Obscure Counts Dropped Against Alleged Neo-Nazi

Charges of violating an obscure law have been dropped against a man accused of leading a neo-Nazi youth gang and threatening several San Fernando Valley residents.

Michael Casey Martin, 18, of Chatsworth, is still being prosecuted on charges of attempted residential burglary and assault with a deadly weapon.

Martin had been charged with three counts of violating the Criminal Syndicalism Act, which prohibits the use or advocacy of unlawful, violent acts to bring about political change.

Those charges said Martin was involved in the “expulsion and subjection of Mexican and black people” for the establishment of white supremacy.

Prosecutors decided to drop the Criminal Syndicalism counts after a review indicated that they were unconstitutional in Martin’s case, said Larry Trapp, assistant director of branch and area operations for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The decision was announced during Martin’s preliminary hearing in San Fernando Municipal Court, which began Wednesday and is scheduled to resume Monday concerning the charges he still faces in the Oct. 7 attempted burglary of a Granada Hills apartment occupied by a Latino high school student and his 14-year-old sister.

The assault charge was filed after interviews with witnesses. Martin, a suspected leader of the Reich Skins youth gang, allegedly pointed a gun at a resident of the Granada Hills apartment complex where the Latino boy and girl lived, said Myron L. Jenkins, deputy district attorney. Martin was arrested Oct. 23 on the attempted residential burglary charge.

The Criminal Syndicalism Act was enacted in 1919 and used primarily against labor agitators and Communist sympathizers in the 1920s and 1930s.