Family Pathologist: Sickle Cell Didn't Cause Boot Camp Death
March 14, 2006

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TAMPA, Fla. -- A noted pathologist who observed the second autopsy of a 14-year-old boy who died in a juvenile boot camp said Tuesday that the teen probably died from a beating by guards and not a blood disorder as a medical examiner initially ruled.

"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Dr. Michael Baden, referring to a surveillance video showing the guards kicking and punching Martin Lee Anderson's limp body shortly after he arrived at the Bay County Sheriff's Office boot camp Jan. 5. He died at a hospital early the next day.

Baden said the 12-hour autopsy, performed Monday by Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Dr. Vernard Adams, was clear that Anderson did not die from sickle cell trait or any other natural causes.

Baden, who observed the autopsy on behalf of Anderson's parents, said it will be several weeks before Adams can determine the exact cause of death because tissue samples must be analyzed and other evidence considered.

Widely considered to be one of the nation's top forensic pathologists, Baden noted that he had investigated thousands of deaths of people in custody over the past 30 years and not one was caused by sickle cell trait.

"I'm just glad the truth is out," said Lee's mother, Gina Jones. "But I already knew what the truth was. Now that the truth is out, and I want justice. I want the guards and the nurse to be arrested."

Dr. Charles Siebert, medical examiner for the Panhandle district that includes Bay County, had ruled that Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder many blacks have, rather than the beating.

Martin Lee Anderson

After questions arose, Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to investigate the case, which led to the second autopsy by Adams. Ober said no one from his office will talk about the autopsy until the investigation is complete.

Siebert also was present at the second autopsy, Baden said, and may end up changing his ruling. Siebert did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday.

"I think he made a mistake," Baden said.

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Jones said she thinks the guards targeted her son because he had long hair.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee and the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division also have opened an investigation into Anderson's death. No guards have been arrested or fired. The camp, which was operated by the Bay County Sheriff's Office, has been closed.

Civil rights leaders who rallied to support Anderson's parents said they hoped the case would lead to reforms.

"He was a microcosm of many young Andersons sitting in boot camps and detention centers across the state of Florida, said Sevell C. Brown, state president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Anderson entered the camp for a probation violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.

Previous Stories:
March 10, 2006: Body Of Teen Who Died At Boot Camp Exhumed For Second Autopsy
March 3, 2006: Teen Who Died After Boot Camp Beating To Be Exhumed For Autopsy
February 21, 2006: Bay County Ends State Contract To Run Boot Camp
February 17, 2006: Tape Released Showing Teen Restrained At Panhandle Boot Camp
February 16, 2006: Feds Open Investigation Into Panama City Boot Camp Death
February 11, 2006: Parents Demand Answers In Son's Boot Camp Death

Black lawmakers call for arrests in boot camp death
By Dara Kam, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
Friday, March 17, 2006

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TALLAHASSEE: Outraged by conflicting autopsies of a black youth beaten by Bay County boot camp guards, black lawmakers Thursday accused law enforcement authorities there of conspiracy and demanded the immediate arrest of the medical examiner, the guards, the sheriff and others.

"We cannot let this just lie," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "We have to be vigilant. We're going to call for something every week. We're going to call for the firing of everyone until they're fired. We're not going to let this go."

The lawmakers said they plan to hold a series of events to draw attention to the issue and have joined with the NAACP to plan a massive rally in Panama City with national black leaders, including Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.

The 24-member black caucus sent a letter to Mark Ober, the state attorney appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to investigate the death of Martin Lee Anderson, asking him to issue immediate arrest warrants for all those involved, "including, but not limited to, the nurse, the guards, the coroner and the sheriff, in the conspiracy to kill this young man."

Wilson and Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, signed the letter.

The lawmakers said that if Ober does not respond, they plan to ask U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez to order the arrests. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tallahassee and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division also are investigating.

A surveillance video showed Bay County Sheriff's Office boot camp guards kneeing and punching Anderson after he collapsed during an exercise session on his first day at the camp, in January. The video also shows a nurse standing by without intervening. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement released the video after a judge's order.

The boot camp has since closed.

The Bay County medical examiner conducted an autopsy on Anderson's body and found that he died of complications from the sickle-cell anemia trait, carried by nearly 50 percent of blacks.

Anderson's body was exhumed at the request of his parents and a second autopsy was conducted this week by the Hillsborough County medical examiner.

A private medical examiner, who watched the second autopsy on behalf of the family, disputed the original autopsy's findings and said the teen died as a result of the treatment he received at the boot camp. The Hillsborough medical examiner has said it could take a month before the results of his autopsy are ready.

"We have a breakdown in our criminal justice system," said Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando. "On Jan. 5, 2006, there was a conspiracy to commit a murder, and after that there was a conspiracy to hide the murder."

Siplin said that Anderson's death should be prosecuted as a hate crime because the first autopsy linked his death to an illness associated with blacks.

A spokeswoman for Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen refused to comment about the lawmakers' call for his arrest.

"We can't comment on an ongoing investigation. They're free to say whatever they want," spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said.

Anderson's death has made international headlines, and Wilson, the Miami senator, said she has received media requests from as far away as London.

Also troubling, the lawmakers said, are reports by black residents of intimidation and harassment by Bay County law enforcement officials, who have elevated their presence in predominantly black neighborhoods of Milville and St. Andrews.

Panama City Police Department Capt. Tom McCarthy said his agency has not increased patrols there but has sent out extra cruisers at the request of residents. He said the department does not keep track of the race of a resident who makes such a request.

Friday night, a 22-year-old black man was shot several times inside his car by law enforcement officials during a joint undercover operation conducted by the Panama City department and the Bay County Sheriff's Office. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating that incident.

Sheriff to shut boot camp
The Bay County sheriff says he will cancel the camp's contract in 90 days: Its "integrity ... has been compromised."
CURTIS KRUEGER, LETITIA STEIN and ABBIE VANSICKLE, Published February 22, 2006

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A Panama City juvenile boot camp will be shut down and Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober will investigate the death of a teenager who had been beaten by guards at the camp.

In rapid-fire developments Tuesday, the treatment of another boy raised new questions about operations at the camp, and the medical examiner who concluded the teenager died of a blood disorder renewed his medical license, which expired last month.

Despite the controversy, Gov. Jeb Bush reaffirmed his support of Florida's five boot camps.

"I believe that boot camps are worth having," said Bush, who appointed Ober as special prosecutor. "We need to learn from this tragic case and make some standard, regulatory proposals to the Legislature."

Boot camps are military-style programs designed to shock juvenile delinquents into complying with the law and to teach them discipline, study skills and work habits. They require rigorous physical training such as pushups and running.

Several lawmakers want all the boot camps closed in light of a security video showing guards at the Bay County facility beating Martin Lee Anderson even as he gave little or no resistance.

Medical Examiner Charles Siebert concluded the teenager died of sickle cell trait, not from the beating. But even Bush questioned that conclusion.

"If he wasn't beat up, that undetected illness wouldn't have caused death," Bush said.

The governor appointed Ober to investigate the death. Bay County State Attorney Steve Meadows begged off because of his close ties to Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen.

Ober's investigation will include the autopsy, Bush said, "to take a look at that evidence and put some new eyes on it."

McKeithen operates the boot camp under contract with the state Department of Juvenile Justice. He has not spoken much about the tragedy, saying he wanted to wait for the investigation to conclude.

But Tuesday McKeithen announced he would cancel the boot camp contract with the state in 90 days. He declined comment, saying he would issue a written statement today.

"I believe the integrity of the boot camp in Bay County has been compromised, leaving the effectiveness of this program virtually paralyzed," he wrote to Anthony J. Schembri, who heads the Department of Juvenile Justice. He wrote that he decided to close the camp "after endless days of intense, thorough and careful consideration."

McKeithen, who said he has seen "some very positive results" from the boot camp, wrote that he wants to create a new juvenile program "which we have been working on for several months."

Bay County Commission Chairman Mike Nelson said he was happy with McKeithen's letter, which he read aloud at a commission meeting Tuesday. He said commissioners already had their doubts about the boot camp before Martin died because they were paying a fourth of its $2-million budget even though most of the youths were from other counties. Besides, he said, "how much success are they really having with it?"

The teenager's parents said it wasn't enough to close the boot camp. They still want authorities to acknowledge their role in the death of their 14-year-old son.

"Certainly, they feel regret that their son had to die to have changes come forth," said Benjamin Crump, the family's attorney. "Nobody has accepted responsibility."

Earlier Tuesday, another allegation of poor medical care at the Bay County boot camp surfaced.

Shauna Manning said her son, 14-year-old Aaron Swartz, suffered from asthma. But medical professionals at the boot camp refused to recognize his medical condition, she said.

She said her son described feeling dizzy after boot camp authorities forced ammonia pills in his face. He complained to his mother about physical punishments, including knee kicks and pressure point contact, similar to what the video show guards used on the teenager.

No parent would treat a 14-year-old child like that, Manning said.

"If we do this, we're going to jail for child abuse," she said.

After the teenager's death, Manning said the camp brought in a doctor who found her son's asthma prevented him from participating in the program. He was transferred to another juvenile facility.

When Siebert concluded Martin died of natural causes, he was practicing without a medical license. His license expired Jan. 31 and he did not renew it - until Tuesday.

He renewed it in person in Tallahassee, said Doc Kokol, spokesman for the Florida Department of Health. Siebert will be fined $385 for practicing without a license for a month.

First-time offenders like Siebert generally aren't disciplined further, Kokol said. Fewer than 3 percent of physicians whose licenses must be renewed fail to do so in an average year, Kokol said.

The teen's family is challenging his report, though they have not said how they will do so.

Options include filing a complaint with the state Medical Examiners Commission and asking an independent pathologist to review the files, photographs and slides that Siebert made during the autopsy. The family also could exhume the body for a new autopsy.

"We haven't ruled anything out," said Crump, the attorney.

The Medical Examiners Commission looks to see "if something was just blatantly overlooked, or somebody had drawn the wrong conclusions," said Stephen Nelson, commission chairman and Polk County's medical examiner.

Cynthia Lorenzo, a spokeswoman for the Department of Juvenile Justice, said boot camps are one of several programs used to rehabilitate "moderate risk" youths. The agency's own reviews, along with consultation with legislators, will help determine if "this is still a viable option."

© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Make DJJ do its job
Palm Beach Post Editorial, Friday, March 17, 2006

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If not for Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Peter Blanc appointing the Legal Aid Society's Juvenile Advocacy Project to investigate the juvenile detention center, 15-year-old J.C. might be wasting his sixth month in the center, with no dental care for a painful front-tooth cavity visible from 30 feet away, no counseling for his substance-abuse problem, none of the intensive mental-health services the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice said he needs and no effort to get that help before summer.

In opposing the court-ordered investigation, DJJ has shown disregard for the boys and girls being detained and for the judges charged with ensuring not just their proper treatment but the public's safety. The agency's opposition  and, especially, quick placement of J.C. and three other teens after the probe was ordered  prove the need for the investigation to continue.

Prior to Jan. 30, when attorney Frank Kreidler asked Judge Blanc to release J.C. from detention, citing "cruel and unusual punishment," DJJ was content to warehouse him and three other teens being represented by the Juvenile Advocacy attorneys, expecting eventual placement in an intensive mental health program by July. The allegations of "under-staffing, lack of timely medical care, lack of substance abuse treatment where recommended, lack of intensive counseling, confliction resolution training and behavior modification or therapy" and the "excessive delays" between J.C. being committed and getting treatment led Judge Blanc to seek more information "about the safety and well-being" of all the children being detained. But when Judge Blanc ordered DJJ to write a report about the child's needs and treatment options, DJJ dismissively referred the judge to a prior report and the agency's Web site.

Before a court hearing last week, DJJ placed the four teens in treatment centers. DJJ spokeswoman Cynthia Lorenzo denies that the four simply were given priority.

The agency had hoped that placement of the teens would make the investigation go away. Judge Blanc instead continued the probe  a necessary measure to help ensure that the remaining teens, including one who's been there 66 days and needs a bed in a high-risk facility, don't continue to be ignored.

If there must be an investigation, DJJ believes it would be "best that a neutral party" conduct it, Ms. Lorenzo said, not attorneys representing children at the center who have "a vested interest in the legal proceedings." In fact, DJJ has a vested interest in the well-being of the 91 teens at the center.

"Bottom line is we're all supposed to be doing the same thing here," Judge Blanc said, "trying to turn these kids around" so they don't grow into career criminals. That's a responsibility the state Department of Juvenile Justice either does not want or refuses to accept.

Martin County sheriff: Juvenile problems ignored over past decade
BRENT KALLESTAD, Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla: Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder challenged Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday to make juvenile justice a priority because budget requests have been caught in "dysfunctional" squabbling among state agencies.

Crowder has supervised a boot camp acknowledged as the most successful in Florida, but it's being closed because of lack of funding at a time lawmakers are trying to figure out how to spend a $3.2 billion surplus.

The three-tiered, yearlong program run in Martin County boasts the lowest recidivism rate in the state with almost 80 percent of the juveniles who complete the program staying away from further trouble with the law.

Florida has closed a number of its boot camps in recent years. One in Bay County is being closed after the January death of a 14-year-old who was kicked and punched by guards there.

But lawmakers don't want the Martin County facility closed. Members of the House Juvenile Justice Committee grilled officials from the Department of Juvenile Justice about why they would allow a successful program to fold.

"It seems DJJ has historically punished success," state Rep. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, said. "That's totally backwards."

"We're trying to find out where we need those dollars," said Chris Caballero, chief of staff to Juvenile Justice Secretary Anthony Schembri. "The problem that we have is that we have so many successful programs that say they're in need of dollars."

Bush, the sheriff said, could cut through the bureaucratic morass.

"As the governor, you don't delegate responsibility, you delegate authority," Crowder said. "Unfortunately for the governor the responsibility is on him and we'll do anything we can to work with him and help him to get the job done."

Bush's office did not immediately return a message for comment.

Crowder told lawmakers it would cost about $3.8 million to restore his program that began in 1994, saying the daily per diem figured to $115 for 90 slots in the program in addition to the hiring and training of trained staff.

"The fingers get pointed in that triangle, the Legislature, the governor and the Department of Juvenile Justice," Crowder said. "And that gets quite frustrating dealing with all that fingerpointing. I think it's a dysfunctional way of doing business up here, a real burden to all of us trying to do a job with juveniles."

Medical Examiner Defends Boot Camp Finding
By the Associated Press

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PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) -- A medical examiner who did the original autopsy on a 14-year-old who was punched and kicked by guards at a juvenile boot camp defended on Thursday his finding that the boy died of a blood disorder.

The youth, Martin Lee Anderson, was sent to the Bay County Sheriff's Office boot camp on Jan. 5 for a probation violation. A surveillance video showed guards kicking and punching him after he collapsed while exercising on his first day at the camp, and he died at a hospital early the next day.

The sheriff's office has said guards were trying to get Anderson to participate after he became uncooperative.

An initial autopsy, performed by Dr. Charles Siebert, determined that Anderson died a natural death from sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder.

A second autopsy was ordered after the teen's parents questioned Siebert's findings, and was conducted Monday by Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams.

It could take weeks for a cause of death to be determined. But Dr. Michael Baden, who observed the new autopsy on behalf of the teen's family, said it was clear Anderson did not die from sickle cell trait, or from any other natural causes.

Siebert, who also was present for the second autopsy, stood by his original finding.

"My conclusion, based on more than a decade of practice, is that the exertion from exercise triggered Mr. Anderson's sickle cell trait which caused Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC), resulting in hemorrhaging," Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner, said in a statement.

In Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation, small blood clots develop throughout the bloodstream and can cause severe bleeding.

Community Protests Death Of Boy In Boot Camp
Boy's Body Was Exhumed To Perform Second Autopsy
NAACP And Other Groups Involved In Protest

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(CBS4/AP) TAMPA The NAACP and other civil rights groups rallied outside the medical examiner's office Monday as a second autopsy was being conducted on the teenager who died after he was punched and kicked by guards at a juvenile boot camp.

Though results are not in yet, a whole community is outraged over the circumstances surrounding his death.

The body of Martin Lee Anderson, 14, was exhumed in Panama City Friday and brought to Tampa. The second autopsy was ordered after Anderson's parents questioned the findings of Bay County's medical examiner, who concluded that he died from complications of sickle cell trait, a usually benign blood disorder many blacks have.

Anderson died early Jan. 6 at a Pensacola hospital, hours after he collapsed after doing exercises on his first day at the camp. He was then struck, kicked and dragged to the ground by several guards during a half-hour ordeal that was recorded on video tape.

Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober is also investigating, but no charges have been filed. Ober's office said he would have no comment until the investigation is finished. The U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee and the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division also have opened an investigation into Anderson's death.

The autopsy by Dr. Venard Adams was expected to take until at least 6 p.m., State Attorney's Office spokeswoman Pam Bondi said. She would not comment on when results would be made public.

Famed New York coroner Dr. Michael Baden is observing the autopsy on behalf of Anderson's parents. Widely considered to be one of the nation's top forensic pathologists, Baden reviewed medical evidence in the slaying of Evers and Martin Luther King Jr., and worked for a congressional committee that reinvestigated the assassination of President Kennedy.

Members of the NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and others were among the two dozen or so demonstrators maintaining a vigil outside the medical examiner's office Monday morning in what they were calling a "Resurrection for Justice" rally.

"It's important that there is a statement that we are collectively coming together with this family against the state of Florida and what appears today to be a cover-up in regard to the death of this young man," said Sevell C. Brown III, state president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

"We wish we didn't have to be here,'"' said Adora Obi Nweze, president of the NAACP's Florida State Conference. "We have reason to doubt our state at this point."

The Sickle Cell Disease Association of American also weighed in, saying it's unlikely Anderson would have died from having sickle cell trait.

"Attributing the death of this young man to sickle cell trait given the physical punishment he was put through does a disservice to the public and those in the sickle cell disease community," said Dr. Willarda V. Edwards, president of the association.

Anderson entered the camp for a probation violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins were charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.

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