Charges against anti-gang activist are dropped A U.S. District Court judge has dismissed federal racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder charges against a well-known anti-gang activist at the request of federal prosecutors, who acknowledged that the original indictment contained "errors." But Judge Dale S. Fischer made the decision to dismiss the charges against Alex Sanchez without prejudice, a move that would allow prosecutors to refile charges. Assistant U.S. Atty. Garth Hire on Wednesday said prosecutors will review the evidence and make a decision by March on whether to refile. A crowd of about 25 supporters shook Sanchez's hand after the ruling. Among his supporters was former state Sen. Tom Hayden, who said Sanchez had endured an "outrageous process for years" and urged prosecutors to drop the case against the executive director of the nonprofit Homies Unidos. "I feel grateful," said Sanchez. But he said he remains fearful the U.S. attorney's office will re-indict him. Federal authorities alleged in the original 2009 grand jury indictment that Sanchez - who they claim went by the street name "Rebelde," or "Rebel" - - helped leaders of the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, plot the 2006 killing of a man in El Salvador and other crimes. Sanchez was among two dozen alleged members or associates of MS-13 accused of involvement in a laundry list crimes that stretched for 15 years: murder, conspiracy to commit murder, drug trafficking. Sanchez was accused of conspiring to kill Walter Lacinos in El Salvador in a series of coded gang-language telephone calls in 2006 with a co-conspirator named Juan Bonilla, also known as "Zombie." Bonilla allegedly killed Lacinos on May 15, 2006. The calls were recorded, then translated in Los Angeles by a detective whom the government has since removed as an expert witness. Sanchez's lawyer, Amy Jacks, filed for dismissal because prosecutors "presented false evidence to the grand jury, lied to the grand jury and withheld exculpatory evidence," she said. Her motion has not been made public because it deals with sealed testimony. In other court filings, Jacks has said that authorities misinterpreted the phone calls and that Sanchez was attempting to mediate a dispute. She said that authorities wrongly identified Bonilla as the killer and that the calls never led to Lacinos' death.