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Jury selection begins Monday in boot camp case
September 23, 2007
By Melissa Nelson
LET US BE REMINDED - LET
US NOT FORGET!
Martin Lee Anderson
walked onto the exercise yard of a Panama City boot camp for
troubled teens nearly two years ago. Within hours, a grainy camp
surveillance tape showed, he was struck repeatedly by guards as a
nurse watched and soon collapsed. The 14 year old was carried off on
a stretcher and died the next day.
Article >>
On Monday, prosecutors and defense attorneys are set to begin the
tedious process of selecting the six jurors and four alternates who
will decide the fate of seven guards and nurse accused of aggravated
manslaughter of a child in Anderson's January 2006 death.
The case has gotten so much media
attention locally that more than 1,400 Bay County residents - or one
of every 90 adults - have been called to the Panama City Marina
Civic Center in an attempt to find an impartial jury. If not, the
trial will have to be moved to another Florida county.
"I can think of lots of trials
where 300, 400 or 500 potential jurors were called but I cannot
think of one with 1,400 - that's somewhat unprecedented," said
Philip K. Anthony, chief executive officer of Decision Quest, a
national jury consulting firm.
But Anthony, whose company has
consulted in more than 15,000 trials, predicted a local jury will
eventually be seated .
"It always amazes me the people you
ultimately find who know absolutely nothing about an issue," he
said.
Anderson was sent to the camp for a
probation violation - he trespassed at a school after he and his
cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a
church parking lot.
During his first hours at the camp,
which has since closed, Anderson became lethargic during a physical
fitness test. An exercise yard videotape shows the guards using
their fists and knees to repeatedly take Anderson to the ground and
then holding ammonia capsules under his nose. The camp nurse,
Kristin Schmidt, watched and did nothing during most of the
30-minute encounter with the seven men. The teen died hours later on
Jan. 6, 2006.
The original autopsy, conducted by
the Bay County medical examiner, said Anderson's death was caused by
natural complications of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood
disorder. After an outcry from Anderson's family and the public, his
body was exhumed and a second autopsy by another doctor found the
guards suffocated him.
The defense will lean heavily on
the first autopsy, saying it shows the guards' and nurse's actions
weren't to blame. Former Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County
State Attorney Mark Ober to investigate and prosecute the case,
citing a potential conflict of interest for local prosecutors. His
team will say that the second autopsy combined with the video shows
that Anderson was killed.
Anthony predicted defense attorneys
will want jurors from rural backgrounds who are "law and order kinds
of people." He said jurors with a history of military service would
be ideal for the defense team.
"They would have to be able to
identify with the behavior on the videotape on the front end. They
would have to be able to understand the process. That doesn't mean
they would agree with the outcome, but they would understand the
process," he said.
Prosecutors will look for jurors
who "are just the opposite," he said. "They will want the emotional,
bleeding heart kind of people."
Most jurors will have some
knowledge of the video, which received national attention after it
was released last year, said Waylon Graham who represents Charles
Helms Jr., the ranking camp guard on duty the day Anderson entered
the camp.
But he said defense attorneys will
show jurors the video frame by frame, over and over, to mitigate its
emotional impact.
And Graham said his client and the
other guards will likely testify during the trial.
"We will be watching that videotape
enough to make everyone real tired and real bored," he said.
"I'm sure my client will be
testifying. All of the defendants are eager to explain what
happened," he said.
Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet
has set a tight schedule for trial, with opening statements set for
Oct. 3. He told attorneys at a conference on Wednesday that he
expected the case to be finished by Oct. 8.
Despite the judge's efforts to keep
the massive trial on schedule and to seat a jury, some outside
observers predicted the trial would eventually be moved outside of
Bay County.
"It's going to be pretty darn hard
to seat a jury," said Jeffrey Harris, a Fort Lauderdale attorney and
president-elect of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers. "The judge is obviously doing everything he can by calling
1,400 people, that's extremely unusual. This case has had so much
publicity that is really like no other.
"Sometimes a trial just has to be
moved."
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