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Boot Camp Trial Heads To Jury

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By THOMAS W. KRAUSE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 12, 2007

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PANAMA CITY - After six days of testimony, prosecutors on Thursday relied on the same piece of evidence they began with: a video of seven drill instructors and a nurse apparently manhandling a youth in a state-run boot camp.

To end the defense's case, though, one of eight attorneys for those accused of manslaughter had a video of his own.

Attorney Hoot Crawford played it for the jury. It did not show scenes from the boot camp but scenes from the trial.

On courtroom screens, one after another, the prosecution's own witnesses backed up the defense's arguments.

Among the key points:

• One of the state's experts says that sickle cell probably 'started this train of events,' and if the teen did not have sickle cell trait, he probably would have survived.

• The state's medical examiner, Vernard Adams, acknowledges that he saw sickling in every major organ in the 14-year-old boy's body.

• Adams says his interpretation of the video led him to decide suffocation was the cause of death, but he acknowledges the medical evidence alone supports sickle cell exertion or suffocation as causes of death.

On Jan. 5, 2006, Martin Lee Anderson arrived at a Panama City boot camp. After processing, he started push-ups, sit-ups and a 1.5-mile run. In the surveillance video, he's seen falling slowly to the ground.

The video shows drill instructors working for 30 minutes with strikes to Anderson's forearm and ammonia capsules under his nose. The camp nurse looks on, occasionally checking Anderson's vital signs.

Eventually, they call 911.

Anderson died at a Pensacola hospital the next morning.

The Bay County medical examiner determined Anderson died from complications of sickle cell trait, a typically benign genetic disorder common in blacks.

The day after his ruling, the video was released. Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to investigate.

Charges Follow 2nd Autopsy

After a second autopsy and a yearlong investigation, the drill instructors and nurse were charged with aggravated manslaughter on a child. With the conclusion of Thursday's closing arguments, the jury begins deliberations today. If the defendants are found guilty, each could be sentenced to 30 years.

Throughout the trial, the defense focused heavily on the idea that the drill instructors had no way to know Anderson had a genetic ailment or that the ailment could be dangerous. They said they treated Anderson as they would have any other youth resisting the program.

At first, they said, they thought Anderson was faking, as was common at the now-closed boot camp. When they failed to revive him, they called for help.

Prosecutors on Thursday, however, focused their closing arguments on one main concept. They repeated several times that the drill instructors were not interested in helping Anderson and they were not interested in seeing whether he needed medical attention.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Sinacore said all the drill instructors' actions were intended to get Anderson to do what they wanted him to do: finish the run.

'Anybody, drill instructor or otherwise, can tell you that they did what you should not do,' Sinacore said, arguing they restricted the boy's airway while overusing the ammonia.

Defense Argues Back

One by one, the eight attorneys for the drill instructors and the nurse stood up to refute prosecution arguments.

Defense attorney Robert Sombathy recalled the testimony of a doctor who said an athlete at Rice University died of sickle cell trait exertion in the same time frame that Anderson died. It is not fair, Sombathy said, to hold the drill instructors to a standard that says they had to know what was happening to Anderson.

Defense attorney James White Jr. said the governor jumped into the case because he did not like the first medical examiner's conclusion.

Defense attorney Waylon Graham said misinformation has abounded since the beginning. Initial reports said this was a racial beating. At trial, he said, we know that two of the drill instructors are black and not one witness described their actions as a beating.

The state ended its case the way it began, with a prosecutor playing the surveillance video for the jury.

As the video showed drill instructors take Anderson to the ground, Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon asked the jury to remember.

'This video is the truth in this case,' he said. 'It can't be out-argued. It can't be cross-examined. No one exerted political pressure on that video.'

Keyword: Boot Camp, to read the court blog of reporter Thomas W. Krause.

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