photo by: Contributed

Justin Spiehs being detained by Kansas Highway Patrol Troopers on June 14, 2025, at the Statehouse in Topeka.

As thousands of people peacefully protested at a “No Kings” rally in Topeka, a former Lawrence resident known for profanity-laced commenting at public meetings was arrested in front of the crowd on the Statehouse steps.

Authorities have so far been mum on the circumstances surrounding the arrest, and charges have not appeared in the state’s online court records.

The man, Justin Paul Spiehs, 43, of Johnson County, was booked into the Shawnee County Jail by the Kansas Highway Patrol at 3:40 p.m. on suspicion of criminal trespass. He got out of jail about an hour later on a $1,000 own-recognizance bond, according to the Shawnee County jail booking log.

It’s not clear what prompted troopers to take Spiehs into custody. The Journal-World has reached out to KHP for more information about the arrest, but had received no response as of Thursday.

A photograph of Spiehs’ arrest has circulated online; it shows Spiehs in handcuffs with two officers leading him down the Capitol steps. A third officer follows, carrying what appears to be Spiehs’ sign, which reads in all caps “DEPORT FEMINIST [expletive] THEN ILLEGALS.”

The “No Kings” rallies, which took place across the nation on the same day as President Donald Trump’s unprecedented military parade, drew a reported 4 million to 6 million attendees in one of the largest single-day protests on record in the U.S. Rally-goers protested what they characterized as growing authoritarianism in the Trump administration, particularly referencing federal immigration raids, defiance of court orders, destruction of the federal workforce and attacks on civil rights.

The protest in Topeka had 2,000 to 2,500 attendees, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Spiehs, a former Lawrence resident, is a frequent commenter at public meetings throughout Douglas County, where he has been known to call officials obscene and sexist names and to insist that he has the right to use profanity and degrading language to those in attendance. He has also filed multiple civil lawsuits against nearly every government entity in Douglas County, some of which are still pending, and one of which — against the City of Lawrence — was summarily tossed out when a federal judge concluded that the city’s “germane” and “decorum” standards for general public comment did not violate his First Amendment rights.

Spiehs is currently suing the City of Merriam after he was arrested for trespassing at a community center there earlier this year.

He has been arrested in Lawrence multiple times, and has two misdemeanor convictions on his record, including child endangerment, stemming from his actions at a November 2021 coronavirus vaccine clinic.

Spiehs, a former instructor at Washburn University, had become such a persistent fixture among local officials, often with his cellphone recording, that a former deputy district attorney in Douglas County, Joshua Seiden, found himself out of a job last summer when he donned a wig and dressed as Spiehs and paraded around the courthouse lobby mocking him — an incident that was caught on surveillance video.

photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office

Justin Spiehs is pictured with the Shawnee County jail.