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<h1><b>Boot camp employees not guilty in boy's
death</b></h1><font size=3>
<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html" eudora="autourl">
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html</a>
<ul>
<li>Story Highlights
<li><b>NEW</b>: All-white jury deliberated just 90 minutes
<li>Boy's mother storms out of courtroom in tears
<li>Boot camp employees had been charged with manslaughter
<li>Defense said boy had an undiagnosed medical condition
</ul><br>
<b>PANAMA CITY, Florida (AP)</b> -- Seven former boot camp guards and a
nurse were acquitted Friday of manslaughter in the death of a 14-year-old
boy who was hit and kicked by the drill instructors in a videotaped
altercation.<br><br>
The video of a limp Martin Lee Anderson being hit and kicked by the
guards after he collapsed while exercising drew protests in the state
capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of boot camps for
juvenile offenders.<br><br>
Anderson died at a hospital the day after the altercation.<br><br>
The defendants, however, said they followed the rules at a get-tough
facility where
<a href="http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/juvenile_justice">young
offenders</a> often feigned illness to avoid exercise.<br><br>
Their attorneys said that Anderson died not from rough treatment, but
from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder.<br><br>
Former guard Henry McFadden later said he was relieved that the case was
over: "We were innocent all along. We knew this truth would come
out," he told Court TV.<br><br>
The boy's mother, Gina Jones, stormed out of the courtroom after the
verdict was read. "I cannot see my son no more. Everybody see their
family members. It's wrong," she said, distraught.<br><br>
Her lawyer, Benjamin Crump, told reporters outside: "You kill a dog,
you go to jail. You kill a little black boy and nothing
happens."<br><br>
Anderson's family had long sought a trial, claiming the state tried to
cover up the case, and repeatedly sat through the painful video as it
played during trial.<br><br>
The all-white jury took about 90 minutes to decide whether the guards
were responsible for the death of Anderson, who was black. The guards,
who are white, black and Asian, stood quietly as the judge read the
verdicts.<br><br>
The defendants would have faced up to 30 years in prison had they been
convicted of aggravated manslaughter of child. The jury could have
convicted them of lesser charges, including child neglect and culpable
negligence, but did not.<br><br>
Aside from hitting Anderson, the guards dragged him around the
military-style camp's exercise yard and forced him to inhale ammonia
capsules in what they said was an attempt to revive him. The nurse stood
by watching.<br><br>
Defense attorneys argued that the guards properly handled what they
thought was a juvenile offender faking illness to avoid exercising on his
first day in the camp. He was brought there for violating probation for
stealing his grandmother's car and trespassing at a school.<br><br>
The defense said Anderson's death was unavoidable because he had
undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a usually harmless blood disorder that can
hinder blood cells' ability to carry oxygen during physical
stress.<br><br>
Prosecutors said the eight defendants neglected the boy by neglecting his
medical needs after he collapsed while running laps. They said the
defendants suffocated Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing him to
inhale ammonia.<br><br>
"You may not hear anything coming out of that video sound-wise, but
that video is screaming to you in a loud, clear voice, it is telling you
that these defendants killed Martin Lee Anderson," prosecutor Scott
Harmon said in his closing argument.<br><br>
Anderson died January 6, 2006, when he was taken off life support, a day
after the altercation. The case quickly grew and shook up the state's
boot camp and law enforcement system amid the boy's family alleging a
cover-up.<br><br>
An initial autopsy by the medical examiner for Bay County found Anderson
died of natural causes from sickle cell trait. A second autopsy was
ordered and another doctor concluded that the guards suffocated Anderson
through their repeated use of ammonia capsules and by covering his
mouth.<br><br>
The death led to the resignation of Florida Department of Law Enforcement
chief Guy Tunnell, who established the camp when he was Bay County
sheriff.<br><br>
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush appointed Mark Ober, state attorney for Hillsborough
County, as special prosecutor in the case. Bush also scolded Tunnell for
exchanging e-mails with current Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, in
which he criticized those who questioned the effectiveness of the boot
camp concept. He also made light of the protesters in the state
capital.<br><br>
The Legislature agreed to pay Anderson's family $5 million earlier this
year to settle civil claims.<br><br>
Copyright 2007 The
<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html#AP">Associated
Press</a>. All rights reserved.This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<br><br>
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