Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on October 03, 2007, 09:38:31 AM
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The Seven Security Guards and Nurse are being tried together in the Florida Boot Camp beating death.
Opening Arguments began Wednesday October 3, 2007.
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poll on court tv: In the Court
BOOT CAMP: Should juvenile boot camps be dismantled nationwide?
36.55%
Yes
63.45%
No
:flame:
Please vote!
http://www.courttv.com/13thjuror/index.html (http://www.courttv.com/13thjuror/index.html)http://http://www.courttv.com/13thjuror/index.html
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Special Mater's Final Report - Martin Lee Anderson
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/20 ... 968.sm.pdf (http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2007/Senate/bills/analysis/pdf/2007s2968.sm.pdf)
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TIMELINE: (SNIPPED)
January 5, 2006
Martin Lee Anderson's first day at the Bay County boot camp. He collapses after an altercation with the guards and is rushed to Bay Medical Center by ambulance at about 9:45 a.m.
He is later life-flighted to Sacred Heart Hosptial in Pensacola.
January 6, 2006
Anderson dies around 1:30 a.m. at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola.
February 13, 2006
CNN and the Miami Herald file a lawsuit for the surveillance tape from the boot camp to be released.
February 15, 2006
Anderson's parents hold a news conference asking for the release of the video. The National Black Caucus of Legislators and the NAACP join their efforts.
February 16, 2006
The results of the first autopsy by Dr. Charles Siebert of the 14th Judicial Circuit are released. Siebert says Anderson died from complications of sickle cell trait, a hereditary condition. The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and the FBI open a federal probe into the case.
February 17, 2006
The surveillance video is released showing the approximately 30 minute confrontation between Anderson and the guards. Some medical experts begin disputing Dr. Siebert's cause of death.
February 21, 2006
The Bay County Sheriff's Office gives a 90-day notice to the Department of Juvenile Justice that they will be shutting down the boot camp.
State Attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit, Steve Meadows, steps aside and requests a special prosecutor to oversee the case.
Gov. Jeb Bush appoints Mark Ober of the 13th Judicial Circuit.
March 10, 2006
Anderson's family exhumes his body to have a second autopsy performed.
March 13, 2006
Second autopsy performed.
March 14, 2006
Preliminary results from the second autopsy released. Doctors say Anderson did not die from sickle cell trait.
March 28, 2006
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Court TV message board
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.ph ... did=312750 (http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=d77819f44e3ef23cf94f9a657bdde311&threadid=312750)
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This story is going to be entertainment to millions of housewives across america now.
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From 1984 to 1986, records show Schmidt (the nurse) worked at the Anneewakee Hospital, a treatment center and wilderness camp for about 150 troubled boys in Carrabelle, in the Panhandle. The treatment center was closed in 1986 amid allegations of widespread abuse and molestation of children.
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This story is going to be entertainment to millions of housewives across america now.
Perhaps, in the same sense that slowing down to gawk at a terrible car accident is entertainment. At least those millions of housewives will learn something and maybe get some awareness that American teens are being horribly mistreated in some of these places.
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Yes, I listened to this on the way home via Sirius radio Court TV station. I listened to what I guess were the opening arguments? I heard the prosecuters side which was great. You really felt like you were Martin Lee Anderson. It was so detailed. I was sickened by the holding of the mouth and him forced to inhale amonia threw his nose 55 seconds at a time on three seperate occasions in a row then given physical blows. I started to listen to the defense's opening statements but had to pull into my garage. From the first 3 minutes that I did hear though, I could tell you the defense's explanation of events was heartless, and cold.
I hope these guys rot in prison. They surely will.
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I'm at work watching it. Ashley Banfield is the anchor right now and during the court recess they ran the tape in its entirety ( I think, I came in a few minutes into it). Its more sickening every time I see it. My mom came over (she works for an atty in the same bldg that I do) and was watching it. Both of us ended up crying and I ended up having to console her. She said that she can't stand to read about this case because it brings up so much guilt about letting my dad run right over her with putting me in Straight.
The coverage in Bay County is getting heated.
This asshole is doing everything he can to make sure "Dr." Seibert gets a fair shake. :roll: :roll:
http://www.talkradio101.com/mla-news.shtml (http://www.talkradio101.com/mla-news.shtml)
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/03/State ... agai.shtml (http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/03/State/Radio_host_rails_agai.shtml)
PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- Burnie Thompson remembers his outrage the first time he saw the boot camp videotape.
Living in Pennsylvania, he saw it on the national news. Horrified, he watched as guards struck Martin Lee Anderson.
Oh my God, they beat that boy to death, he thought.
This past January, Thompson changed his life -- and his mind. He left an Air Force career and moved to Panama City for a job with Talk Radio 101.1 FM, WYOO, a station that airs Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and lists the current Homeland Security threat level on its Web site.
At jury selection for the trial of the seven guards and the camp nurse accused of manslaughter, prosecutors asked: Do you listen to talk radio? Which station? Usually, the answer was 101.1.
"What the prosecutors were really asking was, 'Do you listen to The Burnie Thompson Show?' because I have talked about this a lot," Thompson said.
Weekdays, as the people of Bay County begin their morning commute, Thompson gives them his view: The local medical examiner got a raw deal, thanks to a governor who played politics and reporters who misrepresented facts. Thompson says roughly 20,000 people a week listen to his show.
As the trial begins today, Thompson will be talking, as usual, this time to student protesters.
"I think what's coming to Panama City is going to make the Jena Six story look small," he said. "I'm frustrated, I'm angry, and I'm sad about it. I'm sad that the character and dignity of good Bay Countians are going to be impugned by people who don't know us."
One of his fans is Waylon Graham, a defense attorney who represents accused former drill instructor Charles Helms Jr.
"Everybody in Panama City's heard of (Thompson)," Graham said. "Burnie was one of the first people in the media to give the guards a fair shake."
A 40-year-old native of California, Thompson received a master's degree in journalism from the University of Southern California in 2002.
A registered Republican, he calls himself a Libertarian.
The recommended reading list on his Web site includes White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era; Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got It Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First; and The Bias Against Guns: Why Almost Everything You've Heard About Gun Control Is Wrong.
His show mostly focuses on local issues, such as trash pickup and whether to close school campuses during lunchtime.
His two most high-profile guests?
"Rudy Guiliani and Dog the Bounty Hunter."
In an interview, his voice is calm, his manner mild.
Interested in the boot camp case, he invited medical examiners to speak and was stunned that they agreed with Dr. Charles Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner widely criticized after he attributed Anderson's death to sickle cell trait.
Thompson watched, frustrated, as Gov. Charlie Crist helped to gain momentum for a claims bill for the family, part of a $7.2-million settlement. Such action, before a trial, was wrong, Thompson said.
"Nobody denies the tragedy of losing a member of our community," Thompson said. "But what upsets me is we have a governor using the power of the state to defame a medical examiner who throughout the country is heralded as not only qualified and competent but is known as a good medical examiner."
He started writing about it.
"Put down the hatchet, Governor," Thompson wrote in the Tallahassee Democrat. "Halt the attack on a man whose scientific opinion you either disagree with or don't understand."
A spokeswoman for Crist declined to discuss specific accusations.
Thompson also attacked the state's journalists, accusing them of "media malpractice" for letting a social agenda get in the way of the facts.
Graham, the defense attorney, said Thompson provided an important perspective. "For the first time people got to hear that there was actually another side to this," he said.
Thompson hasn't won friends among those who believe the guards' actions led to the teen's death, said Vanessa Macomsen, chair of the Greater Bay chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"I know I would never listen to that," she said of his show. "I've seen the (Burnie Thompson Show) stickers on the cars. They kind of match with those cars with hunting stickers, 'W' stickers."
As far apart as they are politically, Macomsen and Thompson agreed on two things: The guards will be found not guilty of aggravated manslaughter, and it will cause an uproar.
"Look, this area, it's already been on the radar screen, but it's going to consume Panama City," Thompson said. "Do you know what's going to come here? It's going to be the likes we've never seen before."
He knows for certain what his role will be as the trial takes its toll on his adopted community.
He'll do what he always does -- give people something to talk about.
"I'm trying to ensure that we can keep talking to each other," he said, "even as people try to divide us."
Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at (813) 226-3373.
[Last modified October 3, 2007, 00:45:34]
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Tons of info here and past articles here
http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... y=NEWS0103 (http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=NEWS0103)
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AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
:flame: :flame: :flame: :flame: :flame: :flame: :flame:
The mentality of a program parent!!
http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.ph ... enumber=17 (http://boards.courttv.com/showthread.php?s=1df1a467dccc3885649dd00e430f43a8&threadid=312750&perpage=40&pagenumber=17)
Not that I don't feel for the family, yet I also see that the family failed this child. Ultimately, this 14 yr old boy was going to be killed, or do the killing because there was no control of this child.
He wasnt sent to boot camp for no reason. There was a reason, the parents lost any authority with this child. They needed help, granted not the outcome anyone would want, yet the same end was going to happen, or a prison sentence.
I have personal experience myself. I had an out of control teenaged daughter. My solution and ultimate decision was sending her to a boot camp. This has saved her life!!! She is still there and she is thankful each day for her family, which she got back to appreciating.
When the juvenile criminal justice system fails, parents and children have to do what they can, by law, to seek help. It is up to parents to reasonably take the necessary actions to save not only their child's life, but their family's and society.
I know many will not agree with my decision, due to this case, sending my child to a boot camp, yet if God's intent was to take her life, he will do so.
I agree with your statement, when they know the difference between right and wrong, they are accountable and the consequences can be deadly.
I know these are adults who are being accused of this crime, yet they have not had such a thing happen either. They are guilty of bad judgment and poor decisions, but not of murder.
I find it appalling that ALL Fla boot camps have been shut down because of this case. What is going to happen now, a high prison rate?
Well of course I would be beside myself if anything happened to my daughter. But I believe I wouldn't change my opinion on boot camps. They can do what the law says a parent can not. They have permission to get deep into a childs self. They deprive them of the materialistic things the child has demanded and taken for granted. The laws these days protects the child so much, that a parent is lucky if they can take the childs cell phone away.
Boot camps bring them back to basics and teach them self respect, self reliance and self motivation, what could be wrong with that?
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ISAC has been linked to a coupla times.
:D
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Its called "public opinion", they will ultimately determine the outcome.
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Anne: you shock me! :o
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Me? What did I do?
I didn't write that post. Its from the CourtTV website.
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Well of course I would be beside myself if anything happened to my daughter. But I believe I wouldn't change my opinion on boot camps.
What an ignorant, pathetic excuse of a human being.
They can do what the law says a parent can not.
Where's that damn Red Flag icon[/color]???
They have permission to get deep into a childs self.
What exactly might THAT mean? I'm assuming mind fucking.
They deprive them of the materialistic things the child has demanded and taken for granted.
Are parents prohibited by law to do this? No, just too lazy.
The laws these days protects the child so much, that a parent is lucky if they can take the childs cell phone away.
Lame excuses.
Boot camps bring them back to basics and teach them self respect, self reliance and self motivation, what could be wrong with that?
What's wrong with the parent, is the question.
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I know. I about fell out of my chair at that comment about 'boot camps can do what parents can't'.
How can these people sleep at night?
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I think they are going to get off...
Anne, I don't know how you can read that board. I can take reading the horror stories here, but reading a bunch of assholes writing about how they think this kind of stuff is ok.....
That's something I can't take.
::puke::
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I wouldn’t get too worked up over peoples comments, Anne/Deb, they are bound to be all over the map. I read some of the testimony and viewed the tape and it appears that the guards are guilty of abuse but not murder. They abuse kids for a living all day and know how far they can push it. Any healthy child should be able to survive what this kid went thru, kids are beat up worse than this by each other. Although if Nurse Andrew had knowledge of Andersons’ sickle cell trait problem she should do time for negligent homicide, it is not clear to me if she had this knowledge, although if she didn’t the big question would be why didn’t she, but either way she was standing right there as a trained professional and should have put a stop to it.
Any way…. Just my opinion…so far.
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Any healthy retarded programmie can survive a thousand volts across the chest, right?
Actually.. probably not.
But TheWho is here, so let's find out!
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The defendants face a top charge of "aggravated manslaughter of a person under 18":
(3) A person who causes the death of any person under the age of 18 by culpable negligence under s. 827.03(3) commits aggravated manslaughter of a child, a felony of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
827.03 Abuse, aggravated abuse, and neglect of a child; penalties.--
(1) "Child abuse" means:
(a) Intentional infliction of physical or mental injury upon a child;
(*) An intentional act that could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury to a child; or
(c) Active encouragement of any person to commit an act that results or could reasonably be expected to result in physical or mental injury to a child.
The jury can also consider lesser charges of manslaughter, child neglect and misdemeanor culpable negligence, convictions which would carry lighter sentences
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Medical examiner denies he was pressured to blame guards, nurse in teen's boot camp death
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.
Story continues
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.Story continues
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.
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sorry... my bad :oops:
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Guard Testifies in His Boot Camp Trial
MELISSA NELSON
The Associated Press
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - A guard charged with killing a 14-year-old boy at a juvenile boot camp told jurors Monday that a video showing himself and other guards hitting, kneeing and dragging the boy depicts training designed to protect both the guards and the child.
Guard Charles Helms was in charge of the Bay County Boot Camp exercise yard Jan. 5, 2006, the day Martin Lee Anderson entered the camp. Anderson died early the next morning at a Pensacola hospital.
Helms and six other guards are charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. Nurse Kristin Schmidt, who is seen throughout the 30-minute video watching the altercation, also is charged in Anderson's death.
Helms, a former Army drill instructor, said the camp was intended to have a paramilitary tone and the youth were expected to answer all questions with "sir, yes sir."
He said the youth were labeled under a color-coded dot system according to their backgrounds as juvenile offenders.
Anderson was given a red dot, the highest of five levels, because he had gang activity and violence in the file given to the camp from the Department of Juvenile Justice, Helms said.
When Anderson collapsed, complained of shortness of breath and refused to continue a mandatory run, numerous guards approached him because that was the camp's policy, Helms said.
Helms later demonstrated for jurors the hammer strike blows and knee strike techniques the guards used to gain compliance from the youth. He said the blows were a method of gaining control of Anderson without seriously hurting him.
Ammonia capsules were also used to get the attention of the youth, he said. Helms said the capsules were not used in a punitive way, but rather to determine if a youth was pretending to pass out.
"You have to hold it there for 30 or 40 seconds because some of these kids could hold their breath for awhile, but then you'd feel them twisting and turning," he said.
Prosecutors say the guards suffocated Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale ammonia fumes.
Defense attorneys say Anderson's death was unavoidable because he had undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder. The usually benign disorder can cause blood cells to shrivel into a sickle shape and limit their ability to carry oxygen under physical stress.
Earlier Monday, prosecutors rested their case after testimony from Dr. Shairi Turner, a pediatrician and the chief medical director for Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice.
She testified that Schmidt, who stood by during the altercation, did not tell her supervisors that the teen was struck and forced to inhale ammonia.
Walter Smith, attorney guard Charles Enfinger, opened the defense case by telling jurors the videotaped altercation evokes an emotional reaction in people who don't understand the "paramilitary" environment that was required at the now-closed camp.
"It makes you want to reach into the screen and say, 'Why isn't someone calling 911?'" he said in beginning the defense's case.
Smith said the incident was "a day at the office" for the guards, who saw Anderson not as a 14-year-old child, but as "a 6-foot, 168-pound, adult felon." He had been sent to the camp for a probation violation after trespassing at a school and stealing his grandmother's car from a church parking lot.
"These are not rogue officers who are trying to punish a kid," he said. "Nobody is going to say that those hammer strikes or knee strikes were unlawful, they were strictly according to procedure."
Michael Thompson, former commander of the boot camp and a deputy with Bay County Sheriff's Office, detailed the camp's "matrix for passive resistance," which guards followed when a youth did not obey an order.
He said the matrix, which includes securing the youth against a fence and applying pressure with the thumb to the back of the head behind the ear, was used when a youth refused to unclench his fist , something the guards said Anderson did during throughout their encounter.
"If the fists stay clenched, he is choosing to disobey an order," he said.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Scott Harmon, Thompson said guards were trained to use the least amount of force necessary to accomplish their objective under the matrix.
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Ah yes, the "make yourselves look like sickos so the jury will want to see you all hang" defense.
IN BEE-ZARRO WORLD, JAIL IS VACATION PLACE!
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Ah yes, the "make yourselves look like sickos so the jury will want to see you all hang" defense.
Yeah... the "what they did was normal! It happens every day at this camp!" defense... lol... good luck with that.
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Signs were normal, boot camp RN says
Nurse thought the ailing teenager was malingering, she testifies.
By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published October 10, 2007
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PANAMA CITY - Martin Lee Anderson told the nurse he couldn't breathe, that he couldn't run anymore.
Still, she stood by, watching in her white lab coat, hands on her hips.
Kristin Schmidt did so because the 14-year-old's vital signs were normal, his words the only evidence of any crisis, she testified Tuesday. And in boot camp, she said, talk wasn't enough.
NURSE TAKES THE STAND !
The registered nurse assumed he was malingering, she said.
"In the boot camp, you can't just stop activities because of words," said Schmidt, 54. "You have to look for signs and symptoms, or the boot camp would not have existed."
Schmidt testified along with three former drill instructors Tuesday in the trial of eight boot camp employees accused of killing Anderson. It was the fifth day of the trial, which is expected to last through the week.
Schmidt, Charles Helms Jr., Raymond Hauck, Patrick Garrett, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Henry McFadden Jr. and Joseph Walsh face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child, which carries a maximum of 30 years in prison.
The boot camp case garnered national attention after the release of a videotape that showed guards striking the boy. In that video, Schmidt stood out.
Wearing a white suit, she stood out in the courtroom, too.
She testified that she thought the teen was simply faking to get out of finishing the required 11/2-mile run around the boot camp yard. She'd checked him earlier that day, and the only medical concern she had was a hangnail on his finger.
When she heard there was a problem, she went out to the boot camp yard.
She said she listened to his lungs and checked his pulse. Both were normal.
"I asked him, 'What makes you think you can't breathe?'" she recalled. "He said, 'I can't breathe.'"
She turned to Enfinger.
"I think I was letting Enfinger know that I couldn't see anything physically wrong with him," she said. "It looked like malingering."
It wasn't until the teen was lying motionless in the boot camp yard that Schmidt believed there was a serious problem and requested 911.
Early the next morning, she got a call that Anderson had died.
She said she went into her own son's bedroom, and looking at him, thought of Anderson's mother.
"I knew she wasn't going to see her son anymore, and I didn't know why," Schmidt said. On the witness stand, the nurse started to cry.
In cross examination, testimony was tense. Schmidt repeatedly said she couldn't understand the questions. It became such an issue that Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet asked the jury to leave the room while attorneys could consult on the matter. Eventually, the nurse agreed to continue.
Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, watched much of the nurse's testimony, but she left the courtroom during the video.
Asked what she thought, Jones said only, "No ma'am, not right now. Thank you."
Jurors also heard from Helms, Hauck and Garrett.
The drill instructors all said ammonia capsules, which were used on Anderson, had been used at the camp for years. None was aware of any injuries from them, but all agreed no one ever asked permission from the Department of Juvenile Justice to use the capsules to determine whether teens were faking illness.
"So in all the years that this ammonia's been used, going back to 1994, correct? And the way that you use it, you never went to the DJJ to say, 'Is this okay? Can we use it the way we're using it?'" asked Assistant State Attorney Mike Sinacore.
"Yes, sir, that's correct," Helms said.
Sinacore pressed Helms on his treatment of the teen. Even as Anderson's body went limp, Helms continued to apply ammonia to the teen's nose, while covering his mouth, Helms testified.
"What did Martin Anderson have to do to extricate himself from this situation?" Sinacore said.
"At any time he could have walked, got up, walked to finish the run, made some communication with somebody that he could not walk anymore," Helms said.
At 10:30 a.m., jurors heard from Hauck, 49, who was third-in-command at the camp and trained others in use of force techniques. He said he didn't think ammonia capsules could harm anyone.
"To my knowledge and experience, ammonia capsules are pretty much harmless," he said.
When the teen became unresponsive, Hauck had no idea what was wrong, he said.
"It scared me to death," he said.
Garrett, 30, was supervising the yard when the teen collapsed. He said Anderson gave mixed signals, acting as though he couldn't control his body one moment, fighting back the next.
"He seemed like he would just lay there limp and, all of a sudden, he would just jerk," Garrett said. "It was extremely confusing, what was going on."
His attorney, Robert Sombathy, asked Garrett if he has any regrets.
"Is there anything you would have done differently?" Sombathy asked.
Garrett answered slowly, his voice soft: "Everything."
Abbie VanSickle can be reached at vansickle@sptimes.com or 813-226-3373.
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Garrett answered slowly, his voice soft: "Everything."
Yeah, nice acting, cuntrag.
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Slightly off topic, but not .. if you know what I mean
I was wondering why they used ammonia capsules in the first place? What exactly was the 'purpose' and why were they even on camp in the 1st place/
I just don't understand out of everything in this case, why that course of action was taken, I don't know about the US but anything that contains ammonia in the UK is clearly labelled 'DO NOT INHALE' :-?
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Examiner testifies in boot camp trial
Teen’s mother earlier left in tears as defense played video of boy’s beating
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:17 p.m. CT Oct 10, 2007
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - The medical examiner who performed the first autopsy on a 14-year-old boy who died after an altercation with boot camp guards told jurors Wednesday that he found no signs of serious injury on the teenager’s body.
Video of guards hitting and kneeing Martin Lee Anderson a day before his death drew outrage, especially in light of Dr. Charles Siebert’s conclusion that the teen died of complications from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder. Siebert repeated those findings Wednesday and said that although it seemed “counterintuitive,â€
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Closing Arguments in Boot Camp Trial
Oct 11 07:54 PM US/Eastern
By MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writer
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - A 14-year-old boy died because seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse lacked good judgment and decided to use force against him rather than calling for medical help, a prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments Thursday.
Attorneys for the eight defendants said Martin Lee Anderson's death was the unavoidable consequence of his genetic blood disorder, and alleged that the manslaughter charges were part of a "twisted agenda" by former Gov. Jeb Bush and others who were under fire from civil rights groups.
Prosecutor Mike Sinacore said the defendants ignored common sense in the 30-minute videotaped altercation with Anderson in January 2006. The guards repeatedly hit, kneed and dragged the limp boy around after he collapsed while running laps. The nurse stood by watching.
"This case is about the failure of caregivers to provide Martin Lee Anderson with the care that any prudent person would deem necessary and essential to the well being of a child," Sinacore said.
A defense attorney said convicting the guards would be like spitting on troops fighting an unpopular war.
"They have not brought in one witness to say those tactics are illegal. That those wrist bends, those knee strikes are improper," said Robert Sombathy, who represents guard Patrick Garrett.
If jurors found those tactics are wrong, every boot camp in the state would be guilty of child neglect, he said. Florida ended its military boot camp system last year because of the Anderson case.
The eight former employees of the now-closed military-style camp run by the county sheriff face as many as 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of child. Jurors could decide to acquit them of manslaughter, but convict them of lesser charges including child neglect or culpable negligence.
Prosecutors say the guards suffocated Anderson by repeatedly covering his mouth and making him inhale ammonia. They also say the defendants, as Anderson's legal guardians, failed to provide reasonable care and neglected him.
"They went way too far, further than they had ever gone before. They suffocated Martin Anderson," prosecutor Scott Harmon said.
James White, attorney for guard Raymond Hauck, called state officials "Monday morning quarterbacks" who decided to appoint the special prosecutor and order a second autopsy because they didn't like the results of an autopsy by Dr. Charles Siebert, the medical examiner for Bay County.
"This got out of kilter early with demonstrators, relentless news coverage and private attorneys," White said. "The state has tried everything in the world through its twisted agenda to rewrite history."
Siebert ruled that Anderson died of natural causes from undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a usually harmless blood disorder found in one in eight black people. The trait can hinder cells carrying oxygen during physical stress.
Another autopsy done by the medical examiner for Hillsborough County found the guards suffocated Anderson through their repeated use of ammonia capsules and by covering his mouth.
Each of the defendants testified that ammonia capsules were used to try to revive the boy. But Sinacore said they actually used the capsules to try to force Anderson to comply with their demands that he continue exercising.
"Physical force is applied in between and during the ammonia applications even though (Anderson) clearly wants you to stop," he said. "Finally medical action is taken when Martin Lee Anderson is in a coma."
Attorney Waylon Graham, who represents guard Charles Helms, accused the state of causing Anderson's death by not disclosing that he tested positive for sickle cell trait when he was born in 1991 in routine screening.
Sinacore said sickle cell trait was not the direct cause of Anderson's death, and noted that 3 million Americans have the trait and do not have physical limitations. Some are professional athletes, he said.
Sombathy said elite athletes who had collapsed from sickle cell trait had died as quickly as Anderson. It was not reasonable to expect the defendants to have foreseen Anderson's condition, he said.
Jonathan Dingus, an attorney for guard Henry McFadden, talked to jurors about an obscenity Anderson used before he collapsed while running laps and another obscenity he used as he was struggling with the guards. Dingus said it was unreasonable for the guards to think Anderson was in need of medical attention.
"There was nothing to show that this was anything but a healthy, foul- mouthed, out-of-control young man who was malingering out on that field," Dingus said.
The judge began Thursday's session by announcing that one of the jurors had become ill and had been dismissed from jury panel.
Before court began, Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet agreed to allow Robert Anderson, the boy's father, to remain in the courtroom. On Wednesday, Overstreet banned Anderson and others with him from the courtroom after he said there had been complaints about the group making noises during testimony.
(This version corrects that the arguments happened Thursday, not Friday.)
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Judge will give jury instructions Friday morning; and the jury deliberations will begin.
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http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bo ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html)
Boot camp death is in jury's hands
PANAMA CITY, Florida (AP) -- Seven juvenile boot camp guards and a nurse either acted properly as caretakers of a 14-year-old boy, or became frustrated and crossed a line because he repeatedly refused to comply with their orders and run laps around an exercise field.
Pam Bondi, a prosecutor, shows a video during the trial of seven boot camp guards and a nurse.
Jurors in the manslaughter trial of the eight were to decide which in deliberations set to begin Friday.
Prosecutors say the eight neglected the boy by not meeting his medical needs during an altercation captured on a surveillance camera in the camp's exercise yard.
They say the defendants killed Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale fumes from ammonia capsules while striking him with their fists and knees.
"This case is about the failure of caregivers to provide Martin Lee Anderson with the care that any prudent person would deem necessary and essential to the well-being of a child," prosecutor Mike Sinacore told jurors in closing arguments Thursday.
Defense attorneys say Anderson's death was unavoidable because he had undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a usually harmless blood disorder. The disorder can hinder blood cells' ability to carry oxygen during physical stress.
Prosecutors say the seven men and boot camp nurse Kristin Schmidt continued to punish Anderson through compliance techniques even when it became obvious something was seriously wrong the teen.
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"They are manhandling this kid who is basically fluid in their hands," prosecutor Scott Harmon said as he showed a segment of the 30-minute video to the jury. "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."
The defendants saw Anderson as one of hundreds of juvenile offenders who was simply refusing to comply with requirements when he collapsed on his first day in the camp and wouldn't continue exercising, defense attorneys said.
They say Anderson initially caught their clients' attention because he used profanity.
"There was nothing to show that this was anything but a healthy, foul-mouthed, out-of-control, young man who was malingering out on that field," Jonathan Dingus, defense attorney for guard Henry McFadden, told jurors.
Anderson died January 6, 2006, when he was taken off life support, a day after his altercation with the guards.
The defendants face as many as 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated manslaughter of child. Jurors could decide to acquit them of manslaughter, but convict them of lesser charges including child neglect or culpable negligence.
A defense attorney said convicting the guards would be like spitting on troops fighting an unpopular war.
"They have not brought in one witness to say those tactics are illegal. That those wrist bends, those knee strikes are improper," said Robert Sombathy, who represents guard Patrick Garrett.
If jurors found those tactics are wrong, every boot camp in the state would be guilty of child neglect, he said. Florida ended its military boot camp system last year because of the Anderson case. (Does that sound like anyone we know around here?)
Ashley Benedik, defense attorney for Schmidt, said the nurse did what she could to assess Anderson's medical condition and that she could not have foreseen Anderson was dying of an exertion sickle cell collapse.
Each of the defendants testified that ammonia capsules were used to try to revive the boy. But Sinacore said they actually used the capsules to try to force Anderson to comply with their demands to keep exercising.
Sinacore told jurors that 16 minutes into the video, the men continued to apply ammonia and use physical force on Anderson as he became increasingly limp. Their actions continued for 10 more minutes, he said.
"Physical force is applied in between and during the ammonia applications even though (Anderson) clearly wants you to stop," he said. "Finally medical action is taken when Martin Lee Anderson is in a coma." E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend
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A defense attorney said convicting the guards would be like spitting on troops fighting an unpopular war.
::puke:: In this case, the sadistic war on teens.
"They have not brought in one witness to say those tactics are illegal. That those wrist bends, those knee strikes are improper," said Robert Sombathy, who represents guard Patrick Garrett.
Let's hope the jury has common sense. Does it really take an 'expert' to identify their treatment as grossly abusive. The whole national saw those videos. Again, if a parent committed the same atrocity, they would be in jail. Programs should be held to the same standard. Parents should not be allowed to hire people to abuse their children in ways they can't. Why the double standard? Where's the therapeutic/ rehabilitive values in violence? There isn't any.
If jurors found those tactics are wrong, every boot camp in the state would be guilty of child neglect, he said. Florida ended its military boot camp system last year because of the Anderson case.
Hmmm. The prosecutor needs to highlight how many states have shut down their boot camps due to abuse that couldn't be controlled and evidence that it was not only ineffective, but detrimental to children.
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All 8 Defendants: Acquitted on all charges -- NOT GUILTY.
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http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=23584 (http://fornits.com/wwf/viewtopic.php?t=23584)