Local News in Brief : Neo-Nazi Freed From Jail

The purported leader of a San Fernando Valley neo-Nazi youth gang has pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and been released from jail.

Michael Casey Martin, 18, who police believe was the leader of the Reich Skins youth gang, will be sentenced April 13 to three years’ probation under a plea bargain with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, said Richard L. Brand, his attorney.

Martin, who entered his plea Wednesday in San Fernando Superior Court, had been in jail since his arrest Oct. 23 in connection with what prosecutors said was a racially motivated confrontation with a Granada Hills boy and his sister. Martin was accused of pointing a gun at the Latino boy Oct. 7 and attempting to break into the apartment where he was staying.

The case became a cause celebre after Los Angeles police said they found in Martin’s Chatsworth home a list of youths belonging to the Reich Skins gang and literature advocating white supremacy.