By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, HOWARD ALTMAN and ANTHONY McCARTNEY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Mar 14, 2006

TAMPA - The 14-year-old teen who died after being beaten by guards at a Panhandle boot camp in January did not die from a sickle cell trait, a New York coroner who observed the teen's second autopsy said Monday night.

Michael Baden told The Tampa Tribune it was not clear what killed Martin Lee Anderson, but it was not sickle cell, as an autopsy performed in Bay County after the boy's death concluded.

Baden based his conclusion on the autopsy findings as well as records of Anderson's hospital visits after the beating and the fact that deaths associated with sickle cell trait are extremely rare. Baden said it will take weeks before medical examiners can determine the cause of death.

Attorneys representing Anderson, who died after being punched and kneed at a state-run boot camp, emerged Monday from a 13-hour-long autopsy of the teen's body by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner with new insights but no public comments on the case.

Attorney Benjamin Crump stopped briefly to discuss the autopsy with several activist leaders, but like his counterparts walked away from a crowd of waiting reporters.

Crump, who along with Baden observed the autopsy, was "very encouraged" with its results, said Dale Landry, of the Florida chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Crump is expected to discuss his impressions this morning, but wanted to speak with Anderson's parents first, Landry said. A previous autopsy determined the teen died from a sickle cell trait, not rough handling by guards.

Crump and Baden's quiet exit from the medical examiner's cramped office on Morgan Street about 9:30 p.m. was a far cry from how he and others arrived that morning.

At 8 a.m., Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober had walked into the medical examiner's office with several staff members and Anderson family members.

A few feet away, about a dozen members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement threw their arms in the air and shouted.

"No justice!" activist Connie Burton yelled into a megaphone.

"No peace!" the crowd responded.

Anderson, 14, died early Jan. 6 after two hours at a Panhandle boot camp.

The medical examiner in Bay County, Charles Siebert, determined the cause of death was complications from sickle cell trait, not the beating Anderson received, which was recorded by surveillance video.

Public outrage followed Siebert's finding, prompting Gov. Jeb Bush to put Ober in charge of the investigation. Anderson's body was exhumed Friday in Panama City and flown to Tampa. The second autopsy, which began about 9:30 a.m. Monday, was expected to take about four hours.

As the day wore on, the expected conclusion time was pushed back.

Most protesters left by noon.

Although the afternoon was quiet, the downtown office was busy Monday morning. Officials with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the NAACP and other activist groups came to demand justice.

Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, the teen's parents, gave brief remarks to the media. Jones held two pictures of her son, one taken just before she dropped him off at the boot camp and another taken as Martin Anderson lay in his casket.

"My baby was tortured and killed in a boot camp after just two hours," she said. "All I want is justice for my baby."

Ober issued a statement Monday afternoon saying he and the medical examiner, Vernard Adams, would not comment, but that the autopsy was proceeding smoothly. Siebert also observed the autopsy.

The body would be in better condition because it was embalmed, said William Anderson, of Orlando, an independent pathologist contacted by The Tampa Tribune. Anderson, no relation to the teen, said the second autopsy could determine quite a bit. The organs should still be in good condition.

Many gathered at the medical examiner's office Monday hoped for quick answers.

Adora Obi Nweze, the president of the NAACP's Florida State Conference, said she has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and the boot camp system. In 10 years, she said, three young black men and two young white men have died in the juvenile justice system here.

Sevell C. Brown III, president of the St. Petersburg SCLC, decried the findings of the first autopsy.

Three million blacks in the United States have sickle cell trait, he said. He wondered aloud whether any those people were beaten to death by law enforcement, would the offending officers be exonerated?

Brown's organization asked the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America to release a statement regarding sickle cell trait. In a written release, the association said those with sickle cell trait are generally healthy carriers of the sickle cell gene and are not sick.

The statement said "emphatically" that Marin Anderson's death was unrelated to sickle cell and any connections are "baseless."

William Anderson, the Orlando pathologist, said he has seen cases where, under severe stress, someone with sickle cell trait died from sickle cell disease.