Criminal charges against former Dolphin Jonathan Martin dismissed – Daily News

VAN NUYS – A criminal case was closed today against former Miami Dolphins player and Harvard-Westlake School alumnus Jonathan Martin, who has been charged with criminal threats stemming from an Instagram post that resulted in the one-day closure of the school’s exclusive Studio City campus in 2018.

The layoff comes after Martin completes a two-year diversion program.

“I think it was long overdue. I’m glad that justice has finally been served in this case, ”Martin’s lawyer Winston Kevin McKesson said of the dismissal. “It took two years in my client’s life. ”

According to images online in the Instagram post, Martin allegedly posted a photo of a shotgun with multiple shotgun cartridges, sporting the hashtags #HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins. The text of the article read: “When you are a victim of bullying and a coward, your options are suicide or revenge.”

Martin, who retired in 2015, was at the center of an NFL bullying scandal during his playing days and claimed during that investigation that he was also bullied at Harvard- Westlake.

The Instagram post tagged former Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey and a pair of former Harvard-Westlake classmates. Incognito was suspended by the Dolphins in 2013 in response to allegations of bullying and harassment – some of which were said to have been racial in nature – targeting Martin. Pouncey was also involved in the scandal, which led to extensive investigations by the NFL and the Dolphins.

On February 23, 2018, Harvard-Westlake officials sent an early morning message via the school’s emergency alert notification system advising students to stay home, apologizing for the short notice and citing student safety as the school’s top priority.

Martin was initially billed in March 2018 with four felony counts of criminal threats and one felony count of possession of a loaded firearm, but one felony count was dismissed in a January hearing 2019.

Martin’s attorney said he didn’t think the case should have been pursued and called his client a “good man”.