The second autopsy is in on the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson:
Prosecutors confirmed Tuesday that a 14-year-old boy who was beaten by guards in a juvenile boot camp did not die of a blood disorder as a medical examiner initially ruled.
Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober, who is investigating the death of Martin Lee Anderson, declined to comment further on the case.
She confirmed statements from Dr. Michael Baden, a noted pathologist who observed the second autopsy that was conducted on the teenager's body.
Baden said after observing the 12-hour autopsy Monday that the teen probably died from a beating by guards, not a blood disorder.
"My opinion is that he died because of what you see in the videotape," said Dr. Michael Baden, referring to a surveillance tape showing guards kicking and punching Martin Lee Anderson's limp body the day before he died.
After seeing the videotape, the boy's parents agreed to have his body exhumed and asked Baden, who had reviewed medical evidence in the slaying of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to observe the new autopsy.
"I'm just glad the truth is out," Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, said Tuesday. "But I already knew what the truth was. Now that the truth is out, and I want justice. I want the guards and the nurse to be arrested."
Dr. Charles Siebert, who made that initial ruling after Anderson's death Jan. 6, was present at the second autopsy and may end up changing his ruling, Baden said Tuesday.
"I think he made a mistake," Baden said.
Siebert did not immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday. So now the question is, what will state investigators and prosecutors do about these new findings? The U.S. attorney in Tallahassee and the last, tired remnants of the Justice Department's civil rights division (battered under the House of Bush) are investigating, but so far there have been no arrests, no firings, no nothing -- just the closing of the boot camp where Anderson died.
State Sen. Fredricka Wilson (D) and a Republican colleague, Rep. Gus Barreiro, have been all over this case from the beginning, and are continuing to push for justice in this case, including the closure of the four remaining boot camps in the state. Florida has not exactly distinguished itself in the area of juvenile justice -- putting 14-year-olds away for life ... three dead Black teens in state custody in three years, and on and on -- but this is a genuine opportunity for the state to do the right thing.
Let's see if they take it.
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Tags: Martin Lee Anderson, Florida, Juvenile Justice, Cover-ups |
