7 Guards, Nurse Acquitted in Boot-Camp Death: SEVEN BOOT-CAMP GUARDS, NURSE FOUND NOT GUILTY IN 14-Y

Oct 13, 04:45 AM

Current Headlines: By Susannah A. Nesmith, The Miami Herald

Oct. 13--PANAMA CITY -- As the not guilty verdict was read Friday, family members of eight former boot-camp employees charged with letting a 14-year-old boy die on their watch began to sob. Across the courtroom, the child's mother got up and stormed out, yelling, "It's wrong."

The seven guards and nurse, charged with the death of Martin Lee Anderson, were acquitted Friday by an all-white jury that deliberated two hours to close a two-week trial.

Two defendants -- both black guards -- spoke after the trial, expressing relief the trial was over and sympathy for Anderson's family.

"Trust me, every single one of us feels bad about this," said Henry McFadden, one of the guards.

Outside the courthouse, Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, expressed anger. "At least we know you can kill a young black male and get away with it," she said. "How the hell are they going to let them walk away?"

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division announced later Friday it would investigate the case.

In a statement, Justice said it "will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence, including the state trial transcripts, and take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes."

BEATING VIDEOTAPED

The guards were videotaped on Jan. 5, 2006, hitting and kicking Anderson, and jabbing their fingers in pressure points on his head for nearly 30 minutes while the nurse watched. The videotape was made public and drew national media attention. The eight employees were later charged with aggravated manslaughter.

Experts insisted throughout the trial that the boy did not die from the blows he received by the guards.

Prosecutors had argued that the defendants were responsible for Anderson's death because the guards held their hands over his mouth while pushing ammonia close to his nose, once for as long as five minutes.

Tampa's chief medical examiner, Dr. Vernard Adams, who did a second autopsy on the teen, ruled suffocation the cause of death. Bay County's medical examiner, who did the first autopsy, testified Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a normally benign condition.

But the jury had to weigh the testimony of other experts, including that of New Hampshire's medical examiner, Dr. Thomas Andrew. As a witness for prosecutors, he testified that Anderson died of sickle cell trait aggravated by the beating and the suffocation.

The defense called an expert in sickle cell collapse who said Anderson's death was a classic case of that extremely rare medical problem and that he had begun to die before the guards began hitting and kicking him.

Henry Dickens, a black guard who grew up in segregated Atlanta, said he blamed sickle cell trait all along.

"I'm wondering why we didn't know about this," Dickens said. "If we had, he wouldn't have been out there."

The racial overtones of the case -- including criticism of the guards by the NAACP -- were tough to take, said Dickens, 60.

"All this black and white stuff should be over with by now," he said. "That was my time . . . Today's NAACP, the only thing they care about is race. That's not what Dr. Martin Luther King talked about. He talked about a world without race."

Dickens looked crestfallen upon learning of the Justice Department investigation.

"It looks like this is going to go on and on," he said. "I just want this thing to end."

Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober, picked by former Gov. Jeb Bush as a special prosecutor in the case, said he was "extremely disappointed" in the jury's decision.

"In spite of these verdicts, Martin Lee Anderson did not die in vain," Ober said. "This case brought needed attention and reform to our juvenile justice system."

Across the street from the courthouse, two protesters screamed "guilty" at passing cars. A handful of protesters on both sides have periodically stood across from the courthouse during the trial.

"I guess they're not going to be satisfied until it says we're guilty, but we're not guilty," Dickens said sadly.

Attorneys for the other defendants said their clients were relieved.

"There was a lot of medical evidence, and it all, I think, was on our side," said Robert Sombathy, attorney for Patrick Garrett. "But I think the key moment was when the defense took the stand."

Each defendant testified thinking Anderson was faking an illness when he refused to continue running around the boot-camp track. They said they had treated other malingering inmates in the past in the same manner.

"Everybody wished they could have gone back in time and done everything differently, but that doesn't make it a crime," Sombathy said.

FEELS VINDICATED

Dr. Charles Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner who first attributed Anderson's death to sickle cell trait, said the verdict vindicated him.

"I think finally people were looking at the science, looking at the facts, and not just an emotional video," he said. "Because of all the political pressure, because of the racial undertones and because of the special interest groups, a lot of the true facts hadn't come out yet."

"There were a lot of things done to discredit me . . . I had the truth behind me," he said.

The acquittals drew outrage from black leaders around the state.

"To insinuate that sickle cell trait had anything to do with this young man's death is an abomination," said Rep. Terry Fields, a Jacksonville Democrat. "I think all the state of Florida should be outraged. I don't know what kind of message Bay County is trying to send to the rest of the state and the country, but this is not justice."

Anderson's family and friends and supporters gathered at a nearby church.

Chuck Hobbs, legal advisor for the state NAACP, said the organization hoped the family would find justice in the federal courts. At the church he brought up the Rodney King case, in which Los Angeles police officers were acquitted in state court but later convicted in federal court for beating a black man.

"I have a hard time believing that a parent, if their child were malingering, would hit and beat him or touch pressure points," Hobbs said.

The Anderson family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said he was disappointed by the verdict but not surprised.

He predicted the first day of the trial that an all-white jury in Panama City would acquit the defendants.

"This is a tough pill to swallow," he said outside the courthouse. "You kill a dog, you go to jail. But you kill a little black boy, nothing happens."

Miami Herald staff writer Gary Fineout in Tallahassee contributed to this report.

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