BOOT CAMP INQUIRY

E-mails put Florida investigator in hot seat

As his department conducted an investigation into Martin Lee Anderson's death, the head of Florida's top police agency carried on back-door chatter with the sheriff who ran the boot camp where Martin died.

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

cmarbin@MiamiHerald.com

When the family of Martin Lee Anderson questioned the impartiality of Florida's top state lawman, Guy Tunnell, in investigating the teen's death at a Panama City boot camp, Tunnell assured Floridians he would be fair and impartial.

The reason the family was suspicious: Tunnell, head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is a former sheriff of Bay County, founded the boot camp, and is friends with the current sheriff, Frank McKeithen, whose office runs the camp.

Now, a series of e-mails obtained by The Miami Herald shows that at the same time his agency was investigating the camp, Tunnell kept a running commentary to McKeithen, other sheriffs and his own staff in which he let off steam and disparaged critics of his investigation and the state's boot camps.

He also kept McKeithen abreast of the FDLE's efforts to keep a video -- which showed boot camp guards kneeing and punching the teen hours before his death -- from becoming public.

RUNNING COMMENTARY

He sent McKeithen an e-mail on Feb. 9, the day The Miami Herald published a story quoting two members of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee -- Miami Beach Democrat Dan Gelber, a former federal prosecutor, and Miami Beach Republican Gus Barreiro -- who had seen the video and said Martin had been ''brutally'' beaten and ``flung around like a rag doll.''

The two lawmakers were the first to view the video before its release. Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters he was ''constrained'' from discussing the tape, and indirectly criticized the two legislators who ``weren't as constrained.''

Tunnell sent McKeithen a copy of the Bush's remarks, adding: 'I understand that the Guv was just a `little' sarcastic when he referred to those 'less constrained' from commenting -- such as the two representatives.''

Earlier that day, Tunnell forwarded to the sheriff -- with the brief message ''FYI!'' -- an e-mail from his spokesman, Tom Berlinger, saying that the FDLE would fight a request from The Miami Herald for a copy of the video under the state's public records law.

Through a spokesman, Tunnell declined to discuss the e-mails Monday.

''We are working side by side with the special prosecutor that was appointed by Governor Bush as well as members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency that is closely scrutinizing the matter from a federal and civil rights perspective,'' Tunnell said in an e-mail.

``If either of them felt that our agency was conducting anything other than a professional, fair and impartial investigation, I would have every expectation that they would not hesitate to raise that issue with me or others.''

Said FDLE spokesman Berlinger: ``Commissioner Tunnell and the rest of our command staff are, by virtue of our jobs, friends with all 67 sheriffs in the state of Florida. That doesn't stop us from being fair and impartial in any of the investigations we conduct.''

Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober will decide whether anyone should be charged in the teen's death.

Martin, 14, entered the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp Jan. 5 after being convicted of joyriding in his grandmother's car. The video of Martin's last hour at the camp shows about eight guards punch, knee and choke the teen. He died the next day.

On Feb. 16, Tunnell sent McKeithen a copy of a Miami Herald article reporting that the U.S. Justice Department had opened a civil rights investigation into Martin's death.

On Feb. 17, Tunnell sent an email to several members of the Florida Sheriff's Association, including McKeithen, who had been briefed by their lobbyist on events two days earlier, when members of the House Juvenile Justice Committee discussed making big changes to the operation of the state's five boot camps.

''I know -- I'm singing to the choir -- just feels good to get it off my chest!,'' Tunnell wrote. ``For YEARS, we [the Bay County Sheriff's Office] asked for more equitable funding so as to allow us to expand the services, offering transitional phases, step-down, etc., only to be met with more bureaucratic red tape, frustration, etc.''

''THERE . . . I DO feel better!,'' he added.

After Gelber and Barreiro viewed the tape, two other lawmakers sought access to the video, Sen. Stephen R. Wise, a Jacksonville Republican and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, and Sen. Rod Smith, an Alachua Democrat and the committee's vice chairman.

''Ain't gonna happen!'' Tunnell told several FDLE staffers in a Feb. 9 e-mail.

In response, Assistant FDLE Commissioner Scotty Sanderson then wrote: ``We are in contact with the State Attorney and the Medical Examiner, to expedite the Autopsy report and bring this case in for a landing quickly. Our side will be ready to roll out as we get the toxicology findings.''

Tunnell replied: ``Hurry -- BEFORE I get REALLY carried away!''

The FDLE chief also sent an email to the editorial page editor of The News Herald in Panama City, Claude Duncan, who urged the FDLE to release the video..

''Although I'm happy to fade any heat on the part of my good friend, Sheriff McKeithen, I haven't been the Bay County Sheriff for almost two and one-half years. Am I to assume that, as the then-Bay County Sheriff, I was also responsible for the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001?'' Tunnell wrote.

Lawyers for Martin's family, and the two state lawmakers who were the subjects of Tunnell's emails say they have renewed concerns for Tunnell's fairness in the high-profile case.

Gelber said: ``You shouldn't be rooting for either side in an investigation. And these e-mails sort of suggest that. It's very dangerous when you start to root for one side.''

Barreiro, who has been a frequent critic of the state's juvenile justice efforts, said he first became concerned about the FDLE's involvement in the investigation on Feb. 8, the day he watched the video at FDLE headquarters.

''They told me before I viewed the tape that Martin did not die of trauma,'' Barreiro said.

CONCERNS RAISED

Barreiro said, from the beginning, it seemed the FDLE agents ``were more concerned about the critics of the boot camp than with the officers who beat Martin Anderson to death.''

Benjamin Crump, the family's attorney, said he is now more concerned than ever about FDLE's involvement in the case.

''From the beginning, we had concerns about a possible conflict of interest with FDLE doing the investigation,'' Crump said. ``After reading these, it does not ease our concerns.''