Man Pleads Innocent to Hate-Crime Charges
A Glendale man arrested last week after he and his brother allegedly mounted a hate-campaign against minorities in Glendale pleaded innocent Monday to civil rights charges.
Philip Martin Alexander, 21, made a brief appearance in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, where he was arraigned on three hate-crime counts, including conspiracy and violations of civil rights, according to Thom Mrozek, a U.S. attorney’s office spokesman.
Chief U.S. Magistrate Carolyn Turchin scheduled Alexander’s trial for March 2. His 19-year-old brother, Steven Eugene Alexander, who is in state custody on an unrelated burglary conviction, is set for arraignment in federal court Jan. 25.
A federal indictment accuses the brothers of driving through a La Crescenta neighborhood last summer, shouting racial epithets, flashing skinhead gang signs and threatening to harm minorities they encountered.
As part of the conspiracy, federal official also allege that defendants harassed and intimidated groups including African Americans, Latinos, Armenian and interracial families in a predominantly white neighborhood of Glendale. If convicted, they could face up to 12 years in prison.
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