UPDATE: Florida Boot Camp Trial: Not Guilty on All Counts
PROTESTERS gathered outside the Florida State Capitol building less than an hour after an all-white jury acquitted seven guards and one nurse on charges of manslaughter in the case of Martin Lee Anderson, 14.
Mr. Anderson suffered from an undiagnosed condition known as sickle cell anemia, a blood disorder found almost exclusively in blacks which causes the red blood cells to carry less oxygen in the body. The accusations of murder stemmed from the death of Mr. Anderson just one day after he had entered the program for "troubled teens" which was part of the State of Florida's correctional department. Relatives took Mr. Anderson off life support after no sign of brain activity was found; his skull was filled with blood upon arrival at the hospital.
All juvenile "boot camps" in the state have since been closed.
The outrage sparked by the verdict has extended to the United States District Attorney's Office, which has announced it is reviewing the case for possible federal charges in a superior court. Legal scholars expect such an action to be unlikely--United States Law does not allow for a person to be prosecuted twice for the same crime, but some experts have noted that if federal civil rights charges are filed, they may be held to an exemption and allowed by superior courts due to the wording of legislation passed in the 1960s and 1970s which established and strengthened the power of the federal government to review state cases.
Mr. Anderson's mother, who was awarded a $5 million dollar settlement in a civil action against the State, screamed cries of shock after storming out of the courtroom immediately after the verdict was read.
The verdict, which was reached after only 90 minutes despite the prosecution's strong case centered around a thirty minute video in which guards relentlessly beat Mr. Anderson in its entirety and forced him to inhale ammonia as a nurse stood idly by, is certain to add considerable racial tension to a case that has been reported around the world.
THE NEW YORK TIMES, in an editorial published late Friday evening, expressed sentiment that the verdict in the case follows a pattern in which guards and staff at similar facilities across the nation are never held accountable for the death, torture, or mistreatment.
In one case, a boy was so dehydrated that witness accounts stated he had eaten dirt in an attempt to stay alive. An autopsy after his death confirmed the presence of soil in his stomach.