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 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. Watch the boy fall to the ground »
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 case in pictures
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.
***SP ALERT***
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.
Let me say at the onset, I have Sickle Cell trait, as does my Father, my Paternal Grandmother, and my Son. As a former soldier and personal trainer, I can say with some degree of certainty that people with Sickle Cell trait don't simply "die" when exposed to exercise.
However, if someone collapsed while exercising and was having difficulty breathing, forceably covering their mouth while holding ammonia tablets under their nostrils might well bring about their death.
To argue that 'Sickle Cell Trait', which is not at all uncommon in the African American community, is what caused his death is to say that suffocating him had no real effect... -That's the minnow on the line-
(If you simply "WANT" to believe that the guards are innocent, swallow the "blue pill" and keep on reading)
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.
***SP ALERT #2***
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.
Sickle Cell was a biological adaptation to Malaria. Blood Cells take on 'sickle' like shapes and they are thereby less able to carry Malaria through the bloodstream. Conversely, they also suffer a diminished ability to move oxygen through the blood.
Persons with Sickle Cell or Sickle Cell trait can exercise and train and function normally. It simply requires that those individuals build up their cardio capacity.
It is seemingly plausible to argue that young Martin Anderson's O2 capacity was to blame... after all, he died from a lack of oxygen right? and sickle cell trait affects your body's ability to carry oxygen through your blood right?
But to accept that conclusion means you must first accept another; that covering the mouth of someone struggling for breath while holding ammonia tablets under their nostrils is a harmless act.
His Sickle Cell trait WAS clearly responsible for his exhaustion and difficulty breathing. The hand that was subsequently placed over his mouth and the ammonia held under his nose were responsible for the fact that he Stopped breathing.
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. E-mail to a friend
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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1 comment:
What happened there was a clear case of murder. To have a jury acquit these monsters speaks volumes as to the state of affairs in the U.S.
I'm thoroughly disgusted.
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