A complaint against Redondo Beach Planning Commissioner Marc Mitchell has been rejected by the City Prosecutor’s office. A report released by the Redondo Beach Police Department found that comments made by Mitchell did not rise to the level of a criminal threat against Mayor Bill Brand.
A planned discussion of the incident report at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting was tabled until January to allow time to “digest” the report, Brand said.
The 14-page report, taken by RBPD Lt. Rick Kochheim, is an extensive recounting of the night of Nov. 3, when Brand alleged Mitchell threatened the mayor during a Commissioner’s reception.
At the reception, Brand said, Mitchell, approached Brand and told him “where I come from, people like you get found in strange places.” Brand then alleged that Mitchell repeatedly followed him throughout the party and eventually began arguing with Brand.
The argument was based on Brand’s attempt to move Mitchell from Planning to the Historical Commission. Mitchell is a vice president with Cerrell Associates, a public relations firm that has represented Redondo Beach developers Legado and CenterCal.
The matter came to public attention during the next City Council meeting, Nov. 7, when a letter from witness Christina Correa was entered into the record.
During the investigation, Mitchell told police that his quote to Brand was “in the sticks where I’m from if someone did what you did they might have been reprimanded for it or maybe even taken out back.”
The report also included a statement from Councilman Nils Nehrenheim, who said he felt that Mitchell was trying to convey a threat at the same event by repeating the phrase “shoot the glass” in German, which Nehrenheim is fluent in.
However, in his statement to police, Mitchell contends that he was simply attempting to repeat a German phrase he knew, a quote from the movie “Die Hard.”
Planning Commissioner Rolf Strutzenberg is also quoted in the report, noting that Mitchell, an Iowa native, was likely aware of a 1986 shooting in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where a resident shot and killed Mayor Edward King and wounded two city council members during a public meeting.
Though Strutzenberg admitted to police that he could not connect Mitchell’s statement to the shooting, he indicated it would be “inappropriate to reference harming a mayor…if you were aware of the incident from 1986.”
The report concluded with comments from Kochheim, who said Mitchell’s comment was not “immediate and specific,” and that steps taken by Brand following the incident suggest he was not in “sustained fear,” an element of the Penal Code definition for a Criminal Threat.
An application for a complaint was rejected by the City Prosecutor’s office, which determined that evidence did not meet the standards to reach a conviction and that Mitchell’s conduct was not sufficient enough to warrant criminal prosecution.
“I’m grateful that the complaint against me was rejected by the City Prosecutor for any further action. It is unfortunate that city resources had to be spent on this issue,” Mitchell said. “My family and I are grateful for the dozens of calls and emails of support from residents and elected officials in Redondo Beach and the South Bay, and I look forward to continuing serving our community.”
“I didn’t think it rose to the level of a crime, and he didn’t say he was going to harm me at that point in time, but I certainly took it as a threat,” Brand said. “I don’t think committing a crime should be a threshold for who sits as an official. Threatening the mayor should be enough to disqualify anyone.”
Brand said that he filed the report to ensure that any potential subsequent threats didn’t exist “in a vacuum” and to embolden others to step forward if they feel threatened.
A discussion of Mitchell’s seat on the Planning Commission will come back to Council on Jan. 23. Brand said he will pursue Mitchell’s removal.
