Teen to Stand Trial as Adult in Knife Attack

A La Palma teenager will be tried as an adult in connection with a near-fatal knife attack on a Native American man in Huntington Beach that prosecutors allege was motivated by racial hatred.

Michael Steven Eckert, 17, faces a maximum life sentence if he is convicted of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit a hate crime, Deputy Dist. Atty. Vickie Hix said.

Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel on Thursday cited the seriousness of the attack on 20-year-old George Mondragon as one of the factors in deciding to send Eckert to adult court.

Hix described the attack as “heinous” and totally “unprovoked.”

Two other men are also charged in the attack in which the victim was slashed up to 27 times near a Huntington Beach lifeguard tower.

The attack occurred Feb. 3 at 12:45 a.m. when the group approached the victim on the beach and asked if he believed in “white power,” authorities said.

Police said when the victim started to run, Eckert grabbed him and punched him in the face. Moments later, another defendant, 20-year-old Erik Anderson of Huntington Beach, allegedly stabbed the victim.

The third defendant, Shannon Martin, 23, of Huntington Beach allegedly took the knife from the crime scene.

Detectives allege Anderson and Eckert, described as self-professed white supremacists, had verbally accosted other minorities that night before the stabbing.

Anderson, police said, claimed membership in the Ku Klux Klan. Eckert claimed to be a white supremacist, sporting a swastika tattoo on his chest, but said he is not part of an organized group, authorities said.

The teen, who is being held in custody on $250,000 bail, will appear in Municipal Court in Westminster on April 1 to enter a plea to the charges against him. The other two defendants face hearings next month to determine if there is enough evidence for them to stand trial as charged.