School Threat Charges Dropped Against NFLer Jonathan Martin

VAN NUYS, CA - Prosecutors dismissed a criminal case Thursday against former Miami Dolphins player and Harvard-Westlake School alum Jonathan Martin in connection with an alleged criminal threat that shut down the exclusive school's Studio City campus in 2018.

The alleged threat stemmed from a Instagram post by Martin that appeared to hint at gun violence aimed at his former school and teammates on the Miami Dolphins, prosecutors had contended.

Prosecutors dismissed criminal threat charges against Martin after he completed a two-year diversion program. Martin has been vocal about being bulled as a student and a professional football player.

"I think it was long overdue. I'm glad justice was finally served in this case," Martin's attorney, Winston Kevin McKesson, said of the dismissal. "It did take two years out of my client's life."

According to online images of the Instagram message, Martin allegedly posted a photo of a shotgun with a several shotgun shells, emblazoned with the hashtags #HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins. The text of the post read, "When you're a bully victim & a coward, your options are suicide, or revenge."

The post prompted a day-long closure of the school as a precaution.

Martin was charged with four felony counts of making criminal threats as well as a single misdemeanor count of carrying a loaded firearm in public after investigators found in his possession an ax, a large knife, and a loaded 12-gauge shotgun. He was briefly detained on February 23, 2018 the same day he allegedly made the threat. One of the felony counts was dismissed at a January 2019 hearing.

Martin, who retired in 2015, was at the center of an NFL bullying scandal during his playing days and claimed during that investigation that he had also been bullied at Harvard-Westlake.

The Instagram post tagged former Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey and a pair of former Harvard-Westlake classmates. Incognito was suspended by the Dolphins in 2013 in response to allegations of bullying and harassment — some of it alleged to be racial in nature — targeting Martin. Pouncey was also implicated in the scandal, which led to extensive investigations by the NFL and the Dolphins.

On Feb. 23, 2018, officials with Harvard-Westlake sent an early morning message via the school's emergency alert notification system advising students to stay home, apologizing for the short notice and citing student safety as the school's highest priority.

Martin's attorney said he didn't think the matter should have been prosecuted, and called his client "a good man."

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.