Article
The Skinny: Inquiry Into Boot Camps For Trouble Teens Finds Many Abuses, GAO Report Says
By Keach Heagy
October 10, 2007
For years, people have complained about abuses at so-called boot camps and other wilderness programs where frustrated parents send their troubled teens to get straightened out.
Today, USA Today gets a sneak peak at the findings from the first federal inquiry into the programs, and the results reveal a lot of tough love -- minus the love.
The Government Accountability Office cataloged 1,619 incidents of abuse in 33 states in 2005, according to a study to be released later today. It also looked at a sample of 10 deaths since 1990 and found untrained staff, inadequate food or reckless operations were factors. In half of those cases, the teens died of dehydration or heat exhaustion.
"This nightmare has remained an open secret for years," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif, who has designed a bill to encourage states to enact regulations. "Congress must act, and it must act swiftly."
Investigators counted thousands of cases of abuse, using Web sites and news reports. Five of the 10 programs where teens died are still operating.
The GAO didn't release names, but USA Today pieced together a few of the cases from news reports.
In one particularly haunting case, Anthony Haynes, 14, died in 2001 while at American Buffalo Soldiers boot camp in Arizona. Children there were fed an apple for breakfast, a carrot for lunch and a bowl of beans for dinner.
Haynes became dehydrated in 113-degree heat and vomited up dirt, according to witnesses. The program closed, and the director, Charles Long, was sentenced in 2005 to six years in prison for manslaughter.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Boot Camp Trial Examines Cause Of Death
CBS NEWS
Article
Examiner Who Performed first Autopsy Testifies Sickle Cell Trait Caused Teen's Death
October 10, 2007
(CBS/AP) The medical examiner who performed the first autopsy on a 14-year-old boy who died at a Florida juvenile boot camp testified Wednesday in the manslaughter trial of seven guards and a nurse that he found no signs of serious injury or trauma.
Martin Lee Anderson's cause of death was from internal hemorrhaging brought on from sickle cell trait, a previously undiagnosed blood disorder that can limit cells from carrying oxygen during physical stress, Dr. Charles Siebert testified.
Prosecutors say the guards suffocated Anderson during a beating by covering his mouth, making him inhale ammonia and failing to respond to his medical distress.
Earlier, Judge Michael Overstreet told the boy's father, Robert Anderson, to leave the courtroom, saying he was making noise. Anderson said during a lunch break he did not make any noises in court and blamed the disruption on a text message he said defense attorneys sent to someone seated near him.
Earlier Wednesday, the boy's mother, Gina Jones, sobbed loudly and briefly left the courtroom, saying "I cannot take it" as a guard described striking the teen's arm in a videotaped altercation. She declined to speak to reporters outside court.
The parents have repeatedly watched a video of the guards hitting and kneeing the limp, unresponsive boy.
The teen's death in 2006 and the 30-minute beating led Florida lawmakers to order that all such camps be shut down.
Guard Charles Enfinger described Wednesday the repeated hammer blows he delivered to Anderson's arm after the teen collapsed while running laps. Enfinger said that he and others were trying to "motivate" the boy.
Attorney Robert Sombathy asked Siebert whether "knee strikes, arm-bar takedowns, pressure points, ammonia capsules or yelling in loud voices," led to Anderson's death.
"No it did not," Siebert said.
Although it seemed "counterintuitive" the strikes were actually arousing Anderson and "probably keeping him alive," Siebert said.
Two medical experts, including one who performed a second autopsy after Anderson's body was exhumed as part of the investigation into his death, testified for the prosecution earlier in the trial that they believed the guards actions did contribute to Anderson's death.
One doctor said the Anderson died from a combination of his blood cells sickeling and from a lack of oxygen caused by the guards. A second doctor said the guards' clamping their hands over Anderson's mouth and depriving him of oxygen would have killed him without the underlying sickle cell trait.
Guard Henry McFadden testified that Anderson asked to be taken to a hospital during the 30-minute ordeal and told the guards he could not breathe or see. But he and other guards have said they thought the boy was faking his problems.
Also Wednesday, guard Joseph Walsh II testified that he noticed Anderson on the boy's first day at the camp because he used profanity.
"There is no profanity at the boot camp," Walsh said. "They are instructed not to speak without permission to speak."
Walsh said that began the chain of events, which ended when Anderson was carried off by paramedics on a stretcher.
When Anderson's body went limp, Walsh said, he suspected Anderson of feigning illness because that was something common among the youths in the camp.
"Had you seen this before in the boot camp? Was this a common tactic in the boot camp, to go completely limp like a rag doll," asked Robert Pell, Walsh's attorney.
Walsh said it was.
Walsh also said he threw the ammonia capsules he used on Anderson over the camp fence because they had the teen's saliva on them and he did not want to put them in his pocket.
The guards and nurse face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
This case has spurred action from a House panel that begin looking into charges of child abuse and neglect at residential treatment facilities.
Testimony is expected from parents whose children have died in boot-camp programs. The lawmakers will consider whether the privately run facilities should fall under federal regulation.
Monday, October 8, 2007
2nd Doctor Testifies About Teen's Death
Article
Associated Press
By MELISSA NELSON
October 5, 2007
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) — The medical examiner who performed a second autopsy on a teen who died after a boot-camp altercation defended his findings on the witness stand Friday and said it didn't take a doctor to figure out the boy did not die of natural causes.
Dr. Vernard Adams, Hillsborough County's medical examiner, testified in the manslaughter trial of seven boot camp guards and a nurse charged with killing Martin Lee Anderson. The 14-year-old died a day after guards hit him in a 30-minute videotaped altercation at the Bay County sheriff's boot camp.
The first autopsy found that Anderson died after exercise brought on complications from sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder. Set against videotape of the guards repeatedly hitting the unresponsive boy, the finding outraged civil-rights activists and helped generate protests at the state Capitol.
In his autopsy and on the stand Friday, Adams said the guards suffocated Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale ammonia fumes. He said sickle cell trait aggravated the problems Anderson was experiencing, but that he would have died even without the disorder.
"My opinion is there is enough suffocation going on here to kill anybody," Adams said.
Aside from the autopsy and an examination of Anderson's medical records, Adams said he spent hours watching an enhanced video of the altercation before determining the boy did not die from natural causes.
"It does not require a medical person to determine this. The video clearly shows his airway was obstructed by an external agency," Adams said.
Waylon Graham, attorney for guard Charles Helms, asked Adams whether he felt pressure to come to a different conclusion than the one reached by Dr. Charles Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner who did the initial autopsy.
Graham went over the vilification of Siebert by civil-rights groups, pressure from then-Gov. Jeb Bush — who appointed a special prosecutor in the case — and protesters marching in front of Adams' office, among other factors.
Here "you are a well-respected medical examiner and it is all coming down to this pinnacle, it is all focusing on you like a laser beam," Graham said in cross-examination of Adams.
Adams said he did not tailor his findings to satisfy the demands of anyone, including Bush, the NAACP or the special prosecutor, Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober.
Adams said he felt he would be criticized regardless of his findings and that he wouldn't wish the type of scrutiny experienced by Siebert on anyone.
"That's why I took my time (with the second autopsy)," he said.
Graham also suggested Adams was pressured by nationally known pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, who consulted on the case on behalf of Anderson's family. He observed the second autopsy and said Anderson likely was suffocated during the confrontation.
Adams said he allowed Baden only to observe the 12-hour autopsy, and that Baden's fame did not influence his findings.
Defense attorneys have argued Anderson's death was unavoidable once he collapsed while running laps at the camp's exercise yard. They say sickle cell trait was the only cause.
The trait is a usually benign disorder generally found in one in eight African-Americans. It can cause blood cells to shrivel into a sickle shape and limit their ability to carry oxygen under stress.
Graham asked Adams whether his testimony contradicted that of Dr. Thomas Andrew, New Hampshire's chief medical examiner. He told jurors a day earlier that the death was caused by a chain of events that triggered the blood disorder's complications.
Adams said he differed from Andrew's findings "not very much."
"What I said was it was reasonably possible that sickle cell trait contributed to his death," Adams said.
Second autopsy scrutinized in third day of boot camp trial
Article
October 5, 2007
By David Angier
The News Herald
PANAMA CITY
The medical examiner who performed the second autopsy on Martin Lee Anderson’s body said today that his opinion as to the cause of death was a historical first because the situation surrounding Anderson’s death was one-of-a-kind.
Tampa Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said sickle cell trait played no — or little — role in Anderson’s death. His opinion conflicts with two state experts who testified Thursday that Anderson would have lived through his encounter with boot camp drill instructors if he did not have the hereditary blood disorder.
“What you see in the videotape,” Adams said, referring to a recording of the encounter between Anderson and the drill instructors on Jan. 5, 2006, “is sufficient to kill someone without sickle cell trait.”
Adams said his 12-hour second autopsy of Anderson’s body was not as informational as the videotape. The autopsy was mainly to rule out other potential causes of death and his opinion was not bolstered by anything he discovered in the examination.
“The actions of the guards, especially at the end of the tape, caused his death,” Adams said.
“Are you saying they smothered this young man to death?” defense attorney Waylon Graham asked him.
“Yes,” Adams replied.
Former boot camp drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh II, along with former camp nurse Kristin Schmidt, face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and 30 years in prison each if convicted as charged.
They’re accused of culpable negligence in 14-year-old Anderson’s death. Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, after collapsing during his initiation into the camp.
The trial, held inside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse on 11th Street, began
Wednesday and is expected to end Oct. 12 or 13. Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Defense attorney Bob Sombathy said deaths from exertional sickle cell trait collapse are rare, but the number of recorded deaths by spasms caused by smelling salts is “one” — Anderson’s.
“This boot camp was the only place in the world where ammonia capsules were used in this way,” Adams said. “So where else could such a death occur?”
“So if your interpretation of the video is wrong, then your cause of death is wrong,” Sombathy said.
“Yes,” Adams said.
Graham asked Adams about the pressure he was under to come up with an alternative opinion than the highly criticized one offered by Panama City Medical Examiner Charles Siebert Jr.
Adams said he was aware of the way Siebert was “vilified” and said, “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
Adams said he was not motivated or pressured into a finding that would keep him from being criticized. He said he expected criticism and objected to Graham’s term “safe opinion.”
“No matter what I opined, I would be criticized from one quarter or another,” he said.
October 5, 2007
By David Angier
The News Herald
PANAMA CITY
The medical examiner who performed the second autopsy on Martin Lee Anderson’s body said today that his opinion as to the cause of death was a historical first because the situation surrounding Anderson’s death was one-of-a-kind.
Tampa Medical Examiner Vernard Adams said sickle cell trait played no — or little — role in Anderson’s death. His opinion conflicts with two state experts who testified Thursday that Anderson would have lived through his encounter with boot camp drill instructors if he did not have the hereditary blood disorder.
“What you see in the videotape,” Adams said, referring to a recording of the encounter between Anderson and the drill instructors on Jan. 5, 2006, “is sufficient to kill someone without sickle cell trait.”
Adams said his 12-hour second autopsy of Anderson’s body was not as informational as the videotape. The autopsy was mainly to rule out other potential causes of death and his opinion was not bolstered by anything he discovered in the examination.
“The actions of the guards, especially at the end of the tape, caused his death,” Adams said.
“Are you saying they smothered this young man to death?” defense attorney Waylon Graham asked him.
“Yes,” Adams replied.
Former boot camp drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh II, along with former camp nurse Kristin Schmidt, face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and 30 years in prison each if convicted as charged.
They’re accused of culpable negligence in 14-year-old Anderson’s death. Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, after collapsing during his initiation into the camp.
The trial, held inside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse on 11th Street, began
Wednesday and is expected to end Oct. 12 or 13. Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Defense attorney Bob Sombathy said deaths from exertional sickle cell trait collapse are rare, but the number of recorded deaths by spasms caused by smelling salts is “one” — Anderson’s.
“This boot camp was the only place in the world where ammonia capsules were used in this way,” Adams said. “So where else could such a death occur?”
“So if your interpretation of the video is wrong, then your cause of death is wrong,” Sombathy said.
“Yes,” Adams said.
Graham asked Adams about the pressure he was under to come up with an alternative opinion than the highly criticized one offered by Panama City Medical Examiner Charles Siebert Jr.
Adams said he was aware of the way Siebert was “vilified” and said, “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
Adams said he was not motivated or pressured into a finding that would keep him from being criticized. He said he expected criticism and objected to Graham’s term “safe opinion.”
“No matter what I opined, I would be criticized from one quarter or another,” he said.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
MORE NEWS: Medical examiner denies he was pressured to blame guards, nurse in teen's boot camp death
Article
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — A medical examiner said Friday that he was aware of tremendous political pressure to "resolve" the case of a teen who died after an altercation with guards at a Florida boot camp for juvenile offenders.
But Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams insisted that the pressure did not influence his opinion that Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died from suffocation at the hands of eight boot camp employees.
"I wasn't just working for my county. I felt an obligation to do a good job for Florida," Adams said.
Drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh and nurse Kristin Schmidt each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a person under 18 for the teen's death.
The eight defendants, ages 30 to 60, say Anderson provoked the encounter by refusing to participate in a 1.5-mile mandatory run to gauge his fitness.
A surveillance video of the altercation shows the guards manhandling the teen, covering his mouth and waving ammonia capsules in his face on three separate occasions, once for as long as five minutes, while Anderson appeared to pass in and out of consciousness.
The incident sparked a national debate over safety in the paramilitary-style boot camps, resulting in the closure of similar programs in Florida. A federal investigation is also pending into reports of child abuse at boot camps across the country.
Anderson's death also resulted in the dismissal of the state's top law enforcement agent, Guy Tunnell, who, as sheriff of Bay County in the 1990s, created the Bay County Boot Camp.
Adams was the second medical examiner to perform an autopsy on Anderson after he died on Jan. 6, 2006, less than 24 hours after entering the Bay County Boot Camp for violating his parole on a grand theft auto charge.
Charlie Siebert, the first pathologist to examine Anderson's body, concluded that he died of complications from sickle-cell trait, a genetic disorder that impedes the flow of oxygen in the blood.
His findings provoked allegations of a cover-up by the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which operated the boot camp in Panama City. In response, former Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a team of special prosecutors from Hillsborough County, who ordered the second autopsy.
Adams denied that the fate of Siebert, who faced public condemnation and lost his job after releasing his findings, had any effect on his report, as a defense lawyer for Helms suggested.
"You didn't want to wind up like Charlie Siebert?" attorney Waylon Graham asked as he paced across the courtroom. "So you wrote a safe report that insulated you from what Charles Siebert went through?"
"I could not know what the reaction was going to be," Adams said. "I had to assume that, no matter what I opined, I would be criticized from one quarter or another."
In a lively exchange with Graham, who has taken charge of most of the questioning of the state's witnesses, Adams also downplayed the attorney's characterization of the investigation as "the autopsy of the century."
Siebert was on hand for the examination, along with representatives from the state attorney's office and famed pathologist Michael Baden, a forensic consultant hired by the Anderson family, who testified in the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector.
Even though Baden was "kind of a pest," Adams said, he let him observe the proceedings, but refused his request to use the scalpel on the exhumed body.
Adams also denied that he was favoring Anderson's family by permitting Baden to attend while denying Siebert's request to have a medical examiner from Fort Myers accompany him.
"I didn't need extra bodies cluttering the room," Adams said, prompting gasps from both the defendants' supporters, sitting on one side of the room, and the Anderson family across the aisle.
Adams acknowledged that before he performed the autopsy in March 2006, Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober told him the governor was "leaning" on him to resolve the case.
But, Adams insisted, Ober never compelled him to reach a conclusion.
"He told me, 'You don't worry about that. Take your time. Do whatever you have to do,'" Adams said. "He didn't care what the outcome was, as long as there was an outcome of some kind."
Adams said he concluded that the teen died of suffocation arising from the guards' excessive use of ammonia capsules while they covered his mouth without giving him a chance to recover.
The doctor said the lack of oxygen prevented Anderson's blood from producing carbon dioxide, leading to a build-up of lactic acid in his blood that ultimately put him in an irreversible coma.
The pathologist acknowledged that the teen's sickle-cell condition aggravated the circumstances by further impeding the flow of oxygen. He insisted, however, that the guards' actions alone would have been enough to kill even a teen who did not have sickle-cell trait.
Defense lawyers contend that Anderson would have died regardless of the former boot camp employees' actions because of his condition, which they were unaware of.
"If Martin Anderson fell during the run because of sickle-cell trait, but for the actions of the guards, would he have lived?" assistant state attorney Michael Sinacore asked Adams.
"Yes," he testified. "No ammonia, no hands, no restraint ... there would be no opinion, because he is alive."
Adams said the guards' excessive use of ammonia made the case one of a kind.
His findings mirrored those of another state medical expert who testified Thursday that the use of the ammonia capsules were the "tipping point" in causing the teen's death.
On Friday, the jury learned that the highly concentrated ammonia capsules used by the guards were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on children.
Toxicologist Cynthia Lewis-Younger testified that the toxic effects of ammonia increase with prolonged exposure and within a confined space.
Prosecutors say the guards covered Anderson's mouth and administered the ammonia on three occasions: once for 54 seconds, again for 57 seconds, and during a five-minute period that was broken up into three episodes.
Lewis-Younger testified that though there were no documented incidents of anyone dying from inhalation of ammonia capsules, she would not rule out the possibility.
The trial will resume Monday.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Isabelle Zehnder: CAICA: No blacks among boot-camp trial jurors
Potential jurors, top, wait to see if they are dismissed from jury duty in the boot-camp-death trial at the Marina Civic Center in Panama City on Wednesday.''It is unfortunate the pool is not more representative. It sounds like the defense got what they wanted as for a racial mix on the jury.'' Michael Seigel University of Florida's Levin College of Law professor
Article
September 27, 2007
By Stephen D. Price
PANAMA CITY - No black jurors were chosen for the boot-camp trial of seven drill instructors and a camp nurse charged in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.
Gina Jones, Anderson's mother who has long said she did not want the trial to happen in Bay County, was not happy with the jury's racial makeup.
''I'm very disappointed,'' she said.
Jury selection concluded Wednesday evening at the Marina Civic Center in the controversial, racially charged case, after three days in which attorneys went through a list of more than 1,400 potential jurors.
The trial will begin Oct. 3.
Anderson was black, two of the defendants are black, one is Asian and five are white. The case has divided opinion in Bay County largely along racial lines. Civil rights advocates around the state and country have called for ''justice'' for Anderson.
''It is unfortunate the pool is not more representative,'' said Professor Michael Seigel of the University of Florida's Levin College of Law and former Tampa Bay federal prosecutor. ''It sounds like the defense got what they wanted as for a racial mix on the jury.''
The county is 83 percent white and 11 percent black.
Charged with felony aggravated manslaughter of a child are Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh II and the camp nurse, Kristin Schmidt.
A jury of six will decide the trial's outcome, and four have been chosen as alternates. All the jurors are white except for one man who is Asian. Attorneys in the case and court officials would not say who will be on the jury of six and who will be alternates for the trial. The jury pool has four men and six women.
Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, a day after he was hit, kicked and kneed by drill instructors at the Bay County boot camp, after he had collapsed while running laps. The incident was captured on videotape.
An initial autopsy said Anderson died from natural causes from complications caused by a blood disorder, sickle-cell trait. A second autopsy said he died from being suffocated when guards clamped his mouth shut and held ammonia tablets to his nose for several minutes.
Seigel said the racial makeup of the jury doesn't mean it won't judge the trial fairly, but added, ''This could be a factor if they're acquitted and if a federal prosecutor second-guesses the jury.''
U.S. Attorney Gregory Miller, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are still investigating the case.
During jury selection, five black potential jurors were dismissed, mostly by defense attorneys. One 20-year-old woman was dismissed because she had a cousin who knew Anderson.
''I believe there is a close relation between her and Martin Lee Anderson,'' said defense attorney Walter Smith, who represents Enfinger. ''She has very little life experience. We generally want someone who has life experience.''
Assistant State Attorney Scott Harmon complained the defense had already struck down four blacks from the jury pool.
But Bay County Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet said, ''I believe there is a close relation between her and Martin Lee Anderson.''
Of the 10 jurors that made the cut, one man said he knew defendant Dickens' wife, and another said she knew one of the defense attorneys, Jonathan Dingus.
Another potential black juror was dismissed because defense attorneys said he was familiar with sickle-cell disease and may challenge their expert testimony.
''That's a bona fide concern for either side,'' Overstreet said, before dismissing that juror.
The trial will take place at the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse where Overstreet has requested security escorts for defense attorneys and security at the courthouse for the defendants as they leave and enter.
MORE NEWS: Boot camp trial begins
October 4, 2007
Medical testimony dominates Day 1
By David Angier
PANAMA CITY
There were gasps and quiet moans Wednesday from audience members as they watched segments of the black and white video of boot camp employees striking and manhandling a limp Martin Lee Anderson.
“Oh, my God” often was repeated by some in the thick crowd of onlookers as prosecutor Pam Bondi played short excerpts from the video of Anderson’s first day at the boot camp on Jan. 5, 2006, and his last full day of life.
“The last conscious moment of Martin Lee Anderson’s life was with his mouth being covered by a hand and ammonia capsules shoved into his face as he struggled to breathe,” Bondi said.
Former boot camp drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh II, along with former camp nurse Kristin Schmidt, face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and 30 years in prison each if convicted as charged.
They’re accused of culpable negligence in 14-year-old Anderson’s death. Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, after collapsing during his initiation into the camp.
The trial, held inside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse on 11th Street, began Wednesday and is expected to end Oct. 12 or 13. Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m.
In her opening statement, Bondi pointed out three episodes where the drill instructors used ammonia capsules, or “smelling salts,” on Anderson during the 23-minute encounter. She said one lasted 55 seconds, another 54 seconds and the third “well over five minutes with three separate applications.”
She said Anderson didn’t die from natural causes, as Panama City Medical Examiner Charles Siebert Jr. opined in the first of two autopsies. She said Anderson died from oxygen deprivation, the result of having his mouth covered and forced to inhale ammonia fumes. She said sickle cell trait, Siebert’s named cause of death, is a benign blood disorder.
“This was no accident,” Bondi said. “This was a child who was killed by what these eight defendants did and what they failed to do.”
Bob Sombathy, Garrett’s attorney, followed Bondi’s presentation and started by introducing each lawyer and defendant. He then explained the defense’s view of Anderson’s cause of death.
Sombathy said more than 100 people had died in military boot camps from sickle cell trait, as have 15 to 20 athletes and five college football players.
“It is real,” he said. “There’s a history to it. And all of these people had lived normal, healthy lives.”
Sombathy said the unique finding in this case was that of Dr. Vernard Adams, who performed the second autopsy on Anderson and concluded that drill instructors had suffocated him by forcing him to breathe ammonia fumes, which caused his vocal cords to spasm and close his airway.
“There has not ever been a case where ammonia capsules caused any serious injury to anybody,” Sombathy said. “Dr. Adams’ opinion is the first of its kind in the history of the world.”
Sombathy, and most of the other defense attorneys, told jurors there had to be some element of foresight that the guards’ actions would cause Anderson’s death. He said it was uncontested that none of the boot camp employees knew that Anderson had sickle cell trait.
Sombathy said jurors would hear from a hematologist who had witnessed people collapse from sickle cell trait during physical exertion.
“He described this as a classic exertional sickle cell collapse,” he said.
Witnesses
The day’s first witnesses mainly were medical personnel — a paramedic who first treated Anderson and doctors and nurses from Bay Medical Center’s emergency department. One of the issues closely discussed was at what time Anderson’s blood gases were tested.
Both sides want to establish this point because Anderson’s carbon dioxide level was below normal. Emergency department Dr. Jeff Appel said Wednesday he would have expected to see the carbon dioxide level in Anderson’s blood to be 20 or 30 points above normal if he had been suffocated into a coma; instead, it was 20 points below.
When someone stops breathing, his oxygen levels drop because he can’t get air in, but carbon dioxide levels rise because the body can’t get rid of it through exhalation.
Siebert explained the low carbon dioxide level in his autopsy report by saying that Anderson never stopped breathing; his blood, because of the sickled red blood cells, couldn’t absorb and transport oxygen properly but still was shedding carbon dioxide.
Adams explained the low level by saying that Anderson was able to “blow off” the excess carbon dioxide after the guards stopped suffocating him. If Anderson was “ventilated” — whereby a person or machine forced oxygen into his system and assisted him in getting rid of the carbon dioxide — at some point before his blood gases were tested, then his carbon dioxide level would have dropped faster.
Respiratory therapist Dr. Dennis Arnold said Anderson’s breathing was manually assisted for less than a minute before his blood was drawn for testing. Anderson then was hooked up to a respirator after the blood was tested.
Appel said he had no experience with exertional sickle cell trait collapse prior to Anderson, but insisted his treatment of Anderson would not have changed if he had known that Anderson had sickle cell trait.
Appel also said that the guards’ use of ammonia capsules, and whether they obstructed his mouth for any length of time, played no role in his treatment. Appel said he has used smelling salts hundreds of times in his career to revive patients and to test for malingering. He said he has never heard of them causing injury or death.
Videotape
The man who videotaped the encounter between the guards and Anderson was the first to take the stand. Antonio Jones, now a Panama City Beach police officer, said he was working the control booth the morning of Anderson’s collapse and recorded the incident while also logging the guards’ use of force.
He said he had the authority to call 9-1-1 or intercede on Anderson’s behalf if he saw the guards abusing him or signs of distress. Jones said he saw neither.
“You’re not accusing these men you just identified of any wrongdoing, are you?” defense attorney Jim White asked him, after Jones identified each defendant for the jury.
“No sir,” Jones said.
Medical testimony dominates Day 1
By David Angier
PANAMA CITY
There were gasps and quiet moans Wednesday from audience members as they watched segments of the black and white video of boot camp employees striking and manhandling a limp Martin Lee Anderson.
“Oh, my God” often was repeated by some in the thick crowd of onlookers as prosecutor Pam Bondi played short excerpts from the video of Anderson’s first day at the boot camp on Jan. 5, 2006, and his last full day of life.
“The last conscious moment of Martin Lee Anderson’s life was with his mouth being covered by a hand and ammonia capsules shoved into his face as he struggled to breathe,” Bondi said.
Former boot camp drill instructors Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh II, along with former camp nurse Kristin Schmidt, face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and 30 years in prison each if convicted as charged.
They’re accused of culpable negligence in 14-year-old Anderson’s death. Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, after collapsing during his initiation into the camp.
The trial, held inside the Bay County Juvenile Justice Courthouse on 11th Street, began Wednesday and is expected to end Oct. 12 or 13. Testimony resumes at 8:30 a.m.
In her opening statement, Bondi pointed out three episodes where the drill instructors used ammonia capsules, or “smelling salts,” on Anderson during the 23-minute encounter. She said one lasted 55 seconds, another 54 seconds and the third “well over five minutes with three separate applications.”
She said Anderson didn’t die from natural causes, as Panama City Medical Examiner Charles Siebert Jr. opined in the first of two autopsies. She said Anderson died from oxygen deprivation, the result of having his mouth covered and forced to inhale ammonia fumes. She said sickle cell trait, Siebert’s named cause of death, is a benign blood disorder.
“This was no accident,” Bondi said. “This was a child who was killed by what these eight defendants did and what they failed to do.”
Bob Sombathy, Garrett’s attorney, followed Bondi’s presentation and started by introducing each lawyer and defendant. He then explained the defense’s view of Anderson’s cause of death.
Sombathy said more than 100 people had died in military boot camps from sickle cell trait, as have 15 to 20 athletes and five college football players.
“It is real,” he said. “There’s a history to it. And all of these people had lived normal, healthy lives.”
Sombathy said the unique finding in this case was that of Dr. Vernard Adams, who performed the second autopsy on Anderson and concluded that drill instructors had suffocated him by forcing him to breathe ammonia fumes, which caused his vocal cords to spasm and close his airway.
“There has not ever been a case where ammonia capsules caused any serious injury to anybody,” Sombathy said. “Dr. Adams’ opinion is the first of its kind in the history of the world.”
Sombathy, and most of the other defense attorneys, told jurors there had to be some element of foresight that the guards’ actions would cause Anderson’s death. He said it was uncontested that none of the boot camp employees knew that Anderson had sickle cell trait.
Sombathy said jurors would hear from a hematologist who had witnessed people collapse from sickle cell trait during physical exertion.
“He described this as a classic exertional sickle cell collapse,” he said.
Witnesses
The day’s first witnesses mainly were medical personnel — a paramedic who first treated Anderson and doctors and nurses from Bay Medical Center’s emergency department. One of the issues closely discussed was at what time Anderson’s blood gases were tested.
Both sides want to establish this point because Anderson’s carbon dioxide level was below normal. Emergency department Dr. Jeff Appel said Wednesday he would have expected to see the carbon dioxide level in Anderson’s blood to be 20 or 30 points above normal if he had been suffocated into a coma; instead, it was 20 points below.
When someone stops breathing, his oxygen levels drop because he can’t get air in, but carbon dioxide levels rise because the body can’t get rid of it through exhalation.
Siebert explained the low carbon dioxide level in his autopsy report by saying that Anderson never stopped breathing; his blood, because of the sickled red blood cells, couldn’t absorb and transport oxygen properly but still was shedding carbon dioxide.
Adams explained the low level by saying that Anderson was able to “blow off” the excess carbon dioxide after the guards stopped suffocating him. If Anderson was “ventilated” — whereby a person or machine forced oxygen into his system and assisted him in getting rid of the carbon dioxide — at some point before his blood gases were tested, then his carbon dioxide level would have dropped faster.
Respiratory therapist Dr. Dennis Arnold said Anderson’s breathing was manually assisted for less than a minute before his blood was drawn for testing. Anderson then was hooked up to a respirator after the blood was tested.
Appel said he had no experience with exertional sickle cell trait collapse prior to Anderson, but insisted his treatment of Anderson would not have changed if he had known that Anderson had sickle cell trait.
Appel also said that the guards’ use of ammonia capsules, and whether they obstructed his mouth for any length of time, played no role in his treatment. Appel said he has used smelling salts hundreds of times in his career to revive patients and to test for malingering. He said he has never heard of them causing injury or death.
Videotape
The man who videotaped the encounter between the guards and Anderson was the first to take the stand. Antonio Jones, now a Panama City Beach police officer, said he was working the control booth the morning of Anderson’s collapse and recorded the incident while also logging the guards’ use of force.
He said he had the authority to call 9-1-1 or intercede on Anderson’s behalf if he saw the guards abusing him or signs of distress. Jones said he saw neither.
“You’re not accusing these men you just identified of any wrongdoing, are you?” defense attorney Jim White asked him, after Jones identified each defendant for the jury.
“No sir,” Jones said.
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