| Meet Martin Lee
Anderson. Martin decided to take his Grandmothers car for a joy ride one
day after church, he didn't have her permission...Should this have meant
a sentence of death?
When Martin entered
the boot camp in Florida on January 5th, his first encounter was to have
his hair shaved off and to learn that he would no longer be considered
Martin, he would from the on be referred to as "Offender Anderson". "Drill
Instructors" are there as a constant reminder, with yelling, calling names
and degrading teenagers. These DIs slammed the teenagers against the wall
and used their thumbs to apply pressure in a painful way, to control the
teenagers. The camp was run with fear, pain and exercise.
Born January 15,
1991, Martin died on January 6, 2006, as a result of an unlikely form of
child abuse. For his crime, Martin was sentenced to spend time at a juvenile
detention center which
was run much like
a boot camp, in Panama City, Florida.
.
.
According to a witness,
Aaron Swartz, another teenager at the camp, during a routine exercise of
running 16 laps, doing sit ups and push ups, Martin began to stagger and
then fell. Charles Steven Enfinger, who is employed at the camp and has
been said to be one of the most violent employees there, went to Martin
and allegedly slammed him up against a wall. Henry Lincoln McFadden was
next to approach Martin and to begin screaming in his face.
The rest of the teenagers
finished their exercise and were told to sit down and keep their eyes
facing forward.
Aaron turned his glance sideways and could see what was going on, though
he
could hear some
things, he was not able to hear it all. Aaron heard what is called radio
code and knew it meant that applied what is known as a pressure point,
to Martin. Aaron never heard any response from Martin. One of the men watching
over the teenagers who were sitting down
laughed and stated
"Offender Anderson's going to have a long day". Aaron witnessed another
man, Cpl. Joseph Walsh work up a sweat from the struggle. During this incident,
which can be
seen on video, Charles
Enfinger struck Martin over and over on his arm. The nurse came over
and placed a pulse
reading on Martin's finger, Aaron says he heard it beeping quickly.
The tone of the drill
instructor FINALLY went from anger to concern and he said "Get the red
bag" which had ammonia sticks used to revive the teenagers in order to
make them continue with the routine exercises. According to a DDJ official,
using ammonia to revive the teenagers in a non- medical way, is against
their policy. The ammonia failed to revived Martin and an ambulance was
called to the scene.
Fifteen hours later,
Martin was pronounced dead. The mental health counselor, Ms Miki told the
other teenagers
it there was a medical reason for Martin's death, using the excuse that
athletes
die every day caused
by medical reasons.
"I don't think
that's true at all. Even if it was medical, when he passed out, if they
would
have set him
down and then gave him medical help right then, I think they could have
saved his life
and everything. But instead, they did all pressure pointing, slammed him,
beating up on him and everything. They killed that boy. They didn't help
him. They
beat him. The
stuff they did to him, they do to everybody everyday. I've never seen
somebody get
pressure pointed that many times at once, but it's pretty much like
that everyday"
Aaron Swartz
.
.
In the beginning, even
after the tape was reviewed and it was shown that Martin was beaten
and it was obviously
the cause of his death, it was thought that a sickle cell problem
had caused Martin's death. The first autopsy report said that Martin had
died due to complications from a sickle cell trait and that no signs of
death causing trauma or injury had been found.
Florida law says
that a body has to be examined in the district where the person died or
where the body was found, so a second autopsy was performed. At the request
of Martin's family, Michael Baden who is the New York State Police Coroner,
was there for the second autopsy. After 12 hours, Michael Baden confirmed
what had been known all along, Martin had NOT died of complications of
sickle cell or of natural causes. On May 6, 2006, the REAL cause of Martin's
death was revealed. Michael Baden said that the cause of Martin's death
was asphyxiation on ammonia fumes which was inhaled while guards held Martin's
mouth closed and put them under his nose. The fumes from the ammonia caused
a constriction in Martin's airway and this lead to asphyxiation and suffocation.
"The truth is
out, we all knew how Martin passed away so I am relieved and
happy today.
It's a beginning. Justice needs to be served."
Gina Jones
.
.
Martin's parents were
satisfied with the second autopsy report, though members of the Florida
Black Legislative
Caucus were angry that no arrests had been made.
"If the guards
caused his death, then they need to be arrested
immediately,
we can't accept that."
State Senator
Frederica A. Wilson
FDLE Commissioner,
Guy Tunnell who was the former Sheriff of Bay County was the one who
opened the boot
camp where Martin died. He sent e-mails to the current Sheriff, Frank
McKeithen with his
plans for his efforts to make sure no one saw the video tape of Martin
being
beaten. His efforts
proved to be pointless, the tape was released and viewed and show what
had happened to Martin. In April of 2006, Guy Tunnell resigned.
On July 12, 2006
Robert Anderson and Gina Jones filed a $40 million dollar wrongful death
lawsuit against
the Department Of Juvenile Justice and the Bay County Sheriffs Office.
Claiming that Martin's civil rights had been violated by both defendants,
they also said they had conspired to cover facts about the case. An offer
was made by the women to settle for $3 million dollars and that offer was
turned down by McKeithen who claimed that the settlement premature since
the investigation was not yet complete. Unfortunately, if the case is won,
the state has a damage cap of $200,000. Martin's life was worth much more
than that. Attorney General Charlie Crist has said that the settlement
of $3 million dollars would not be enough.
U.S. District Judge
Robert Hinkle set a trial date of April 16, 2007, at the same time he ruled
and dismissed the civil rights and conspiracy charges against the Department
of Juvenile Justice and the Bay County Sheriff's Office...they would not
be held responsible for punitive damages.
On November 28, 2006
seven guards and the nurse who took no action during the beating, were
arrested and charged with aggravated manslaughter. Their arraignment will
be held on January 18, 2007.
"Today is
a good day for me. I'm finally getting justice for my baby,''
Gina Jones
.
.
At the time of Martin's
death approximately 130 youths were incarcerated in state run boot
camps. In February,
Frank McKeithen decided to end his contract with the state to operate the
boot camp. In a
letter to the head of the Department Of Juvenile Justice, Anthony J. Schembri,
He said "I believe
the integrity of the boot camp in Bay County has been compromised, leaving
the effectiveness of this program virtually paralyzed." I have to wonder
if he thinks someone who
was murdered by
the drill instructors and a nurse is responsible, or the murderers themselves.
He did have the decency to ban ammonia capsules at the Panama City boot
camp. In my own opinion, this is not enough and not fast enough. At this
same time the DJJ made some changes
and has ordered
that punishments such as kicking, punching and wall slamming are no longer
allowed. Nurses
have been instructed to call 911 at the first sign of trouble. Again, not
enough and not soon enough. At least it won't happen to any other teenagers,
or at least we can hope.
In April 2006 the
Florida legislature voted to close the five boot camps in the state. A
different,
less military related
program which does not allow physical punishment against the juveniles
took it's place. The new facility is called STAR. The bill that enacted
the STAR program was renamed the "Martin Lee Anderson Act" by the legislature
and was signed into law by Governer Jeb Bush
on June 1, 2006.
UPDATE:
SHOCKINGLY,
the headlines on October 12, 2007 read:
"Jury Acquits
Eight in Boot Camp Death"
What kind of people
does it take to set eight people free, who obviously played a very real
part
in the death of
a teenage boy?
Coming out of the
courtroom, Gina Jones, Martins' mother who was visibly upset said....
"I cannot see
my son no more. Everybody see their family members. It's wrong,".
Benjamin Crump, the
family attorney talked to reporters and said...
"You kill a dog,
you go to jail. You kill a little black boy and nothing happens."
The jury took ONLY
90 minutes to decide if the eight people responsible for the death of Martin
Anderson would spend
up to 30 years in prison for aggravated manslaughter of a child. Among
the charges they
COULD have found them guilty of were child abuse and culpable negligence.
This jury chose,
instead, to let them all go free. Clearly the least of what they should
have found
them guilty of,
was child abuse. It is NOT acceptable to hit or kick a child. If any parent
did this in
their home, they
would be charged with child abuse and the child could be taken away from
them.
Prosecutor Scott
Harmon had this to say:
"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,"
On March 27, 2007,
Martin Anderson's family was awarded 2.43 million dollars in a wrongful
death suit. On May
2, 2007 The legislature passed a claims bill to pay Martin Anderson's family
$5 million dollars.
On May 23, 2007 Governer Charlie Crist signed the $5 million dollar claim
bill for Martin
Anderson's family. Is there any amount of money that is going to make up
for the
death of this child,
is there any amount of money that is going to lesson the pain his family
is
going through and
now the slap in the face that the jury has given them by finding these
people
not guilty? Is there
any amount of money that will bring them back their son?
If it were one of
their children of the people responsible for the death of Martin Anderson,
or one of the children of the any jury member, they would probably feel
different. Shame on them all for
allowing this happen
with no punishment to those who did it.
Links to other sites
about Martin Lee Anderson
Justice
For Martin
A
Life Cut Short
|
