Ex-NFL player Martin charged with teammate threats
LOS ANGELES — Former Miami Dolphins offensive lineman Jonathan Martin was charged Tuesday with threatening two former teammates who had harassed him in the NFL and with threatening his former prep school classmates, Los Angeles County prosecutors said.
Martin pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of making criminal threats and a misdemeanor charge of carrying a loaded firearm, district attorney’s office spokesman Greg Risling said.
A post on Martin’s Instagram page last month showed a shotgun and referred by name to the private Harvard-Westlake prep school in Los Angeles that he once attended.
The post also included mentions of the Instagram usernames of former Miami Dolphins players Richie Martin Incognito and Mike Pouncey and said suicide and revenge were the only options for a victim of bullying.
Martin left the Dolphins midseason in 2013 after accusing teammates of bullying. An NFL investigation found that Incognito, Pouncey and teammate John Jerry engaged in persistent harassment directed at Martin.
Incognito was suspended for the final eight games and sat out the 2014 season before joining the Buffalo Bills.
Pouncey was released by Miami last week and agreed to a two-year contract Monday with the Los Angeles Chargers
The NFL’s investigation also found that teammates threatened to rape Martin’s sister, called him a long list of slurs and bullied him for not being “black enough.” Martin is black and Incognito is white.
Court documents say Martin “did willfully and unlawfully threaten to commit a crime which would result in death and great bodily injury” of Pouncey and Incognito. Both Pouncey and Incognito feared for their own safety and the safety of their families, the documents said.
Prosecutors said Martin also had a loaded firearm in his vehicle in Glendale, but court papers provided no other details.