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Students Put Off Boot Camp Verdict March

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By BRENT KALLESTAD, The Associated Press

Published: October 18, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - Federal authorities reached a temporary truce Wednesday with college students threatening a march on the Capitol next week to protest the acquittal of seven boot camp guards and a nurse in the death of a teenage boy under their supervision.
Justice Department officials assured protest organizers they were continuing their investigation into possible civil rights violations by the guards and nurse.

'It was a very productive meeting,' said Cendino Teme, spokesman for a coalition of students from Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College. 'I am confident in the individuals we spoke with. That they will try to pursue some types of civil rights violations.'

Students from the three schools briefly blocked traffic during rush hour Friday in downtown Tallahassee, a few hours after the all-white jury in Panama City delivered its verdict.

Teme, a 26-year-old Florida State graduate student from Miami, said it was too early to plan further protests.

Teme was one of nine black leaders who spent about 90 minutes with Tom Kerwin, the chief assistant U.S. attorney for Florida's Northern District, and Karen Rhew, the chief of the criminal section in the office. A Justice Department official from Washington also attended.

Kerwin would not talk about the meeting, but said a written statement would be issued. No statement, however, was available immediately. Gregory Miller, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District, was out of town.

Martin Lee Anderson, who was black, died in January 2006, a day after being hit and kicked by the guards as the nurse watched at the boot camp in Panama City. Prosecutors argued the videotaped altercation caused his death and tried the eight defendants on manslaughter and other charges in Panama City, where the defendants lived.
Defense attorneys argued the staff's tactics were acceptable in the boot camp system and that Anderson died from an undiagnosed medical condition.

After Anderson's death, the Legislature dismantled the military-style youth boot camps and the chief of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement resigned. The Legislature also agreed to pay Anderson's family $5 million to settle civil claims.

Associated Press writer Melissa Nelson in Pensacola contributed to this report.

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