Judge Gives Teen 12 Years for Near-Fatal Hate Crime

Saying “society cannot tolerate crimes of this type,” a judge on Friday sentenced a teenager to 12 years in prison for his role in a near-fatal stabbing of a Native American man near the Huntington Beach Pier.

“There’s no reason for this crime except hate,” Orange County Superior Court Judge Everett W. Dickey said in handing a near-maximum sentence to Michael Steven Eckert.

George Mondragon, who was slashed nearly 30 times with a large hunting knife after being asked if he believed in “white power,” almost died after the February 1996 attack but has since recovered.

He did not attend the sentencing, but his mother came with a message for Eckert: “Get real,” Toni Velazquez told the defendant. “This can never be an all-white nation. . . . It is not white power. It’s human power.”

Eckert’s lawyer, in seeking a lesser sentence, said his client has learned his lesson since he was jailed and is no longer an “advocate of white supremacy.”

The defendant, who family members said has some Cherokee ancestry, also took the witness stand to apologize.

“I do have remorse,” Eckert told the victim’s mother. “I know that doesn’t change anything. But I’m sorry.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Lubinski sought a maximum sentence of nearly 14 years in prison, describing the defendant as a racist skinhead gang member with a juvenile record including battery.

Eckert, who has tattoos of swastikas and other racist markings, was 17 at the time of attack but was tried as an adult.

Authorities alleged that Eckert and three others verbally accosted other minorities at the pier that night before confronting 20-year-old Mondragon and two friends at a lifeguard tower, asking if they believed in “white power.”

When Mondragon began running, authorities said Eckert punched the victim and held him down while another man did the stabbing. Eckert admitted punching Mondragon but denied knowing that his friend had a knife or intended to use one.

A jury convicted Eckert of attempted murder, conspiracy and hate crime charges.

Erik Anderson, the alleged stabber and a self-described member of the Ku Klux Klan, is awaiting trial on similar charges.