A travesty of justice in Bay County, Florida.
At 6:30 in the morning on June 5, 2006, Martin Lee Anderson is admitted to boot camp.
At 9:06 am the use of force begins.
At 9:45 am the paramedics take Martin Lee Anderson
At 1:00 pm he was transported by air to Pensacola to the hospital where he died the next day.
The guards who beat him were just acquitted as was the nurse who stood by.
Guards acquitted in boot camp caseMartin Lee Anderson died a day after being hit and kicked by Dickens and six other guards as a nurse watched, a 30-minute confrontation that drew protests in the state capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of juvenile boot camps.
"I am truly, truly sorry this happened. Myself, I love kids," said Dickens, 60. He added that Anderson "wasn't beaten. Those techniques were taught to us and used for a purpose."
I have no idea how Mr. Dickens could say such a thing with a straight face.
The boot camp nurse, Kristin Schmidt, said she was only doing her job.
Boot Camp Nurse: It's Not Her Job to Interfere....shocking statementsPANAMA CITY | A juvenile boot camp nurse charged with killing a 14-year-old boy testified Tuesday that her job did not routinely require her to interfere with the actions of the guards.
Kristin Schmidt said she was only to interfere with the guards, "If I saw something that would cause an injury."
...."Ashley Benedik, Schmidt's lawyer, asked whether Schmidt was accustomed to youth pretending to be unable run laps and do other exercise. Schmidt said that was common in her 11 years at the camp.
"Being a rag doll, cannot breathe, 'I have another kind of illness,' there was at least one on every intake day," she said.
She was found innocent as well as the guards. I imagine she will always be remembering that day.
Remember the medical examiner who said the cause of death was sickle cell anemia? During the trial he was saying the medical community was coming around to his way of thinking. It is almost as if he were right. The verdict of the second examiner appears not to have mattered so much.
Medical examiner who blamed boot camp death on anemia...says medical community giving support.Siebert was rehired in Bay County after his dismissal, and given a safe haven there.
Siebert, 45, who is appealing his dismissal, says he has backers in more vital corners: the medical community. Experts have come to his defense, calling the sickle cell trait finding credible.
"I'm actually looking forward to the trial," Siebert said in an interview at his office on a recent afternoon. "It's going to be the first time that all the truth comes out."
More at the link about Siebert's other faulty diagnoses.
Not surprisingly, there was an all white jury. In fact I remember reading that the six who determined the verdict were kept secret during the determination. Don't know if they were revealed now.
Boot Camp Death Trial Starts...all white jury.PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — Protesters say they doubt an all-white jury will be impartial in the trial of seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse charged in the death of 14-year-old inmate. Opening statements were to begin Wednesday, and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP said it would demonstrate outside the courthouse over the jury makeup and the decision to hold the trial in Bay County.
"Collectively, these concerted actions by both the State Attorney and the Defense provide a stage for acquittal," NAACP spokeswoman Beverlye Colson Neal said in a statement.
The world saw the video, there can be no denying what happened.
There must be a sadness in Bay County, Florida, tonight. I don't think there is any way that a verdict like that can be swallowed as believable, honest, or ethical.
