replace Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was indicted on federal corruption charges.
Among other comments, Martinez belittled Bonin, who is white and has a Black son, and criticized the child for his behavior at a Martin Luther King Day parade, saying Bonin's son was misbehaving on a float, which might have tipped over if she and the other women on the float didn't step in to "parent this kid."
"They're raising him like a little white kid," Martinez said. "I was like, 'this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I'll bring him back.'"
Martinez also called the child "ese changuito," Spanish for "that little monkey."
At another point, Martinez recalled a conversation with businessman Danny Bakewell about possibly transferring Los Angeles International Airport out of Bonin's council district and into that of Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
"In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me and I hold myself accountable for these comments. For that I am sorry. The context of this conversation was concern over the redistricting process and concern about the potential negative impact it might have on communities of color. My work speaks for itself. I've worked hard to lead this city through its most difficult time," Martinez said in a statement to FOX 11.
De León compared Bonin's handling of his son at the MLK Parade to "when Nury brings her little yard bag or the Louis Vuitton bag."
"Su negrito, like on the side," Martinez added, using a Spanish term for a Black person that's considered demeaning by many.
De León issued an apology afterward, saying "There were comments made in the context of this meeting that are wholly inappropriate; and I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private. I've reached out to that colleague personally.
"On that day, I fell short of the expectations we set for our leaders — and I will hold myself to a higher standard."
Despite calls for de León to resign, he refused and stayed on the City Council.
Following the public apologies from Martinez and de León, Bonin released a statement saying in part "we are appalled, angry, and absolutely disgusted."
"As parents of a Black child, we condemn the entirety of the recorded conversation, which displayed a repeated and vulgar anti-Black sentiment, and a coordinated effort to weaken Black political representation in Los Angeles. The conversation revealed several layers of contempt for the people of Los Angeles, and a cynical, ugly desire to divide the City rather than serve it," the statement said.
On the subject of Ridley-Thomas' suspension, Martinez said Controller Ron Galperin would decide whether Ridley-Thomas still gets paid.
"You need to go talk to that white guy," she says. "It's not us. It's the white members on this council that will motherf -- you in a heartbeat."
Martinez also took aim at Los Angeles County District George Gascón in profane terms, after the group appeared to discuss whether Gascón would endorse Cedillo in his reelection campaign against Eunessis Hernandez.
Herrera did not comment on the story, but a lawyer representing the L.A. County Federation of Labor sent a letter to The Times alleging that the conversation was recorded in violation of California's privacy and recording laws.
Cedillo, who lost his reelection bid, issued an apology days after the recording was released.
"I want to start by apologizing. While I did not engage in the conversation in question, I was present at times during this meeting last year. It is my instinct to hold others accountable when they use derogatory or racially divisive language. Clearly, I should have intervened. I failed in holding others and myself to the highest standard. The hurtful and harmful remarks made about my colleague's son were simply unacceptable. We choose public life, but our families should always be off limits and never part of the political discourse."