Boot Camp Employees 'Not Guilty' in Boy's Death (Black Teen/All-White Jury)

[Hissyspit]

Source: CNN

Boot camp employees not guilty in boy's death
Seven guards and a nurse were accused of manslaughter

PANAMA CITY, Florida (AP) -- A jury in Florida acquitted seven boot camp guards and a nurse in the death of a 14-year-old boy. Jurors deliberated for just a few hours before returning not guilty verdicts in the emotionally charged trial. Sobs could be heard in the courtroom as jurors filed out.

The jury was asked to weigh whether the boot camp employees acted properly as caretakers or became frustrated and crossed a line because the boy repeatedly refused to comply with their orders and run laps around an exercise field.

Prosecutors had alleged the eight neglected Martin Anderson 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.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/12/bootcamp.death.ap/index.html

---

(Tactics used by guards in incident now illegal in state of Florida.)

[OzarkDem]

1. Unreal

I hope the parents bring civil charges against them.

[riskpeace]

15. The parents have already settled with the State and the Sheriff

Bay County sucks.

[kath]

62. Eek! It's awful that they settled -- they should be filing a wrongful death suit.

[kath]

63. delete - dupe

[Horse with no Name]

2. What is wrong with these people?

They drug his body all over the yard while kicking and hitting him and they are "not guilty"? Bush has succeeded at one thing. People are afraid to buck authority figures.
I bet if they did the same to a blonde white girl they would have received the death penalty.

[atreides1]

3. Was anyone expecting anything different

I don't even know why they went forward with this, it was a lost cause from day one! My sympathy goes out to the family of the boy.

[Hepburn]

6. Curious and not looking for a fight...

...just want to know why you feel this way.

TIA

[eFriendly]

14. Come on... This is Florida we're talking about here.

The brutal beating death of a black teen at the hands of white corrections officers (captured on video or not) is not a crime here in Florida. Hell, in a few years one of the officers might even get himself elected Mayor of some small hick town here. :sarcasm:

Now that the criminal trial is over, I would suggest that the family look into doing the same thing the Goldman family did to O.J. Simpson after his acquittal - they should file civil lawsuits against each of the officers, the nurse and D.O.C. Winning a civil judgment in civil court is a lot easier than winning a conviction in criminal court. And I think that financially bankrupting these murders would definitely be a step in the right direction in making the rest of these individuals' lives absolutely miserable.

[Hepburn]

20. You and I were on "apple and oranges" thoughts on this one....

...I was thinking solely LEGAL issues as to why someone would think why this case should not have been brought and you are on the practical reasons of the setting of the case. I can see your point...what I was curious about is any legal issues that made the case weak.

[atreides1]

54. It's a personal belief

It was a crap shoot, mainly because the legal issues were not going to be the main concern of the jury! I personally believe that their decision for acquittal had little to do with the legal issues, and more with their hero worship of law enforcement.

Just because a grand jury indicted them wasn't a guarantee that a trial jury would do the same thing, what did the grand jury see or hear that the trial jury didn't.

I believe that the trial jury saw 8 people who represented law enforcement, and then compared them to the victim, and the decision was reached.

The prosecutor should have gone for a change of venue.

[ProudDad]

88. In the Criminal-Injustice system

a legal issue making the case almost unwinable is...

black victim -- white murderers...

[QC]

60. "at the hands of white corrections officers"

Two of the defendants were black.

[tom_paine]

28. Yeh, and why'd those civil rights workers go down to Philadelphia, MS in 1964

They had to know something te3rrible was going to happen.

Why did they push it?

:silly:

(sorry, guy, I had to call you on this one) :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

[Hepburn]

4. I just watched the verdict come in on CTV....

...unbelievable.

I watched the video of those assholes abusing that kid while his legs buckled under him...and I cannot see a NG verdict in this case at all.

[theHandpuppet]

5. UNFRIGGINGBELIEVABLE

Damned murderers!!

:grr:

[jojo54]

7. Despicable!

Not that I like cops, but if that were a police video, they'd be desk jockeys after their suspension w/out pay. And the nurse ought to be kicked out of the profession!

[Hepburn]

8. That video shocked the hell out of me.

My neighbor and IM/court-trial-watching buddy and I both had the same read on this case ~~ they freaking abused that kid and he died. There was NO question in our minds that the defendants were culpable. The fact that he had Sickle Cell trait was just a fact and should not have been an excuse to let these bastards walk free. They held their hands over his mouth and stuff ammonia up his nose and he suffocated from lack of oxygen. This is NOT rocket science for gawd's sake!

:grr:

[tom_paine]

29. Torture can now be caught on video and the perps go free. The New Amerika.

O'er the land of TV
and the Home of the Slave.

Whatever the kid did, he didn't deserve to be tortured and murdered.

[kath]

64. "o'er the land of TV, and the home of the slave."

Good one!

[madfloridian]

9. I am outraged. More on the subject.

All white jury.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1574

Nurse said not her job to interfere.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1571

And they all go free while Martin Lee Anderson is dead

[Hepburn]

17. Thank you for the links!

This case with the NG verdicts is totally disgusting to me.

BTW: I just heard on CTV that the case is going before a federal jury on a violation of Martin Lee Anderson's civil rights.

There is a well known case in Calif where a CHP officer was tried twice in state court and the jury hung both times and the county of San Bernardino decided to not try him again. So, the feddies took over and tried him on violation of civil rights of a young gal he pulled over and murdered while he was on patrol. The bastard died in prison. The defendant's name is George Gwaltney and hopefully the asshole defendants in this case will end up just like Gwaltney did.

[FiveGoodMen]

55. We need a constitutional amendment banning all-white juries.

[kath]

61. Good idea -- especially when the victim or accused is non-white.

[leaninglib]

71. Why, that is quite a point of view that you have.

How enlightening.

[FiveGoodMen]

77. Amadou Diallo

[Hepburn]

10. What the hell is WRONG with our society that there is sooooooo

....little respect for children that those in authority not only feel NO need to protect them, but abusing them is approved of???

No wonder with a populus like this that people are not that outraged by the asshole in the WH vetoing health insurance for the children of this nation.

Fuck this shit! :grr:

[kath]

65. Teen-agers are treated like shit in this society. So many high schools resemble prisons.

[Sukie1941]

11. Yet another Southern jury decision

Sorry, folks, when a jury is all-white and the plaintiff is black, you can almost always expect the verdict to turn out like this.

I am so glad I live in the Pacific Northwest. We have our problems, but we have much less race problems than in the South.

I thought the Civil War was over. My cousin, who lives in Louisiana (her family's home is 45 miles from Jenna) and who is retired Navy, said she hasn't responded to my email about the Jenna situation as she wants to craft a thoughtful response. Haven't gotten one yet.

Why so many Black young people in our prisons? Why so many who don't finish school? What can be done about this?

I have African American kids in my extended family. They are great kids and much loved.

[brentspeak]

16. What makes you think you have "much less race problems" than the South?

[Sukie1941]

25. Open your eyes and see

I have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1951 and lived in both Portland and Seattle, using public transportation in both places. I have also lived in So Oregon (redneck country) and along the Oregon Coast, in Eugene and north of Seattle in small towns. I have lived on the high desert in Paisley and Klamath Falls. I have worked for and with "minorities" all my adult life. We do not have the race problems here that you see in the South.

Come and see for yourself!

Our biggest problem is meth up and down Interstate Five, and it is not blacks running meth for the most part.

[ProudDad]

90. You might want to check it again...

If you're in Wash St.: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/WA_Black.html



If you're in Oregon: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/OR_Black.html




I wouldn't be so smug if I were you.

Overt and Covert racism are a USAmerikan problem -- the legacy of Slavery...

[bitchkitty]

80. "much less race problems than in the South"

Not to put too fine a point on it, but that is pure crap. I live in Oregon and I can tell you that there are more racist white people here than I EVER saw in Lawrenceville, GA.

[ikojo]

81. Wasn't it in Oregon where an Ethiopian immigrant

was beaten to death by a mob of neo nazis? Didn't Morris Dees bring suit against Tom Metzger?

Any type of nationalism is dangerous.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DB163AF932A15750C0A965958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

HATE ON TRIAL The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi. By Morris Dees and Steve Fiffer. Illustrated. 280 pp. New York: Villard Books. $21.

ON Nov. 13, 1988, a 28-year-old Ethiopian student named Mulugeta Seraw was clubbed to death by a gang of skinheads in Portland, Ore. Two weeks later, in the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., the organization's chief trial counsel, Morris Dees, studied documents provided by the Portland police. In 1987, Mr. Dees and other lawyers from the center successfully brought a civil suit that bankrupted the Alabama chapter of the Ku Klux Klan after several Klan members were convicted of killing a young black man in Mobile. Testimony from a remorseful Klansman helped the victim's mother win a $7 million award, which included a Klan-owned building that she sold.

The three men convicted in connection with Seraw's death were followers of the White Aryan Resistance, a neo-Nazi group with headquarters in Fallbrook, Calif., led by Tom Metzger and his son John.

[bitchkitty]

82. Yes, although I was thinking more

that once not so very long ago, Oregon didn't even allow black people into the state.

Because of Portland, some people assume that Oregon is some sort of liberal oasis, and it's just not true.

IMHO you have to fight racism everywhere, because it is everywhere. Just because some racists have the sense to stay under the radar, doesn't mean that they aren't there.

[Speciesamused]

12. All white Jury by any chance? Yes.

And we all know it is still
illegal to be black or poor.
They murdered this child and
walk away. Disgusting.
I live in Florida it is Jena too.

[Solly Mack]

13. sick bunch of fucks...and I'm talking about the jury

"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."

[Hepburn]

19. .....

...as a retired atty who did defense....I am deeply ashamed that this asshole is part of the defense bar.

:puke:

[Solly Mack]

21. I know! Those statements ...sickening

[Hepburn]

23. I cannot imagine even maybe saying anything kind of, sort of...

...anything like that sick statement for ANY reason let alone using it as a fucking legal argument!

Unbelievable! :grr:

[ohio2007]

76. I think the legal teams had a lot of input in selcting this 'unequal jury'

Was the case on court TV ?

[acmavm]

18. This is wrong. This is just so damn wrong. No offense to any

Florida DUers but I sure wish we could cut off the entire state and set it adrift.

[momster]

36. I've got a Saws-All

and a lo-o-o-ng extension cord.

My dh wants to retire to FLA. I'm saying no freakin' way.

[riskpeace]

22. Bay County could be the most backwards place in the US.

This is where they castrated the rapist a month or so ago.

They've been slandering the mother and father in the local media for months.
The medical examiner was removed by a state panel and then the locals re-installed him anyway.
There was no chance that those guards would be convicted. One of the jury members works with one of the guard's wife.
The judge threw the dead kid's father out of the courtroom yesterday; so the only person officially punished by the Court is the dead kid's father.
Boycott Panama City Beach. Go to http://www.pcbeach.org/tellus.php and tell them why you'll spend your tourism dollars somewhere else.

[yardwork]

56. This is the area where the Republican child-rapist caught in the sting lived.

Remember the U.S. attorney who was caught in the sting after he solicited sex with a five year old girl? He committed suicide in his cell in Michigan recently. He was from this part of Florida. It's deep red.

[kath]

66. "One of the jury members works with one of the guard's wife"

!!!!

What. The. Fuck.
HOW can this be allowed?

Why did the judge throw the dead kid's father out of the courtroom?

[riskpeace]

72. Yes

One of the jurors worked with the wife of one of the guards (I think Mr. Enright).
They could find a juror who worked with the wife of a defendant but they could not find a juror who was black. Bay County defies all logic proudly.

The judge threw the father out of the courtroom on Wednesday during the testimony of the local Medical Examiner who did the first autopsy and said that sickle cell trait killed the young man. During his testimony, he actually said that the ammonia capsules and the "manhandling" kept the kid alive during his sickle cell collapse. The father supposedly was talking and "making noises" during this testimony about his dead son. The judge responded by kicking him out of the courtroom. Reporters who were nearby said they did not hear anything from the father. And the judge let him return the next day after questions from CNN, Washington Post and NYT.

Bay County -- World's Most Beautiful Beaches; World's Most Spiteful People

[adadem]

24. Shameful n/t

[Hepburn]

26. Kick.....

....IMO, this needs to go to the Greatest Page. This case is just SHOCKING to me.

I wish I could figure how that jury in any manner found that those defendants were NOT culpable for the death of the 14 year old child.

[tom_paine]

27. Forced inhalation of ammonia whil being beaten = torture

Imperial Amerika is rapdily becoming a nation very comfortable with giving and getting torture.

[Trillo]

30. What does this mean with respect to compulsory education in general?

That if you don't 'choose' to cooperate, pain compliance and torture can be used until you either cooperate or die?

Gotta keep the cycle of violence in deep generational perpetuation, doncha know.

[GOPNotForMe]

31. Ashamed to be a Floridian. AGAIN. This is awful. nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

32. A disgusting injustice

The boy died from their abuse and they were found to be administering proper care?

Sickening!

[sasquatch]

33. They rigged the jury those racist fucks

:argh:

[otherlander]

34. FUCKING HELL!

:banghead:

[Hissyspit]

35. Civil suit needed, I believe. n/t

[KansDem]

37. "...covering his mouth and forcing him to inhale fumes from ammonia capsules."

But they could get a ticket for smoking in their cars...

:sarcasm:

[sasquatch]

38. Guards acquitted in boot camp case

Source: yahoo news

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Eight former boot camp workers were acquitted of manslaughter Friday in the death of a 14-year-old boy who was videotaped being punched and kicked. The scene sparked outrage and changes in the juvenile system, but it jurors took just 90 minutes to decide it 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.

Martin Lee Anderson died a day after being hit and kicked by Dickens and six other guards as a nurse watched, a 30-minute confrontation that drew protests in the state capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of juvenile boot camps.

The defendants testified that 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, distraught.

"You kill a dog, you go to jail," said her lawyer, Benjamin Crump. "You kill a little black boy and nothing happens." He spoke outside court, which is across the street from the now-closed Bay County boot camp.

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.

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.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/ap_on_re_us/boot_camp_death

---

They rigged the fucking jury, those racist fucks. I hope they get their tits sued off the murdering fucks.

[ceile]

39. Unbelievable.

I'm speechless.

[awoke_in_2003]

40. Damn, your quick

beat me by a minute. I cannot believe this happened. The parents' lawyer summed it up- "You kill a dog, you go to jail," said her lawyer, Benjamin Crump. "You kill a little black boy and nothing happens."

on edit: K&R

[varkam]

45. Isn't that something.

It's always struck me as odd that there should be more collective outrage when a dog is killed as opposed to a human (especially if that human happens to be of the wrong skin color).

[redqueen]

41. Wasn't this posted a couple hours ago?

Is this a different story?

[Hissyspit]

44. Dupe:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3026312

[Akoto]

42. What?!

They beat the kid to death. It's right there on the frickin' tape! I really don't know what to say.

[madrchsod]

43. a shining example of america for all the world to see!

[awoke_in_2003]

46. Guards acquitted in boot camp case

Source: Associated Press

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - Seven former boot camp guards and a nurse were acquitted Friday of manslaughter in the death of a 14-year-old boy who was hit and kicked by the drill instructors in a videotaped altercation.

The video of a limp Martin Lee Anderson being hit and kicked by the guards after he collapsed while exercising drew protests in the state capital and spelled the end of Florida's system of boot camps for juvenile offenders. Anderson died at a hospital the day after the altercation.



The defendants, however, said they followed the rules at a get-tough facility where young offenders often feigned illness to avoid exercise, and their attorneys said that Anderson died not from rough treatment, but from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder.

Former guard Henry McFadden later said he was relieved that the case was over: "We were innocent all along. We knew this truth would come out," he told Court TV.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/ap_on_re_us/boot_camp_death

---

"Undiagnosed blood disorder"- is that a new way to say African American? Un-fricking-believable.

[awoke_in_2003]

47. Didn't know sasquatch's could move so fast...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3026502

Beat me by a minute.

[Hissyspit]

49. Dupe. Both beat:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3026312

:)

[rodeodance]

48. my gawd!

[anitar1]

50. What sort of people were on the jury ? horrible. n/t

[katmondoo]

51. I live in Florida and this verdict disgusted me.

Not a surprise though and that is sickening.

[jackster]

52. Native Floridian here....

one more reason to weep for my home state but jump for joy I left in '80

[Catherine Vincent]

53. It's hard to believe not one juror would hold out in the acquittal.

So sad.

[tom_paine]

70. Nothing the Imperial Subjects of Amerika do surprises me much anymore

The mental configuration of our fellow citizens is largely that which vaulted Hitler into power and kept him there.

Not much else to say. It is the final gift of the Founding Fathers and that the Busheis still feel uncomfortable about fully revealing their Final Solutions to the Liberal Problem.

[go west young man]

57. Any normal person who has watched that video know the gaurds

were definently not innocent and at the least they were derelict in their duty. But what do we expect from a "justice" system that treats children as adults and gives a badge to any idiot who'll accept 20 G's a year.

[depakid]

58. Florida- nothing that comes out of that state surprises me

This is just another piece of evidence for the existence of some form of collective insanity.

[Hissyspit]

59. .

[fortyfeetunder]

67. a bleeping bleeping bleeping travesty of justice

If anything I learned from todays verdict: Black folk, especially the young males are dangerous and violent; if they violate the law, then they must be jailed, or beaten into submission or death :sarcasm:

[dropkickpa]

68. What the motherfuck?!?!?!?!

Did the jury not SEE the tapes? It was horrifying to watch, you see the poor kid struggling for his life!!!

[shanti]

69. this story makes me physically ill

:cry: heartless racist monsters!!

[ohio2007]

73. Black guards found not guilty by all white jury

I wonder what kind of law suits would have been brought up if the all white jury found them guilty?

oh, Why did both sides decide an all white jury was a good thing?

didn't that scream race card on its own ?

[Skittles]

79. it doesn't seem like a jury of one's peers that's for sure

my peers are not all lily-white like me :o

[Speciesamused]

86. Thats the way they roll around these here parts...

Ashamed in Florida.

[Name removed]

74. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ohio2007]

75. They've already been paid $5 million. This move of exonerating the guards

is what the parents wanted to happen but the media didn't cover their forgiving of the guards.

[yardwork]

78. What? The mother is hysterical after the verdict. What are you talking about?

Not all the guards were black. As the article says, they were black, white, and Asian.

[Guaranteed]

83. This is pretty sick. They killed this presumably healthy kid.

There ought to be criminal consequences.

[Guaranteed]

84. "The jury also decided against convicting them of lesser charges, including child neglect and

culpable negligence."

Wow. Didn't even think those lesser charges applied, eh? Nope. Not even child neglect.

Yeah. What a jury.

[fujiyama]

85. Nothing new here

When the jury is all white and the victim is black, the defendant almost gets off easy. I think there have been studies shown about this. If this was a white kid that was killed, you can be sure the defendants would have been convicted of SOMETHING!

[ProudDad]

87. Well, as that great philosopher said...

Surprise, surprise.




As "Horse with no Name" said, "I bet if they did the same to a blonde white girl they would have received the death penalty."

You've got that right!

[ProudDad]

89. In case you're wondering

Here's the ruthless criminal it took 7 guards and an alleged nurse to kill...

[ProudDad]

91. After reading the full article

I'm struck by the parallels to this case:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3010984



and this one:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3028045



and this one:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3025281


Hmmm, I think I see a trend here... :shrug:

[LeftHander]

92. Civil wrongful death suit will destroy that "industry"....nt

[Blue_Tires]

93. ttt