|
Tense Moments After Boot Camp
Acquittal October 13,
2007
By Melissa Nelson
 PANAMA
CITY, Fla. (AP) — Tensions ran high after eight former boot camp
workers were acquitted of manslaughter in the death of a 14-year-old
inmate who was videotaped being punched and kicked.
The case sparked outrage and
spelled the end of Florida's system of juvenile boot camps, but it
took a jury just 90 minutes Friday to decide that the death of
Martin Lee Anderson was not a crime.
Anger over the verdict was obvious
outside the courtroom, where bystanders screamed "murderer" at
former guard Henry Dickens as he described his relief at the
verdict.
"I am truly, truly sorry this
happened. Myself, I love kids," said Dickens, 60. He said Anderson
"wasn't beaten. Those techniques were taught to us and used for a
purpose."
Anderson died a day after being hit
and kicked by Dickens and six other guards as a nurse watched, a
30-minute confrontation that drew protests in the state capital.
The defendants testified they
followed the rules at a get-tough facility where young offenders
often feigned illness to avoid exercise. Their attorneys said that
Anderson died not from rough treatment, but from a previously
undiagnosed blood disorder.
The boy's mother, Gina Jones,
stormed out of the courtroom. "I cannot see my son no more.
Everybody see their family members. It's wrong," she said.
Anderson's family repeatedly sat
through the painful video as it played during testimony. They had
long sought a trial, claiming local officials tried to cover up the
case. The conservative Florida Panhandle county is surrounded by
military bases and residents are known for their respect for law and
order.
"You kill a dog, you go to jail,"
said Gina Jones' lawyer, Benjamin Crump, outside court. "You kill a
little black boy and nothing happens."
The guards, who are white, black
and Asian, stood quietly as the judge read the verdicts. The
all-white jury was escorted away from the courthouse and did not
comment.
Special prosecutor Mark Ober said
in a statement he was "extremely disappointed."
"In spite of these verdicts, Martin
Lee Anderson did not die in vain," the statement read. "This case
brought needed attention and reform to our juvenile justice system."
The defendants faced up to 30 years
in prison had they been convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a
child. The jury also decided against convicting them of lesser
charges, including child neglect and culpable negligence.
Officials from the Department of
Justice in Washington and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of
Florida announced they were reviewing the state's prosecution.
Defense attorneys, however, said they considered a federal
civil-rights case to be unlikely.
"The Department of Justice has yet
another opportunity, unfortunately, to demonstrate to America's
minority populations that law enforcement officials acting outside
the laws of this nation will be held accountable, that the misdeeds
of a few rogue officers won't be allowed to tarnish the good work of
the vast majority and that any guilty officers' conduct will be
strongly scrutinized and met with remedial action rather than a wink
and a nod," said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland
Hayes.
"With a 90-minute verdict after a
three-week trial (in the state case), it would be the same result,"
said attorney Bob Sombathy, who represents ex-guard Patrick Garrett.
Aside from hitting Anderson, the
guards dragged him around the military-style camp's exercise yard
and forced him to inhale ammonia capsules in what they said was an
attempt to revive him. The nurse stood by watching.
Defense attorneys argued that the
guards properly handled what they thought was a juvenile offender
faking illness to avoid exercising on his first day in the camp. He
was brought there for violating probation for stealing his
grandmother's car and trespassing at a school.
The defense said Anderson's death
was unavoidable because he had undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a
usually harmless blood disorder that can hinder blood cells' ability
to carry oxygen during physical stress.
Prosecutors said the eight
defendants neglected the boy's medical needs after he collapsed
while running laps. They said the defendants suffocated Anderson by
covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale ammonia.
Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, when he
was taken off life support, a day after the altercation. The case
quickly grew and shook up the state's boot camp and law enforcement
system amid the boy's family alleging a cover-up.
An initial autopsy by Dr. Charles
Siebert, the medical examiner for Bay County, found Anderson died of
natural causes from sickle cell trait. A second autopsy was ordered
and another doctor concluded that the guards suffocated Anderson
through their repeated use of ammonia capsules and by covering his
mouth.
Anderson's death led to the
resignation of Florida Department of Law Enforcement chief Guy
Tunnell, who established the camp when he was Bay County sheriff.
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush had been a
strong supporter of the juvenile boot camps, but after Anderson's
death he backed the Legislature's move to shut down the system and
put more money into a less militaristic program.
The Legislature agreed to pay
Anderson's family $5 million earlier this year to settle civil
claims.
|
