REMEMBERING MARTIN LEE ANDERSON, 14

Killing in the Name of Tough Love is Legal

2007-10-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

Killing in the Name of Tough Love is Legal
By Maia Szalavitz I Posted October 12, 2007 05:31 PM (EST)

In America, it's OK to kill a child so long as you have been hired to practice "tough love"-- that's the message from today's verdict in the boot camp death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.

Just two days after a Congressional hearing determined that there had been at least 10 deaths and thousands of allegations of abuse in teen residential programs that use humiliation and corporal punishment in an attempt to reform difficult teens, a jury acquitted seven boot camp guards and one nurse in the Anderson death.

Describing the beating that preceded Anderson's death, one of the defendants' lawyers said that "They have not brought in one witness to say those tactics are illegal. That those wrist bends, those knee strikes are improper."

The attorney for the nurse-- who can be seen on tape standing there while the guards beat the boy and shove ammonia in his face-- claimed that she had no way of knowing his medical condition. Attorneys claimed the defendants simply had no way of discerning that he wasn't faking to get out of required exercise.

But the jury-- and the defense team-- has it backwards. As a GAO investigator testified describing what the teen tough love deaths had in common at Wednesday's hearing, "Most of these kids died slowly. The only way staff could be convinced that the kids were not 'faking' was when they stopped breathing or had no pulse."

Shouldn't the people charged with caring for troubled teens be made to presume that their complaints are genuine until proven otherwise? Shouldn't those whose job it is to protect their health-- like nurses-- err on the side of believing a faker, not having a child die to prove he really was ill or injured? Why is presuming kids are faking and striking them and forcing them to inhale ammonia to prove otherwise legal?

And how did we ever become so callous that we allow kids to be beaten in order to prove that they aren't making excuses to get out of exercising? When did we decide that death is an appropriate sentence for malingering?

No one has ever been sentenced to significant jail time for a death in a tough love program-- even though dozens have been documented and the symptoms the teens have exhibited have been as obvious as a 23 pound weight loss in a previously healthy teen in 23 days and the loss of bowel and bladder control.

No doubt the fact that Martin Lee Anderson was black figured in the white jury's failure to even find the guards and the nurse guilty of child neglect or negligence. But even in cases where white kids have been similarly abused, their killers have not been brought to justice.

In the case of Aaron Bacon-- whose father testified at the hearing this week-- journals and witnesses documented the 16-year-old's slow, painful death by starvation and a perforated ulcer. Despite the fact that he was denied food and shelter for days, despite the fact that he couldn't control his bowels or urine, despite looking like a concentration camp victim, Aaron was seen as a faker until the moment he died.

His killers were convicted of abuse and neglect-- but not murder or even manslaughter. None served more than six months in prison and at least one violated probation by returning to work in the "tough love" business.

When will we wake up to the fact that any "therapy" that denies kids access to outside medical care and assumes kids are faking their complaints will necessarily occasionally result in death and injury? When will we realize that hurting and killing kids doesn't save them?

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Guards, Nurse Acquitted of Manslaughter

2007-10-12T13:05:00.001-07:00

Oct 12, 3:45 PM EDT

Guards, nurse acquitted of manslaughter in boot camp case
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- Eight former boot camp workers were acquitted of manslaughter Friday in the death of a 14-year-old boy who was videotaped being punched and kicked. The scene sparked outrage and changes in the juvenile system, but it took jurors just 90 minutes to decide it was not a crime.

Anger over the verdict was obvious outside the courtroom, where bystanders screamed "murderer" at former guard Henry Dickens as he described his relief at the verdict. Martin Lee Anderson died a day after being hit and kicked by Dickens and six other guards as a nurse watched, a 30-minute confrontation that drew protests in the state capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of juvenile boot camps.

"I am truly, truly sorry this happened. Myself, I love kids," said Dickens, 60. He added that Anderson "wasn't beaten. Those techniques were taught to us and used for a purpose." The defendants testified that 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.

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

"You kill a dog, you go to jail," said her lawyer, Benjamin Crump. "You kill a little black boy and nothing happens." He spoke outside court, which is across the street from the now-closed Bay County boot camp.

Anderson's family repeatedly sat through the painful video as it played during testimony. They had long sought a trial, claiming local officials tried to cover up the case. The conservative Florida Panhandle county is surrounded by military bases and residents are known for their respect for law and order.

The guards, who are white, black and Asian, stood quietly as the judge read the verdicts. The all-white jury was escorted away from the courthouse and did not comment.

Special prosecutor Mark Ober said in a statement he was "extremely disappointed," but added, "In spite of these verdicts, Martin Lee Anderson did not die in vain. This case brought needed attention and reform to our juvenile justice system."

The defendants would have faced up to 30 years in prison had they been convicted of aggravated manslaughter of child. The jury also decided against convicting them of lesser charges, including child neglect and culpable negligence.

Chuck Hobbs II, an attorney for the Florida chapter of the NAACP, said his group was considering asking the Justice Department to bring federal civil-rights charges against the guards. Defense attorneys called such a case unlikely.

"With a 90-minute verdict after a three-week trial (in the state case), it would be the same result," said attorney Bob Sombathy, who represents ex-guard Patrick Garrett. 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 Jan. 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 Dr. Charles Siebert, 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.

"I am feeling a little vindicated. People got to see a lot more than what's been publicized in the media," said Siebert, who was widely criticized for his autopsy. He said he was going to celebrate with some of the guards.

Anderson's 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 had been a strong supporter of the juvenile boot camps, but after Anderson's death he backed the Legislature's move to shut down the system and put more money into a less militaristic program.

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.

Ammonia was "tipping point" in teen's boot camp death, doctor says

2007-10-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Forensic consultant Dr. Thomas Andrew said Martin Lee Anderson died as a result of the boot camp guards' actions.

Ammonia was 'tipping point' in teen's boot camp death, doctor says
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — A Florida teen who collapsed during a confrontation with boot camp guards died of organ failure after they repeatedly used ammonia capsules to try to revive him, a doctor testified Thursday.

The encounter, which occurred on Martin Lee Anderson's first day at the Bay County Boot Camp, aggravated his pre-existing condition of sickle-cell trait, leading to his death, forensic pathologist Thomas Andrew said. (VIDEO)

Drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh and nurse Kristin Schmidt each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a person under 18.

A 25-minute surveillance video of the altercation, which the jury viewed Thursday, shows the guards covering the teen's mouth and waving ammonia capsules in his face on three separate occasions, once for as long as five minutes, while Anderson appears to pass in and out of consciousness.

The eight defendants, ages 30 to 60, say that Anderson provoked the encounter by refusing to participate in a 1.5 mile mandatory run to gauge his fitness level. The footage, which offered a glimpse into the rigid environment of the paramilitary-style rehabilitation program, showed Anderson stopping twice during the run before guards took him to the ground and used ammonia capsules when they were unable to get him on his feet.

PHOTOS

Boot Camp Death Pre-trial hearing: Eight defendants plead not guilty

EIGHT ACCUSED IN TEEN'S BOOT CAMP DEATH

•Oct. 5, 2007:Medical examiner denies he was pressured to blame guards, nurse

•Oct. 4, 2007:Ammonia was 'tipping point' in teen's boot camp death, doctor says

•Oct. 3, 2007: Prosecutor blames death on 'actions and inactions' of guards, nurse

•Oct. 2, 2007: Trial to open for eight boot camp employees accused in teen's death

•Sept. 26, 2007: Jury selected for boot camp death trial

•Sept. 24, 2007: Jury selection begins in trial of juvenile boot camp guards, nurse accused in teen's death

WATCH LIVE TRIAL COVERAGE AT COURT TV

TRIAL REPORTS

2007-10-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

October 4, 2007

Medical testimony dominates Day 1

By David Angier I PANAMA CITY

There were gasps and quiet moans Wednesday from audience members as they watched segments of the black and white video of boot camp employees striking and manhandling a limp Martin Lee Anderson. “Oh, my God” often was repeated by some in the thick crowd of onlookers as prosecutor Pam Bondi played short excerpts from the video of Anderson’s first day at the boot camp on Jan. 5, 2006, and his last full day of life.

“The last conscious moment of Martin Lee Anderson’s life was with his mouth being covered by a hand and ammonia capsules shoved into his face as he struggled to breathe,” Bondi said.

Former boot camp drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh II, along with former camp nurse Kristin Schmidt, face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and 30 years in prison each if convicted as charged.

They’re accused of culpable negligence in 14-year-old Anderson’s death. Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, after collapsing during his initiation into the camp. The trial, held inside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse on 11th Street, began Wednesday and is expected to end Oct. 12 or 13. Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m.

In her opening statement, Bondi pointed out three episodes where the drill instructors used ammonia capsules, or “smelling salts,” on Anderson during the 23-minute encounter. She said one lasted 55 seconds, another 54 seconds and the third “well over five minutes with three separate applications.”

She said Anderson didn’t die from natural causes, as Panama City Medical Examiner Charles Siebert Jr. opined in the first of two autopsies. She said Anderson died from oxygen deprivation, the result of having his mouth covered and forced to inhale ammonia fumes. She said sickle cell trait, Siebert’s named cause of death, is a benign blood disorder. “This was no accident,” Bondi said.

“This was a child who was killed by what these eight defendants did and what they failed to do.” Bob Sombathy, Garrett’s attorney, followed Bondi’s presentation and started by introducing each lawyer and defendant. He then explained the defense’s view of Anderson’s cause of death.

Sombathy said more than 100 people had died in military boot camps from sickle cell trait, as have 15 to 20 athletes and five college football players. “It is real,” he said. “There’s a history to it. And all of these people had lived normal, healthy lives.”

Sombathy said the unique finding in this case was that of Dr. Vernard Adams, who performed the second autopsy on Anderson and concluded that drill instructors had suffocated him by forcing him to breathe ammonia fumes, which caused his vocal cords to spasm and close his airway.

“There has not ever been a case where ammonia capsules caused any serious injury to anybody,” Sombathy said. “Dr. Adams’ opinion is the first of its kind in the history of the world.” Sombathy, and most of the other defense attorneys, told jurors there had to be some element of foresight that the guards’ actions would cause Anderson’s death.

He said it was uncontested that none of the boot camp employees knew that Anderson had sickle cell trait. Sombathy said jurors would hear from a hematologist who had witnessed people collapse from sickle cell trait during physical exertion. “He described this as a classic exertional sickle cell collapse,” he said.

Witnesses

The day’s first witnesses mainly were medical personnel — a paramedic who first treated Anderson and doctors and nurses from Bay Medical Center’s emergency department. One of the issues closely discussed was at what time Anderson’s blood gases were tested. Both sides want to establish this point because Anderson’s carbon dioxide level was below normal.

Emergency department Dr. Jeff Appel said Wednesday he would have expected to see the carbon dioxide level in Anderson’s blood to be 20 or 30 points above normal if he had been suffocated into a coma; instead, it was 20 points below. When someone stops breathing, his oxygen levels drop because he can’t get air in, but carbon dioxide levels rise because the body can’t get rid of it through exhalation.

Siebert explained the low carbon dioxide level in his autopsy report by saying that Anderson never stopped breathing; his blood, because of the sickled red blood cells, couldn’t absorb and transport oxygen properly but still was shedding carbon dioxide. Adams explained the low level by saying that Anderson was able to “blow off” the excess carbon dioxide after the guards stopped suffocating him.

If Anderson was “ventilated” — whereby a person or machine forced oxygen into his system and assisted him in getting rid of the carbon dioxide — at some point before his blood gases were tested, then his carbon dioxide level would have dropped faster. Respiratory therapist Dr. Dennis Arnold said Anderson’s breathing was manually assisted for less than a minute before his blood was drawn for testing.

Anderson then was hooked up to a respirator after the blood was tested. Appel said he had no experience with exertional sickle cell trait collapse prior to Anderson, but insisted his treatment of Anderson would not have changed if he had known that Anderson had sickle cell trait. Appel also said that the guards’ use of ammonia capsules, and whether they obstructed his mouth for any length of time, played no role in his treatment.

Appel said he has used smelling salts hundreds of times in his career to revive patients and to test for malingering. He said he has never heard of them causing injury or death. Videotape The man who videotaped the encounter between the guards and Anderson was the first to take the stand. Antonio Jones, now a Panama City Beach police officer, said he was working the control booth the morning of Anderson’s collapse and recorded the incident while also logging the guards’ use of force.

He said he had the authority to call 9-1-1 or intercede on Anderson’s behalf if he saw the guards abusing him or signs of distress. Jones said he saw neither. “You’re not accusing these men you just identified of any wrongdoing, are you?” defense attorney Jim White asked him, after Jones identified each defendant for the jury.

“No sir,” Jones said.

Jury Seated - Trial to Begin October 3, 2007

2007-09-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

BAY COUNTY --

A ten person jury is now seated in the trial of seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse charged in the death of a 14-year-old. An exercise yard videotape showed the guards repeatedly hitting Martin Anderson while the nurse stood by and watched. Anderson had been sent to the camp for a probation violation and became lethargic during a physical fitness test shortly after arriving.

The Bay County Medical Examiner said Anderson died of natural causes from a form of sickle cell anemia. A second autopsy, performed by the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner said Anderson suffocated because his mouth was taped shut, while ammonia capsules were forced under his nose.

The guards and nurse are all charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. The trial is scheduled to begin October third and last eight days. They face 30 years in prison if convicted. The state of Florida paid Anderson's family $5 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

The Panama City boot camp is now closed.

A Grandmother's Faith

2007-09-26T02:22:00.000-07:00

Boot camp beating victim's grandmother seeks justice : Jury selection begins Monday for the trial in the boot camp death

September 22, 2007
By Abbie Vansickle

PANAMA CITY -- She still remembers her grandson lying on the emergency room stretcher, hours from death.

Martin Lee Anderson's head rolled from side to side. Blood poured from his mouth. His dreadlocks had been shaved. She put her hand on his chest, felt his heart beating way too fast.

She talked to him. He didn't answer.

Reto Williams turned to a guard from the boot camp Martin had reported to the day before, the only other person in the room.

"What happened to Martin?" she asked. "I don't know, I don't know," Lt. Charles Helms Jr. replied, she remembers.

The memory still rankles, the wound that won't heal. "He lied to me," Williams, 63, says. "He lied."

When she filed charges against her grandson, she never imagined any of this.

After 14-year-old Martin and his friends stole her car during church services and went on a joyride, it was Williams who asked for punishment. Her grandson had started hanging with a bad crowd, and she wanted him back on the straight and narrow.

Now, from her little pink house on Redwood Avenue, she can see a daily reminder of it all: the cemetery next door that is home to Martin's grave. Since her grandson's death in 2006 after boot camp guards roughed him up, she has stayed quiet amid the clatter. State politicians closed all the boot camps.

Martin's mom got an attorney, received millions in a settlement and moved out of town. Even the national head of the NAACP came to Panama City on Martin's behalf.

On Monday, jury selection will begin in the trial of seven guards and the camp's nurse, charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child in his death. It's the biggest case anyone here can remember since Gideon vs. Wainwright, the 1963 case of a Panama City pool hall burglary that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, guaranteeing everyone in America the right to an attorney.

Like Gideon, Martin Lee Anderson's life served a larger purpose, Williams says. It's no coincidence that Martin was born on the birthday of another man of that name -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. God doesn't make mistakes.

"When God took my grandson, he used him," Williams says. "He took him to use him. He took him to show Florida what they're doing to the kids, it ain't right. What was his name? Martin. He had to live up to that name."

Williams' faith, already strong, has only grown since Martin's death, she says as she sits in the cozy living room that smells of the spaghetti boiling in a pot in the kitchen. A well-worn Bible and reading glasses rest on the couch. Another grandson rocks in a chair on the porch.

She's helping to raise that boy as she did Martin, who spent countless afternoons with her while his mom, Williams' daughter Gina Jones, worked long hours at Burger King to pay rent. Williams taught Martin to believe in God, to work hard, to be responsible for his actions.

That's why she wanted him to face consequences when he took the car. "I wanted him to understand, you can't just go around and do this," she says. "It was to let him know that, 'Hey, you're going down the wrong road. You can't do this.'"

She thought he'd get community service, but he was sent to boot camp instead. Shortly before he left, she showed him his grandpa's Army uniform. Williams always dreamed Martin would grow up to be like his grandpa. Join the service. Bring honor to the family.

Martin tried on the uniform. He was grinning. Williams danced around him, singing, "I'm in the Army now! I'm in the Army now!"

As he walked out the door, she said, "I love you." He smiled.

'Helms is the one'

The next morning, her daughter came to her door. Something was wrong. Williams headed to the hospital. There, she saw two men from the boot camp. She says that's when Helms told her he didn't know what happened.

The doctors decided to fly Martin to a bigger hospital in Pensacola. Martin's mom went, too, but Williams went home. She sat in her bedroom, praying.

Williams said her daughter plans to go the trial.

But don't expect to find Williams in the courtroom. She has never watched the boot camp video and doesn't plan to, she says. She blames only one person for Martin's death: Lt. Helms. He was in charge of what happened that day in the boot camp yard, she says, and he should take responsibility for Martin's death.

"Helms is like the person that's leading the war," she says. "Helms is the one."

Helms' attorney, Waylon Graham, was out of town Friday and unavailable for comment, according to his law office staff.

Williams said the guards met their match that day in the yard, that Martin tried to fight back because his grandmother always told him to never let anyone abuse him.

"They didn't know he was a God-fearing woman's grandson," she says with a chuckle. It was all part of God's plan, she says.

"What an ultimate sacrifice," she says. "There's a reason why he was there."

After Martin's death, Williams had visions of him. Whenever there was big news in the case, she heard him knocking at her front door, she says. She demonstrates, putting her hand into a fist and rapping the air. She'll spend jury selection and the trial as she usually does, at home with her grandkids.

"The attorney had said they couldn't get a fair jury here," she says. "As a woman of God, I said, 'It doesn't matter where it is. It's all in God's hands.'"

She'll pray quietly in her room, out of the spotlight. If something goes wrong at the trial, she believes Martin will come and tell her, that she'll hear his knock at her door.

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at vansickle@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3373.

JURY SELECTION BEGINS

2007-09-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Seven guards and a nurse are charged with manslaughter in the death of 14-year-old Martin Anderson at a Florida boot camp.

Jury selection begins in Florida for juvenile boot camp guards accused in teen's death

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Chanting demonstrators carried photographs of a dead teenager as jury selection began Monday for the manslaughter trial of seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse who are charged in his death.

Martin Lee Anderson was 14 when he died in January 2006 after being taken to a hospital from the now-closed Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp.

He had been sent to the camp for a probation violation and became lethargic during a physical fitness test shortly after arriving. An exercise yard videotape shows seven guards repeatedly hitting the boy with their fists and knees. The camp nurse is accused of watching but doing nothing during most of the 30-minute encounter.

By midmorning, 50 potential jurors had answered initial questions and nearly all said they had seen at least part of the video on television. They were not automatically dismissed if they had seen the video; some were dismissed for knowing the guards or Anderson's family.

Anderson's parents declined to answer questions from The Associated Press during a brief break in questioning.

More than 1,400 Bay County residents were summoned for jury selection, being held in a makeshift courtroom in a civic center to accommodate the crowd. That is one of every 90 adults in the Florida Panhandle county.

The large number is needed because the case has gotten so much media attention locally. If an impartial panel can't be found, the trial will be moved to another Florida county.

More than 400 people were expected to be screened Monday, and Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet told attorneys he expected the process to continue past 8 p.m. "We will have to work to get through this panel," he said.

About 20 demonstrators stood outside the civic center and carried large posters showing Anderson and bearing slogans such as "Justice 4 Martin."

Their chants of "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now" could be heard in the second-floor courtroom.

The original autopsy on Anderson, conducted by the Bay County medical examiner, attributed his death to natural complications of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder.

After an outcry from Anderson's family and the public, his body was exhumed and a second autopsy by another doctor found he had suffocated.

The defense will lean heavily on the first autopsy, saying it shows the guards' and nurse's actions were not to blame.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to prosecute the case, citing a potential conflict of interest for local prosecutors. His team will say that the second autopsy combined with the video shows that Anderson was killed.

The Florida Legislature dismantled the state's military-style youth boot camps after Anderson's death. The case also led to the resignation of the chief of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

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

Several potential jurors questioned the settlement.

"I just think it was out of sequence as to what was supposed to happen," said one potential juror, an older white man. "Suits going this way and that, people paying out money, demanding this or that or that before anyone was adjudicated guilty."

Source: Court TV September 24, 2007

The Video Seen Around the World

2007-09-24T14:13:00.000-07:00

Video captures final moments of Martin Lee Anderson's life

Length: 8 minutes

Warning! Please be forewarned this video is highly disturbing.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO

Battle of Medical Experts

2007-09-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Examiner clings to job after boot camp
He says all the facts about a teen's death will come out soon.

St. Petersburg Times
September 18, 2007
By Alex Leary

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - A year and a half ago, Charles Siebert was condemned as the medical examiner with the gall to rule that a boy who collapsed at a boot camp died of natural causes.

His conclusion -- that Martin Lee Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a disease that mostly affects African-Americans -- stood in stark contrast to what millions saw on TV. A surveillance camera captured guards hitting and kneeing the 14-year-old.

Protesters flooded the Capitol. They accused the doctor of racism and a coverup. Seven guards and a nurse are scheduled to go on trial here next month, each facing up to 30 years in prison. Siebert lost his job.

Now Bay County, the center of the controversy, has become Charles Siebert's sanctuary, a safe haven, though probably temporary, from the legion of critics who called for his head. Fired by the state Medical Examiners Commission this summer, Siebert has been given his job back by Bay County State Attorney Steve Meadows.

"I will not sacrifice Charles Siebert on the altar of political expedience or correctness," Meadows said in June.

"There have been so many conflicting stories from the experts about what happened. We are all willing and anxious to let the courts try this case, not politicians or the public," said County Commissioner George Gainer.

Siebert, 45, who is appealing his dismissal, says he has backers in more vital corners: the medical community. Experts have come to his defense, calling the sickle cell trait finding credible.

"I'm actually looking forward to the trial," Siebert said in an interview at his office on a recent afternoon. "It's going to be the first time that all the truth comes out."

A second rescue

Meadows has thrown a lifeline to another political figure disgraced by the January 2006 boot camp death: former Florida Department of Law Enforcement commissioner Guy Tunnell. Tunnell, a Panama City native and former Bay County sheriff, is working as an investigator for the State Attorney's Office at $72,000 a year.

"I felt it would be a waste to have that much talent just walk out the door all because he made one mistake that he has apologized for. When is enough enough?" Meadows said.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, seated, hands Gina Jones, the mother of Martin Lee Anderson, a pen after signing the wrongful death compensation bill in Tallahassee, Fla.

Tunnell got in trouble when reporters discovered he was trading e-mails with Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen about the boot camp investigation -- an inquiry Tunnell's agency was leading. Then, in April 2006, Tunnell made snide remarks about the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, who were expected to come to Tallahassee for a protest. Meadows is unabashed by his hiring moves, which have gone largely unnoticed outside Bay County.

"I hope it says that we don't just make knee-jerk decisions based on press accounts or protests, but rather that we make our decisions on the facts and the best judgment we have regarding the abilities of the people who have come into question," he said.

"Birds of a feather flock together," scoffed state Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, an early and vocal critic of Siebert. "That's what makes people cynical about government."

Expert's support

"It's a horrible thing to watch, you've got to admit that," Siebert says of the videotape at the center of the case. "But if you break it down, nothing they did to him killed him." Siebert's findings were so widely scorned that the special prosecutor ordered a second autopsy.

Hillsborough Medical Examiner Vernard Adams concluded that Anderson was suffocated, partly by the guards' hands and ammonia they pushed in his face. Backed with that report, Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober charged the guards and a nurse, who stood around while Anderson was being manhandled, with aggravated manslaughter on a child.

That was November. In the months since, Siebert's confidence has grown from the support he has received.

Dr. E. Randy Eichner, a sickle cell expert and retired professor of medicine at the University of Oklahoma, prepared a report calling Siebert's autopsy "scientific, explanatory and credible." In a court deposition he says Adams' scenario about ammonia causing vocal chord spasms is "fantasy. It is just as unscientific as you could possibly get."

Adams, who declined comment for this story, stood by his report in a deposition in June. He said it was possible Anderson was suffering from the beginning of sickle cell trait and perhaps it made him die sooner, but that "there's enough suffocation going on to entirely account for the clinical events that followed." Other experts have concurred with his findings, according to statements in the case file.

One powerful critic

BurnieThompson, a conservative radio host in Panama City, has sharply criticized the news media outside Bay County and Gov. Charlie Crist for being dismissive of the medical examiner.

"Significant information has been omitted in this case," Thompson said in an interview, "and that's egregious."

Nevertheless, in June, the Medical Examiners' Commission voted to fire Siebert, saying that by diminishing the guards' role he was dishonest in his autopsy.

But Meadows quickly appointed Siebert as the interim medical examiner. The prosecutor pointed to the commission's own survey of 45 law enforcement officials, funeral directors, prosecutors and public defenders, all but two of whom expressed support.

"Despite what amounts to reckless character assassination by some media outlets and, regrettably, even some members of our government," Meadows said, "I believe Dr. Siebert to be a competent and thorough medical examiner not beholden to anyone or any cause."

Meadows now chairs the committee that will pick a permanent medical examiner. Only two people have applied, a man from Arizona and Charles Siebert.

"I've been saying all along that I'm right, and now I have the support locally," Siebert said. "That's one of the reasons why I'm fighting as hard as I am."

No matter how many people may support him, though, Siebert is facing an unwavering critic: Crist, who has the final say in picking medical examiners.

"I don't think he's qualified," Crist said last week, adding that he wants to look into ways to have Siebert removed from the interim post, which pays $200,000. Told of the experts who have backed Siebert, Crist says it doesn't matter. "I've lost confidence in him."

Siebert all but concedes defeat. "I don't see a long-term future here anymore. They took science out of the equation and it became a political game and that's a shame."

Alex Leary can be reached at aleary@sptimes.com or 850 224-7263.