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Medical Examiner Keeps Post

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 20, 2007

The current Bay County medical examiner will be appointed as the interim medical examiner while a committee searches for his replacement, the Bay County state attorney announced Tuesday.

The announcement came a week after the state Medical Examiners Commission voted unanimously for Charles Siebert's ouster.

The commission questioned Siebert's thoroughness, honesty and integrity. It found that Siebert was negligent in the autopsy of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson, who died after a confrontation with authorities at a state-run boot camp in the Panhandle. Siebert has maintained he did nothing wrong.

Siebert's term as medical examiner expires at the end of the month. The Medical Examiners Commission refused to recommend him for another term.

On Tuesday, Bay County State Attorney Steve Meadows held a news conference and released a statement saying that he had no reason to doubt Siebert's abilities and that he will keep his job until the governor appoints a permanent replacement. The search committee, which Meadows will lead, must present nominations for Siebert's replacement by Sept. 28.

'I have every confidence that Dr. Siebert will continue to provide the service that our citizens deserve during this interim term,' Meadows said in the statement. 'Politics should play no role in deciding who occupies the medical examiner's office.'

After the Medical Examiners Commission vote, Siebert was given the option to step down or ask for a formal hearing.

Last week, Siebert told The Tampa Tribune he had no reason to ask for a hearing if he were not appointed as interim medical examiner. He would be out of a job before one could be scheduled.

If he were appointed as the interim medical examiner, he said last week, he would certainly ask for the hearing.

Siebert's autopsy of Anderson states that the teen died of natural causes, complications of sickle cell trait, not from physical punishment by boot camp guards. A videotape of Anderson's punishment shows several guards holding him down while others struck him.

Public outcry from Siebert's autopsy report led the governor to pull the case from Bay County authorities. Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober is in charge of the case. After a second autopsy, which determined Anderson died of suffocation after guards stuck ammonia capsules up his nostrils, seven guards and a nurse were arrested and charged in Anderson's death. Their cases are pending.

Reporter Thomas W. Krause can be reached at (813) 259-7698 or tkrause@tampatrib.com.

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