A criminal case was dismissed Thursday against former Miami Dolphins football player and Harvard-Westlake School alumnus Jonathan Martin.
Martin, a 32-year-old L.A. native, was charged in 2018 with making criminal threats online that led to a daylong shutdown of the prep school’s two campuses in Studio City and Holmby Hills.
The dismissal was granted by an L.A. County Superior Court judge after Martin completed a two-year diversion program.
"I think it was long overdue. I'm glad justice was finally served in this case," Martin's attorney said. "It did take two years out of my client's life."
According to court documents, in February 2018, Martin allegedly posted an image of a shotgun and several ammunition shells to his personal Instagram “Stories” feature, annotated with the hashtags #HarvardWestlake and #MiamiDolphins. A caption read, “When you’re a bully victim [and] a coward, your options are suicide or revenge.”
The post tagged Martin’s former Dolphins teammates Richie Incognito and Mike Pouncey, as well as a pair of former Harvard-Westlake classmates.
Martin, a 2008 graduate of elite private school, retired from the NFL in 2015 just two years after his involvement in a bullying scandal that shook the league. In the course of an ensuing investigation, which resulted in Incognito’s suspension, Martin told officials he had been bullied as a student at Harvard-Westlake.
The offensive tackle alleged bullying he experienced both in the NFL and as a student at Harvard-Westlake was racial in nature.
Martin’s Instagram Story went live just nine days after a deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that left 17 dead.
The next morning, administrators at Harvard-Westlake closed the school and advised students to stay home.
Martin was charged the following month with four felony counts of making criminal threats and one misdemeanor count of possessing a loaded firearm. One of the felony counts was dismissed at a January 2019 hearing.
Martin's attorney said he didn't think the matter should have been brought to court, and called his client "a good man." He had previously characterized Martin’s post as a “cry for help.”
Martin has previously gone on record acknowledging personal struggles with mental health.
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