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Ex-Boot Camp Guard Sues For Due Process

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By MELISSA NELSON The Associated Press

Published: February 2, 2008

PENSACOLA - A former juvenile boot camp guard exonerated by a jury in the beating death of a Panama City, Fla., teenager sued the Bay County Sheriff's Office on Friday claiming his due process rights were violated when he was fired.

Charles Helms Jr. is seeking a court order for the sheriff's office to give him proper notice of the allegations against him and an opportunity to respond, said his lawyer, Danielle Joyner Kelley. She said he is not seeking reinstatement at this time. The lawsuit was filed in state Circuit Court in Panama City.

Helms, 53, was among seven former guards and a nurse at the sheriff's office-run boot camp who were acquitted by an all-white jury in October for the 2006 death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. A video showed the guards slamming the black teen on the ground and dragging his limp body around an exercise yard. The nurse watched and did nothing during most of the 30-minute episode.
Jurors agreed with defense attorneys that the teen died of complications from sickle cell trait, a previously undiagnosed blood disorder.

Unlike the other employees, Helms was a sheriff's office lieutenant and had the authority of a law enforcement officer. The status should have entitled him to an administrative hearing, Joyner Kelley said.

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