Posted on Sat, Feb. 25, 2006
Boot Camp Death:
State Asks to Exhume Teen's Body
The family of Martin Lee Anderson
must decide whether to exhume his body for a second
autopsy after his death in a juvenile boot camp.
BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER, CARA BUCKLEY AND MARC CAPUTO
PANAMA CITY
- Martin Lee Anderson's parents are about to
make the toughest decision since watching the videotape
of officers roughing up their son at a Panama City boot
camp: Should they remove him from his grave to get a
fresh autopsy?
''It's such a tough call because we want the truth to
come out, but it's hard to dig him out of the ground,''
said family lawyer Ben Crump. ``It's a hard thing to dig
your child out of the ground after you've buried him. He
can't even rest in peace.''
The family already had been considering whether to
exhume Martin's body from the cemetery a block away from
his father's house. But events half a state away, in
Tampa, may force Robert Anderson and Gina Jones to
decide quickly: A special prosecutor, Hillsborough
County State Attorney Mark A. Ober, has asked the family
for permission to exhume. It's Ober's job to determine
whether anyone should be held criminally accountable for
Martin's death.
At issue: whether the 14-year-old died from
complications of a genetic blood disorder, sickle cell
trait, that affects one in 12 blacks -- as the medical
examiner in Panama City concluded -- or from the beating
he received from up to nine officers at the Bay Boot
Camp in Panama City.
Martin lies in a fresh grave in an all-but-nameless
cemetery; locals call it Redwood Cemetery, because it
lies on Redwood Street.
It is a bedraggled little graveyard encircled by a
chain-link fence, where teenagers sometimes gather to
party and discard their beer bottles when they're done.
Martin's grave is covered by a rectangular concrete
marker with his name printed on it.
Alongside the grave lie bright plastic flowers and
dying red roses. A cluster of half-deflated,
heart-shaped Valentine's Day balloons were left by an
anonymous valentine. At night, Martin's final resting
place is lit by four garden lights that can be seen a
block away by his dad.
But over what certainly will be a long, agonizing
weekend, Jones and Anderson will decide whether to
unseal his casket and allow doctors to cut his remains a
second time. Members of their church, Springfield
Methodist, will gather Sunday to help the family pray
over its decision, Crump said.
''We've got to bring him out of the ground,'' Crump
said Friday. ``But it is so hard for the mom and dad to
do that.''
The family retained a retired New York City medical
examiner, Dr. Michael Baden, to review the work of Bay
County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert, and perhaps to
complete a full new autopsy if, and when, Martin is
exhumed, Crump said.
Baden is best known for his work as a consultant on
the congressional investigations into the assassinations
of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King JrHe hosts the
HBO series Autopsy.
Among fans of celebrity trials, Baden already is a
household name: He's been an expert witness in cases
involving Medgar Evers, John Belushi, Kobe Bryant and
Robert Blake. Martin's family intends to have Baden
present during a second autopsy, if the couple decides
to exhume their son, Crump said.
''We think Dr. Siebert's report is not accurate,''
Crump said. ``The family certainly does not want Dr.
Seibert's outrageous findings to be what allows their
son's death to have been in vain.''
The spokeswoman for Ober, who was appointed as the
special prosecutor by Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday, declined
to discuss the investigation Friday. ''Nothing has
changed on the case,'' Pamela Bondi wrote in an e-mail
to The Miami Herald.
Ober has enlisted the help of Hillsborough County's
pathologist, Dr. Vern Adams, who has been Tampa's chief
medical examiner since 1991.
''I told him I would help with the investigation,''
Adams said Friday. ''That's all that has happened.''
Adams declined to discuss details, or whether his office
would conduct a full second autopsy.
Dr. Stuart Toledano, director of the University of
Miami medical school's division of pediatric hematology
and oncology, who has been studying sickle cell trait
and disease for more than three decades, said the
controversy surrounding Martin's death on Jan. 6 likely
would subside following an independent review of the
autopsy.
''If the parents consent to it, it may yield more
information,'' Toledano said. ``Fresh eyes examining the
entire autopsy report . . . would be very helpful
also.''
But Siebert, contacted Friday by The Miami Herald,
continued to defend his work, as he has done
consistently since releasing his autopsy report Feb. 16.
''I'm confident in my findings,'' Siebert said. ``I'm
not worried about anyone else finding anything
different. Nothing was hidden. We did a thorough job. I
am confident anyone else who does a second autopsy will
arrive at the same conclusions.''
