Philan Le acknowledges he drove a guillotine to the nation’s capital in the bed of his pickup truck and parked it near the U.S. Capitol. But he didn’t anticipate, he said in an interview with The Washington Post, that the display would attract so much attention — or a criminal charge.
“I thought at most some influencer might walk by and their post might get out there,” Le said over private social media messages to a reporter. “I did not think this would make international news.”
Le’s arrest last week, and the accompanying imagery of his 10-foot-tall homemade guillotine, did just that, with headlines about it appearing as far as the United Kingdom.
The 35-year-old tattoo artist from California is facing a misdemeanor charge: attempted possession of a prohibited weapon. It’s a charge that legal experts say may be tough to prove in court, as it requires showing beyond a reasonable doubt that Le intended to use the guillotine unlawfully against another person.
Le’s defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which is prosecuting Le, declined to comment.
Following his arrest, prosecutors argued that Le should be held in the D.C. jail, citing his absence of “roots” and ties to the local area. A judge disagreed, pointing to Le’s lack of a criminal record and cooperation with law enforcement at the scene.
Le, communicating through Instagram, declined to discuss what motivated his actions, citing the ongoing investigation. But he spoke to a reporter about his transport of the contraption, his reaction to the publicity surrounding the incident and how he is spending his time awaiting his next court date in late September.
He said he was detained in a holding cell overnight with “pretty awful food, roaches, and a cold steel bunk to lay on.”
“But you know what they say,” Le said, “If you don’t like being in jail, don’t go to jail.”
Le posted a video to his Instagram account on Aug. 12, two weeks before his arrest, announcing his plans to bring a guillotine to Washington.
In that video, Le lays out his grievances against people who hold office and defense contractors for entangling the United States in “forever wars.” But, Le says in the video, “what worries me more is the people above those people, the echelon above them.”
“We do not know who they are because our government decided to redact their names,” he says. With Illuminati imagery in the backdrop, Le says he is “not okay with not knowing who these people are, you shouldn’t be either.”
Moments later, he unveils the guillotine, which he describes as a “solution,” while clarifying that it is “strictly for self defense purposes.”
“I want to make things very clear: I harbor no ill will or intentions of violence toward anyone, religiously, politically, scientifically, financially, musically or socioeconomically,” he says.
After his release, Le posted another video, thanking his supporters and saying he had no affiliation with either major political party, describing them in a caption as “two wings of the same bird.”
As he awaits his court date, Le said he will be making art and spending time with friends. “People have hit me up for guillotine tattoos,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of gratitude that my message resonates with so many people.”
Le said he transported the guillotine when it was “halfway setup” and described a system of wooden beams and metal plates he designed to keep the instrument secure.
During his trip across the country, Le said he spoke to about a dozen people in parking lots about the guillotine at gas stations, hotels, restaurants and other locations.
“Some long conversations, some people stopping to give props or honks of approval (maybe honks of rage from my driving),” said Le.
Two D.C.-based law professors said that prosecutors will face challenges in getting a conviction.
Ira Robbins, a professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, said the law at issue has two subsections.
One of them contains a specified list of weapons that are illegal to possess at all, such as machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, metal knuckles and others. A guillotine is not on the list.
The other subsection of the law covers “other dangerous weapons,” but merely possessing them is not illegal, Robbins said.
“It’s not enough just to charge him with knowingly possessing a guillotine,” Robbins said. “The government has to show that, but also has to show that he intended to use it unlawfully against another, and that’s going to be the issue in the case.”
Capitol Police officers who responded to the scene wrote in their arrest report that Le told them he “wasn’t there for any specific reason” and “didn’t have any issues with specific members of Congress.”
Robbins said those comments work in Le’s favor, but it’s unclear what other evidence may surface in the case, such as messages that prosecutors might find on Le’s phone.
Vida Johnson, a law professor at Georgetown University who directs the criminal justice clinic there, agreed that the intent aspect of the charge would be difficult to prove. She added that the case also raises the possibility of a First Amendment defense.
Johnson cited the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case Watts v. United States, in which an 18-year-old Vietnam War protester was charged for making threats against the president over a remark about how, if he were to be inducted into the Army and made to carry a rifle, “the first man I want to get in my sights is L.B.J.”
In that case, Johnson said, the Supreme Court decided that someone expressing threats through political hyperbole is protected by the First Amendment.
“I wonder whether there may be some parallels here,” Johnson said. “He has this structure that is arguably expressive, that is conveying a political message and not actual violence, since there doesn’t seem to have been a particular target.”
correctionAn previous version of this article incorrectly stated the type of charge Philan Le faces. It is a misdemeanor.
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