[Ppnews] Boot camp employees not guilty in boy's death

Fri Oct 12 14:21:57 EDT 2007

Boot camp employees not guilty in boy's death

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html
    * Story Highlights
    * NEW: All-white jury deliberated just 90 minutes
    * Boy's mother storms out of courtroom in tears
    * Boot camp employees had been charged with manslaughter
    * Defense said boy had an undiagnosed medical condition

PANAMA CITY, Florida (AP) -- Seven former boot camp guards and a 
nurse were acquitted Friday of manslaughter in the death of a 
14-year-old boy who was hit and kicked by the drill instructors in a 
videotaped altercation.

The video of a limp Martin Lee Anderson being hit and kicked by the 
guards after he collapsed while exercising drew protests in the state 
capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of boot camps for 
juvenile offenders.

Anderson died at a hospital the day after the altercation.

The defendants, however, said they followed the rules at a get-tough 
facility where 
<http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/juvenile_justice>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.

Former guard Henry McFadden later said he was relieved that the case 
was over: "We were innocent all along. We knew this truth would come 
out," he told Court TV.

The boy's mother, Gina Jones, stormed out of the courtroom after the 
verdict was read. "I cannot see my son no more. Everybody see their 
family members. It's wrong," she said, distraught.

Her lawyer, Benjamin Crump, told reporters outside: "You kill a dog, 
you go to jail. You kill a little black boy and nothing happens."

Anderson's family had long sought a trial, claiming the state tried 
to cover up the case, and repeatedly sat through the painful video as 
it played during trial.

The all-white jury took about 90 minutes to decide whether the guards 
were responsible for the death of Anderson, who was black. The 
guards, who are white, black and Asian, stood quietly as the judge 
read the verdicts.

The defendants would have faced up to 30 years in prison had they 
been convicted of aggravated manslaughter of child. The jury could 
have convicted them of lesser charges, including child neglect and 
culpable negligence, but did not.

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 by neglecting 
his medical needs after he collapsed while running laps. They said 
the defendants suffocated Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing 
him to inhale ammonia.

"You may not hear anything coming out of that video sound-wise, but 
that video is screaming to you in a loud, clear voice, it is telling 
you that these defendants killed Martin Lee Anderson," prosecutor 
Scott Harmon said in his closing argument.

Anderson died January 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 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.

The 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 appointed Mark Ober, state attorney for 
Hillsborough County, as special prosecutor in the case. Bush also 
scolded Tunnell for exchanging e-mails with current Bay County 
Sheriff Frank McKeithen, in which he criticized those who questioned 
the effectiveness of the boot camp concept. He also made light of the 
protesters in the state capital.

The Legislature agreed to pay Anderson's family $5 million earlier 
this year to settle civil claims.

Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110

415 863-9977

www.Freedomarchives.org  
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