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Pursue Justice, Not Histrionics

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2007

It's understandable that many people are upset with the acquittals in the boot-camp death of Martin Lee Anderson. But it's dismaying to see the tragedy used to enflame racial tensions, especially since this case had already been complicated - and possibly undermined - by political grandstanding.

After the verdicts were reached, Chuck Hobbs, legal counsel for the Florida division of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said, 'It's just that the life of a Martin Lee Anderson isn't worth the same as a Carlie Brucia, or a Jessica Lunsford.'

The comparison is not appropriate. Those young girls were abducted and murdered. The 14-year-old Anderson had been assigned to the Panama City boot camp for violating probation.

Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat, was similarly intemperate when she told a Tallahassee rally that it's 'open season on black children in Florida from this day forth.'

Two of the seven drill instructors charged with manslaughter in Anderson's death were black. So race does not appear to have been a factor.

This does not mean everyone should be pleased by the verdicts.

Anderson died after being pummeled by guards, so the outrage was understandable when the Bay County medical examiner ruled that Anderson died from internal bleeding caused by sickle-cell trait, a usually harmless genetic disorder.

Gov. Jeb Bush assigned Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober to review the death, but the governor and Anderson's family openly pushed Ober for quick results. To his credit, Ober ignored the pressure and conducted a seven-month investigation before charging the seven guards and a nurse with manslaughter.

Still, the case was hardly ironclad.
Defense attorneys were able to offer testimony from other medical experts that sickle cell was the cause of death, casting a shadow of doubt. They also highlighted the pressure the governor put on prosecutors.

Now the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida has announced plans to review the evidence and determine if Anderson's civil rights were violated.

If the office determines, as Ober did, that a valid case exists, it should proceed. But the exaggerated claims of Hobbs, Wilson and others will do nothing to advance the pursuit of justice.

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