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Friday, Feb 10, 2006

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Posted on Fri, Feb. 10, 2006

JUVENILE BOOT CAMP

Sheriff: Critics overreacted

The sheriff who runs the juvenile boot camp where a teenager died called Miami-Dade lawmakers who saw and described a videotape of the incident `loose cannons.'

BY MARC CAPUTO AND CAROL MARBIN

mcaputo@MiamiHerald.com

PANAMA CITY - A North Florida sheriff called two Miami-Dade legislators ''loose cannons'' Thursday for publicly describing a videotape allegedly showing deputies beating a 14-year-old boy who died hours later.

Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, whose office runs the juvenile boot camp in which the incident occurred, said the two lawmakers ``overreacted, and as a result we could all suffer the consequences.''

''Inaccurate statements by both representatives have done nothing but add fuel to an already volatile situation,'' McKeithen said in a short, written statement. ``I humbly ask the public to let officials do their job, complete the investigation and then make a decision based on facts, not the comments of loose cannon politicians.''

The two Miami-Dade lawmakers were shown the videotape Wednesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is investigating the Jan. 5 death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson.

Both state legislators said the video showed guards punching, kicking and choking the teen. The FDLE has so far refused to make the video public, saying it is part of the investigation.

The two lawmakers strongly defended their actions, saying the treatment and rehabilitation of young offenders is of critical state interest and that Floridians have a right to know why a teenager died while in a state-funded program.

''If this was a great program, and it was run well, then viewing the tape and describing its contents might make me a loose cannon,'' said state Rep. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat. ``But experts say the program is bad. It is not a good program.''

His fellow representative, Miami Beach Republican Gus Barreiro, was more pointed: ''What the sheriff needs to be concerned about is what happened to that young man and not calling elected officials, who are trying to find out the truth and do what's best for this family, loose cannons,'' he said.

``We need to deal with what happened to that young man. We need to deal with boot camps as a whole, but we owe it to this young man to find out what happened to him.''

Shortly after the sheriff released his statement, the dead boy's parents appeared before the media asking that the public be allowed to see the video, taken by a camp camera.

`THIS IS MY BABY'

Gina Jones, Martin's mother, who said her son would have turned 15 today, held up a picture of her son in a casket.

''This is my baby,'' she said, trembling fingers holding the snapshot that bears the superimposed phrase: ``I'm resting in peace, Mom and Dad.''

Martin died hours after guards at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp ''restrained'' him, officials say, for not following orders. And, despite the family's pleas, law enforcement officials say they will not make the tape public for the moment.

''Release the tape,'' Barreiro said. ``The tape holds all the answers.''

Barreiro and Gelber called what they saw ''brutal,'' ''disturbing'' and ''heinous.'' Barreiro likened it to the beating of Rodney King by police in Los Angeles.

Jones told reporters that her son's organs were so damaged they couldn't be donated.

''I'm very upset,'' she said. ``I feel like I should be the one to see [the video] first because that's my baby. . . .

''I wish that on no mom,'' Jones said. ``I wish that no baby went through what my baby went through. He was 140 pounds. Half their weight, half of their height. Those guys -- they didn't have to do that to my baby.''

Martin was arrested for joyriding in his grandmother's car while she attended church. Though she did not want to press charges, her grandson ended up at the military-style youth camp, where, Barreiro and Gelber told The Miami Herald, he was ''brutalized'' by between six and eight officers.

In a statement Thursday, FDLE Commissioner Guy M. Tunnell described the lawmakers' statements to the newspaper as ``premature at best, and, in view of the fact that the video is evidence in an ongoing investigation, irresponsible at worst.''

Family members, however, and their attorney said they had little confidence in the FDLE's investigation, saying it appeared to be a ``coverup.''

The boot camp was built by Tunnell when he was sheriff of Bay County. Tunnell promoted many of those in charge. And now he's head of the agency investigating the teen's death.

''The family is gravely concerned whether they will get justice or not. You have to worry about small-town justice in a place like Panama City,'' said Benjamin Crump, attorney for Martin's family.

Through a spokesman, Tunnell issued a written statement saying the agency will investigate fairly.

Barreiro and Gelber, both of whom sit on the House's Juvenile Justice Appropriations Committee, as well as at least four members of Gov. Jeb Bush's staff, viewed the 20- to 30-minute video at the FDLE's Tallahassee headquarters.

VIEWING LIMITED

State prosecutors had urged the FDLE to keep the tape under wraps, arguing that if anybody outside the criminal investigation viewed it, the public at large would be entitled to see it.

In his statement Thursday, Tunnell said ``the video is evidence gathered as part of FDLE's investigation. Since the investigation is active, the video is exempt from public disclosure.''

Joe Grammer, deputy chief assistant state attorney in the Panhandle area, said prosecutors do not have a copy of the tape, but supported the FDLE's decision to withhold it from public viewing.

The Bay County medical examiner is awaiting results of several chemical tests used to help determine the cause of Martin's death, he said. When the autopsy report is final, coroners can release their report to the FDLE, which, in turn, will then hand over their investigation to prosecutors, Grammer said.

''I don't know when to expect that,'' he said, ``but I think the time is imminent.''

Herald staff writer Gary Fineout contributed to this report.

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