TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Potential Jurors Questioned For Boot Camp Death Trial

ADVERTISEMENT

By MELISSA NELSON, The Associated Press

Published: September 25, 2007

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Chanting demonstrators carried photographs of a dead 14-year-old as jury selection began Monday for the manslaughter trial of seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse who are charged in his death.

Martin Lee Anderson died in January 2006 after being taken to a hospital from the now-closed Bay County Juvenile Boot Camp.

He had been sent to the camp for a probation violation and became lethargic during a physical fitness test shortly after arriving. An exercise yard videotape shows seven guards repeatedly hitting the boy with their fists and knees. The camp nurse is accused of watching but doing nothing during most of the 30-minute encounter.

Anderson was black; both white and black guards hit him.

By Monday evening, 82 potential jurors of about 160 questioned had been approved for additional screening; nearly all of those questioned said they saw part of the video on television. They were not automatically dismissed if they had seen the video; some were dismissed for knowing guards or Anderson's family.

Anderson's parents declined to answer questions from The Associated Press during a brief break in questioning.

More than 1,400 Bay County residents were summoned for jury selection, being held in a makeshift courtroom in a civic center to accommodate the crowd. That is one of every 90 adults in the Panhandle county.

The large number is needed because the case has gotten so much media attention. If an impartial panel can't be found, the trial will be moved to another Florida county.

Defense attorney Waylon Graham said he expected to have a jury pool by tonight.

'You are talking about something that has been on TV constantly and on the radio constantly and the governor has meddled in this thing almost from the beginning, but I don't think it will get moved,' said Graham, who represents Charles Helms Jr., the ranking camp guard on duty the day Anderson entered the camp.

Prosecutors have declined to discuss the case.

Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet said more than 400 people were summoned to appear for screening as potential jurors in the case Monday and another large group were summoned for today and Wednesday. Overstreet said he likely would begin additional questioning when he has an initial juror pool of about 150.

About 20 demonstrators stood outside the civic center and carried large posters showing Anderson and bearing slogans such as 'Justice 4 Martin.'

Their chants of 'What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now,' could be heard in the second-floor courtroom.

The original autopsy on Anderson, conducted by the Bay County medical examiner, attributed his death to natural complications of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder.

After an outcry from Anderson's family and the public, his body was exhumed and a second autopsy by another examiner found he had suffocated.

The defense will lean heavily on the first autopsy, saying it shows the guards and nurses were not to blame.

Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to prosecute the case, citing a potential conflict of interest for local prosecutors. His team will say that the second autopsy combined with the video shows that Anderson was killed.

The Florida Legislature dismantled the state's military-style youth boot camps after Anderson's death. The case also led to the resignation of the chief of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The Legislature agreed to pay Anderson's family $5 million this year to settle civil claims in the case.

Several potential jurors questioned the settlement.

'I just think it was out of sequence as to what was supposed to happen,' said one potential juror, an older white man.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT