Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died after being beaten by guards at the Bay County Boot Camp on January 5. The boot camp is operated by the Bay County Sheriff's Department and overseen by Florida's Department of Juvenile Justice.

TALLAHASSEE - Student activists marched on the state Capitol with brooms Thursday, declaring they would not let Gov. Jeb Bush and state officials "sweep under the rug" the Jan. 6 death of Martin Lee Anderson at a Panhandle boot camp for juvenile delinquents.

The 11 a.m. demonstration came one day after a federal judge in Tallahasse dealt a blow to Martin's parents, who had filed a civil lawsuit claiming that the negligence of state juvenile justice and Bay County Sheriff's officials led to Martin's death.

In a ruling Wednesday, Chief U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle dismissed an allegation in the lawsuit that Bay County Sheriff's officers and administrators at the Department of Juvenile Justice "conspired" to cover up the cause of Martin's death.

Hinkle also ruled that the family could not recover punitive damages if a North Florida jury rules in their favor.

The rally, which was organized by a group of students from Florida State University and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, began at a Tallahassee square several blocks from the Capitol, called Kleman Plaza, and ended at the Capitol Courtyard with students chanting, among other things, "Justice Delayed, Justice Denied."

Martin, 14, was admitted to the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp Jan. 5 on a joyriding conviction. He died after a 30-minute to 40-minute restraint, in which guards punched and kneed him, and applied painful pressure to his head and jaw.

An autopsy by Bay County's medical examiner, Charles Siebert, ruled the youth died of sickle cell trait, a genetic blood disorder. But a second autopsy ordered by a Tampa-based special prosecutor concluded the youth was asphyxiated.

"We are here to speak for a boy who has no voice today," Andrew Gillum, a Tallahassee city commissioner who graduated from FAMU, said at the rally.

Said Octavia Singleton, an FSU freshman studying social work: "This young man was killed over nothing. His parents thought he was going off to be rehabilitated, and he came back dead. . . . We need justice. This boy's family needs to be able to have some peace."

The trial in Martin's parents' civil lawsuit is set to begin April 16.

In his order, the judge said he dismissed the family's claim for punitive damages against the state and sheriff's office because state law specifically forbids such recoveries.

Ruth Sasser, a spokeswoman for Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, whose boot camp has since closed, declined to discuss Hinkle's order Thursday, as did Cynthia Lorenzo, DJJ Secretary Anthony Schembri's chief of staff.

"Due to pending litigation, we are unable to comment on Judge Hinkle's order," Lorenzo wrote in an e-mail to The Miami Herald.

Benjamim Crump, who represents Martin's parents, Robert Anderson and Gina Jones, said the order was disappointing because the family had hoped to secure a verdict from a jury that state officials had conspired to cover up the cause of Martin's death. He was pleased, however, that the judge left in a claim that state officials violated Martin's civil rights.

The order, Crump said, "does nothing to affect the heart of the issue."

The family still can argue that state and Bay County officials were responsible for -- and tried to cover up -- Martin's death, Crump said. "We just can't call it a conspiracy."