James Lambert Otis, the man who famously defaced Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame back in October, has been sentenced—but he may not be prepared to go away quietly. He’ll be paying his $4,400 in fines and doing community service, but he stands by assertions that he plans to sue the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to have the star removed entirely.
His rationale behind the lawsuit is that the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce is benefitting from something that he feels is “costing the city money,” according to the Daily News. He’s correct that the Trump star has attracted quite a bit of petty defacement in addition to his own act of vandalism, but the budget for maintaining stars, including removing things like stickers and graffiti, is generally the financial responsibility of the Hollywood Historic Trust, not the city of Los Angeles.
Otis also claims he will name Donald Trump and his associated companies in the lawsuit, though the cause of action there is perhaps even less clear.
While there are probably at least a few Angelenos who think that Lambert is more of a local hero than a common criminal, his October sledge-hammer attack on Donald Trump’s Walk of Fame star resulted in his prosecution for felony vandalism. The $4,400 he was ordered to pay breaks down as $3,700 to the Hollywood Historic Trust and $700 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce to cover the costs of repairing the damage he caused. He was also sentenced to completing 20 days of community service work for Caltrans and three years of probation.
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