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Prosecution Starts With Infamous Video

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2007

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Hillsborough County prosecutors pulled out their best evidence for a Panama City jury Wednesday morning - a videotape showing boot camp drill instructors pushing a 14-year-old boy to the ground and striking him repeatedly.

Hours after the incident, Martin Lee Anderson died in the early hours of Jan. 6, 2006, at a Pensacola hospital.

'Watch the hammer strike, the knee strikes,' Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi told the jurors as they watched portions of the tape. 'Do they give him ability to rest? Do they give him water? No, what they do next is to take him down to the ground and force his head in the sand.'

Opening statements began Wednesday in the trial of seven former guards and a nurse charged in the death of Anderson at the now-closed Bay County Sheriff's Office Juvenile Boot Camp. The jury will have to determine whether the guards' aggressive tactics caused Anderson's death or if he died from a blood disorder that is normally harmless. If the guards and nurse are convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child, they face up to 30 years in prison.

Weeks after Anderson's death, the Bay County medical examiner determined Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a benign genetic condition common in blacks. In rare cases of extreme exhaustion, Medical Examiner Charles Siebert has said, the condition can manifest as a debilitating disease, killing quickly.

The day after Siebert's ruling, the video was released, immediately calling into question the autopsy results.

To avoid a conflict of interest, the Bay County state attorney stepped aside. Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County prosecutors to take over the investigation.

A second autopsy, conducted by Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams, determined that Anderson suffocated when drill instructors repeatedly put ammonia capsules in his nose and held their hands over his mouth.

Anderson's blood, taken in the ambulance, showed no signs of sickling, Adams determined. This, doctors have said, proves that Anderson did not die of sickle cell trait.

The first medical examiner did not inspect these blood samples.

After a yearlong investigation, the guards and nurse were charged.

Media, lawyers, family members and friends converged on a Bay County courthouse Wednesday. Across the street, about 100 yards away, an empty building sits behind a tall chain-link fence topped with barbed wire: the now-defunct boot camp where Anderson died.

Attorneys Cite Hidden Illness

Seven of the eight defense attorneys gave opening statements Wednesday. One decided not to give a statement right away. All of the lawyers who spoke said the drill instructors could not have known that Anderson had an illness. He died of sickle cell collapse, they said. It's a rare condition in which people with sickle cell trait suddenly develop bad blood cells that cannot properly carry oxygen through the blood.

Bob Sombathy, who represents drill instructor Patrick Garrett, said the sudden death is real and several medical experts will discuss it at trial.

Benjamin Crump, a private attorney representing Anderson's parents, Gina Jones and Robert Anderson, was angered at the suggestion that sickle cell trait can kill.

As many as 25 percent of blacks have the trait, he told The Tampa Tribune, meaning they have part of the gene necessary for sickle cell disease, a lifelong genetic condition. If those with sickle cell trait can suddenly die, he said facetiously, blacks need to be warned to take it easy.

'Tell everyone with sickle cell trait not to go running tonight,' Crump said. 'They're going to die.'

Crump said that Anderson's family is worried they will not see a fair trial. Blacks, he said, understand sickle cell trait. There are no blacks on the jury.

Wednesday's witnesses included an emergency room doctor, a paramedic and a hospital nurse. As this week and next week progress, the witnesses should include the two medical examiners and their differing opinions.

'The Hillsborough Prosecutors'

After Wednesday's opening statements, the attorneys seemed more intent on setting up their arguments than offering damning testimony. The prosecution asked medical professionals about the use of ammonia. Most said they gently hold ammonia capsules under the noses of patients. If they get a response, they don't have to keep using the ammonia.

Defense attorneys, however, pointed out that none of the medical professionals ever had heard of anyone injured by ammonia capsules. They kept their questions to discussions of sickle cell trait.

One defense tactic is more subtle than the videotape and the witnesses. The defense attorneys repeatedly pointed out that the prosecutors are outsiders.

They referred to them as 'the Hillsborough County prosecutors.'

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

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