Jeremy Marks Attempted Lynching Charge Dropped by Los Angeles County DA

By Jill Stewart Fri., Apr. 29 2011 at 6:42 PM

Jeremy Marks will not face felony charge

The felony prosecution of Jeremy Marks has been abandoned by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, which had accused the teen of "attempted lynching" -- a bizarre charge that drew national attention because Marks touched nobody. But he had used cell phone camera to videotape a cop hitting another teenager.

The D.A. faced a big risk taking this odd case before a jury. Prosecutors had thrown the book at Marks, claiming he had tried to incite other kids to join the scuffle between the female campus cop and an unnamed 15-year-old. The DA, with iffy evidence, said Marks yelled "kick her ass!" -- tantamount, they said, to trying to get other kids to "lynch" the cop. The D.A. got hammered after LA Weekly freelancer Katharine Russ's exclusive coverage.

The Weekly published video (click here to view it) showing Marks in the background of a group of students who were razzing the campus cop as she struck and maced the unnamed 15-year old at a Metro bus stop in the Valley.

In the video, Jeremy Marks appeared to be one of the quiet ones.

Yet the accused Marks spent many long months in 2010 in a tough adult jail around hardened criminals -- the Pitchess Detention Center -- because his mom, a swimming pool attendant, didn't have the huge bail sought by the D.A.

A Google engineer, Neil Fraser, heard about the Weekly's coverage, written by Russ, and stepped forward to provide $50,000 to finance the bail for Marks, a young man he had never met.

Jeremy Marks was released from jail just in time to spend Christmas with his family.

According to a statement by his attorneys, Marks recently agreed to plead guilty to resisting arrest, (police tracked him down at a McDonalds where he and his buddies were eating and discussing the physical battle they'd just witnessed between cop Erin Robles and the unnamed 15-year-old).

The statement from Marks' team says:

This count will be dropped to a misdemeanor and expunged from Jeremy's record once he completes three years of probation. Not only is there no jail time for Jeremy, he also will not have a felony "strike" on his record.

This case got worse for the D.A. with seemingly every turn.

His mother got lots of public support after slamming the prosecution for drumming up dubious charges against her boy.

Then, a heavy-handed search of Marks' home by numerous cops with a search warrant-- and drawn guns -- angered much of Marks' working class neighborhood.

There's no word on whether the campus cop, Erin Robles, who the video shows grappling with the unnamed 15-year-old, is being investigated by the corruption-troubled Los Angeles School District Police Department.

Officer Robles is shown in the YouTube video to be clearly incapable of dealing with a smallish, unarmed kid -- whose offense had been to smoke either a cigar or a joint near a city bus stop.

If Jeremy Marks had not stopped to observe the sidewalk battle between Robles and that kid one day last spring, he would have several months of his life back.

Tags:

Erin Robles, Jeremy Marks, Katharine Russ, Los Angeles School District Police Department, Neil Fraser

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Heavensent

Thank You Jill for getting my sons story out into the world, with what little justice we got I can only think about what would've happened to my son without the videos. The Police still sit outside my home waiting to harass him since he took the deal. No one can help him now but GOD. Please pray for us.

Jstewart

You're welcome Rochelle (Heavensent). It was reporter Katharine Russ who shined a very bright light on this case. What we may never know: Why did the DA take this case? The time and effort spent by prosecutors was enormous, but the felonious harm done was extremely unclear. I've often wondered whether the decision to prosecute was popular within the larger DA's office. -- Jill Stewart, Weekly News Editor

jme

Too bad we were not in the area when the cops where harrassing this kid at his house that day.. It would of been nice to Rob a few Banks, Shoot a few gang members and homeless men who talk to themselves and wave their arms around screaming something about ''jesus'', rape a couple of Women, run naked in front of the girls at the jr. high school, steal an old ladies purse, sell some dope out in the open and shoot my gun at passing cars.. its not like anybody would of been arrested that day anyway..cops where too busy at this kids house flipping the interior inside out over his smartass mouth. I want to know what kind of Judge or D.A. signed that warrent over this? MAN!! What a bunch of Dummies!! sometimes cops and courts make themselves laughable..and it seems they dont care that thousands of us are laughing.. it seems like they like to entertain us like circus clowns with BIG red shoes and BIG bow ties.

Lightnapper

School Copper-- enough said. LA DA-- enough said. LA Taxpayers going to fork over $$$-- one way or another-- not enough said!

Total Protect Home Warranty

This ladie cop must of gave other cops BJs for them to rowdy up like this.. if you Ladies out there thought that rude&disgusting of me to say that,. look how the cops even tore up the kids house on a search warrent related to this nonsense Soley FOR SAKE!

jme

HEHE Thanks... That is Funny huh? but really cmon now! why would the cops go through all that over a Juvenile Dumb Act? We all know if that Ladie cop would of got that little troublemaker restrained quick&effectivly instead of struggling, We would of never known this story.. keep in mind this all happend during Budget cuts, so why was this police time(our tax$$) wasted on this petty nonsense..especially the part about serving a search warrent on his Home..Then they locked him up for Months with older carrer criminals and then raid his house as if he was Bin Laden.. Like I said, Must be One Mean Major BJ.... with all those cops at the raid, didnt one of them at least say ''This is Nuts and Wasteful'

jme

WOW!! that is extreme even if he was the one shouting ''KICK HER BUTT" they stormed a teens Life over a Dumb Juvenile act.. I cant belive that ladie cop would even called it in on the LOUDMOUTH.. cops are suppose be STEEL and not sweat LOUDMOUTH punk youth..seems like she couldnt control the small troublemaker due to his littleness and quickness, so thie ladie cop got frustrated and blamed the LOUDMOUTH why she couldnt control the troublemaker due to his strength Rise over the antagonizing LOUDMOUTH. . This ladie cop must of gave other cops BJs for them to rowdy up like this.. if you Ladies out there thought that rude&disgusting of me to say that,. look how the cops even tore up the kids house on a search warrent related to this nonsense Soley FOR SAKE!

OBAMA26

pussy defense lawyers. jesus. they should be ashamed of themselves. and they issue a press release seeking attention. they're a disgrace to the defense bar. this case should have gone to trial. 4 days, max. And then an acquittal in about 30 minutes. shame on his defense lawyers. FOR SHAME!

JD218

The statement quoted in this article is from the Jeremy Marks Defense Committee, not his lawyers. The JMDC is a grassroots, activist committee, anchored by the ANSWER Coalition (www.AnswerLA.org). Read the full statement at ANSWER's website, including quotes from Jeremy's mother. It isn't full justice, no, but given the hostile posture of the cops and D.A. and the general "anti-crime" climate, it is a significant victory. The grassroots movement, along with Jeremy's family, secured this victory!

JMDC statement: http://www.answercoalition.org...

Claudia

The plea deal was a bad deal presented by the DA in order to stave off a civil suit. Jeremy's lawyer failed Jeremy at every turn. Jeremy pled guilty to a crime he did not commit just to stay out of jail. Says a lot about our Justice system when the DA's case consists of nothing but a smear of Jeremy's name- presenting alleged evidence that he's a bad ass gang member just because he drew some gang symbols on a school desk when he was a juvenile.

Jondoe

finally. an article not written by a moron and without any lame humor.

Grimjack3299

Thank you Jill for taking the time and effort to finish this story.

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