Posted on 10/13/2007 6:08:37 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
tune in next week as ABC proves a negative.
Don’t know what you mean... Charlie Crist is the governor of florida.
I wasn’t referring to the merits of the case. I was referring to the bias and ignorance of the “journalists” and whether the “Enough Evidence to Acquit” comment was deliberately contrived.
Murder?...no...not murder...
negligent homicide?...oh hell yes...
so tell me...how did this kid get the ammonia and kill himself with it?
Or was the ammonia in a cops hand shoved in his face?
And if say a high school coach has pushed a player until collapse...then had other coaches hold the player up while they shoved ammonia in his face...and the kid dies the next day....you dont think they would be held responcible for the kids death?
bull hockey.
sorry..you are correct..Jeb was govoner when he launched the investigation...
My error...
The ammonia was to revive him. He was apparently passing out. This was standard procedure in the camp, if anyone was negligent it was the nurse, she is the certified medical professional. I can’t fault the drill instructors here. An undiagnosed sickle cell trait aggravated by the introduction of ammonia is what killed him. Thena again, the nurse didn’t know he had sickle cell disease either, as the family did not inform the department.
If not for her Blonde Hair and high Cheekbones this braindead Lib would be cleaning toilets at 711. Of course everyone knows the Amry is filled with Baby Killing Racist Savages. This is getting very old.
Pray for W and Our Toops
No problem...I do agree with you in that the officers and the nurse especially did not take the situation seriously enough. The kid was obviously passed out, and what happens in the midst of it, the nurse walks away. Nobody was monitoring his vitals, at least that I could see. I didn’t see “abuse” in the film but I did see negligence...they were charged with aggravated manslaughter, I’m no lawyer but does that imply neglect or speak more to intent? I think if the charge had been different, the verdict might also have been.
Anyhoo, here’s the timeline of the investigation, charges, settlements, etc.
2006
Jan. 6: Martin Lee Anderson, 14, dies a day after he’s roughed up by guards and forced to breathe ammonia capsules at a Bay County juvenile boot camp.
Feb. 16: Bay County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert rules that Anderson died from internal bleeding caused by sickle cell trait.
Feb. 22: Gov. Jeb Bush appoints Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober to investigate Anderson’s death.
May 5: Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams says Anderson suffocated and blames the actions of boot camp guards.
May 31: A law ends Florida’s juvenile boot camps.
Nov. 28: Seven boot camp guards and a nurse are charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
2007
May 2: Anderson’s family gets $5-million from the state, which follows an earlier $2.4-million legal settlement with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
Friday: A jury finds the defendants not guilty.
?...he was passed out?
Yet they were on him becuase he wouldnt respond?
so why the need for 8 minutes of phsyical violence?
seen the whole tape?
or dont you want it to muck up for opinion that cops are right no matter what...
Yes..I also agree they were over charged...
negligence is clear....intent to cause death is not...
I’m not accusing them of murder one....I’m saying their actions caused the death...although you can clearly see some aggravated cops in the video..
Now if you or I take actions that result in someones death...they would most likely charge us with negligent homicide...
even if it was a simple car accident...
Please. Keep your opinions on my reasoning to yourself. The Boot Camp Sgts were certianly over the top, and perhaps even guilty of a lesser offense. It does not change the fact that the circumstances did not equate to a manslaughter charge.
Sorry...at least we agree their conduct was uncalled for..
And I do think a lesser charge would have garnered a different verdict.
Didnt mean to “gore” the OX...
*snicker*
That's because the Constitution is a "living" document.
Agreed. I would not say it’s entirely the media’s fault though. The fact is that the justice system is broken, and has been for some time.
Looks like they were attempting to render assistance. I saw nothing to indicate they were over the top. Clearly wrongfully charged.
*sigh*
Oh yes...hitting the kids arms...kicking him...seeing him go limp and hitting him again...for 30 minutes...boy...if that is “assistance”....dont call 9/11 if your loved one passes out...
http://www.nospank.net/7163793.200k.wmv
A few more facts dribble out...such as the fact that jury HAD a chanced for a lesser verdict...
Here’s a rush template for you...
Defense attorneys defend criminals....scum...
Defense attorneys defend cops....saints...
Prosecutors go after crimnals....saints
Prosecuters go after cops....scum...
Tense Moments After Boot Camp Acquittal
Oct 13, 7:51 AM (ET)
By MELISSA NELSON
(AP) Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, right, talks to a crowd protesting the verdict in the Martin Lee...
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - Tensions ran high after eight former boot camp workers were acquitted of manslaughter in the death of a 14-year-old inmate who was videotaped being punched and kicked.
The case sparked outrage and spelled the end of Florida’s system of juvenile boot camps, but it took a jury just 90 minutes Friday to decide that the death of Martin Lee Anderson was not a crime.
Anger over the verdict was obvious outside the courtroom, where bystanders screamed “murderer” at former guard Henry Dickens as he described his relief at the verdict.
“I am truly, truly sorry this happened. Myself, I love kids,” said Dickens, 60. He said Anderson “wasn’t beaten. Those techniques were taught to us and used for a purpose.”
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.
The defendants testified they followed the rules at a get-tough facility where young offenders often feigned illness to avoid exercise. Their attorneys said that Anderson died not from rough treatment, but from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder.
The boy’s mother, Gina Jones, stormed out of the courtroom. “I cannot see my son no more. Everybody see their family members. It’s wrong,” she said.
Anderson’s family repeatedly sat through the painful video as it played during testimony. They had long sought a trial, claiming local officials tried to cover up the case. The conservative Florida Panhandle county is surrounded by military bases and residents are known for their respect for law and order.
“You kill a dog, you go to jail,” said Gina Jones’ lawyer, Benjamin Crump, outside court. “You kill a little black boy and nothing happens.”
The guards, who are white, black and Asian, stood quietly as the judge read the verdicts. The all-white jury was escorted away from the courthouse and did not comment.
Special prosecutor Mark Ober said in a statement he was “extremely disappointed.”
“In spite of these verdicts, Martin Lee Anderson did not die in vain,” the statement read. “This case brought needed attention and reform to our juvenile justice system.”
The defendants faced up to 30 years in prison had they been convicted of aggravated manslaughter of a child. The jury also decided against convicting them of lesser charges, including child neglect and culpable negligence.
Officials from the Department of Justice in Washington and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida announced they were reviewing the state’s prosecution. Defense attorneys, however, said they considered a federal civil-rights case to be unlikely.
“The Department of Justice has yet another opportunity, unfortunately, to demonstrate to America’s minority populations that law enforcement officials acting outside the laws of this nation will be held accountable, that the misdeeds of a few rogue officers won’t be allowed to tarnish the good work of the vast majority and that any guilty officers’ conduct will be strongly scrutinized and met with remedial action rather than a wink and a nod,” said NAACP Interim President & CEO Dennis Courtland Hayes.
“With a 90-minute verdict after a three-week trial (in the state case), it would be the same result,” said attorney Bob Sombathy, who represents ex-guard Patrick Garrett.
Aside from hitting Anderson, the guards dragged him around the military-style camp’s exercise yard and forced him to inhale ammonia capsules in what they said was an attempt to revive him. The nurse stood by watching.
Defense attorneys argued that the guards properly handled what they thought was a juvenile offender faking illness to avoid exercising on his first day in the camp. He was brought there for violating probation for stealing his grandmother’s car and trespassing at a school.
The defense said Anderson’s death was unavoidable because he had undiagnosed sickle cell trait, a usually harmless blood disorder that can hinder blood cells’ ability to carry oxygen during physical stress.
Prosecutors said the eight defendants neglected the boy’s medical needs after he collapsed while running laps. They said the defendants suffocated Anderson by covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale ammonia.
Anderson died Jan. 6, 2006, when he was taken off life support, a day after the altercation. The case quickly grew and shook up the state’s boot camp and law enforcement system amid the boy’s family alleging a cover-up.
An initial autopsy by Dr. Charles Siebert, the medical examiner for Bay County, found Anderson died of natural causes from sickle cell trait. A second autopsy was ordered and another doctor concluded that the guards suffocated Anderson through their repeated use of ammonia capsules and by covering his mouth.
Anderson’s death led to the resignation of Florida Department of Law Enforcement chief Guy Tunnell, who established the camp when he was Bay County sheriff.
Then-Gov. Jeb Bush had been a strong supporter of the juvenile boot camps, but after Anderson’s death he backed the Legislature’s move to shut down the system and put more money into a less militaristic program.
The Legislature agreed to pay Anderson’s family $5 million earlier this year to settle civil claims.
Sorry...I fully agree with the prosecutors here...
At a minimum...what they did was negligent.
ok...got it..
Another corrupt prosecutor pandering for votes and publicity.
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