 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 - After nine months of investigation and still no arrests, the parents of Martin Lee Anderson accused Gov. Jeb Bush and the Tampa state attorney's office Monday of covering up the death of their son at a Panama City boot camp.
Gina Jones and Robert Anderson stood outside the governor's office to remind him of the promise he made to them months ago when he told them he would demand that the case was resolved before he left office in January.
''He could have done more than what he's doing -- a lot more,'' said Jones, whose 14-year-old son died Jan. 6 after being punched, kneed and suffocated with ammonia capsules by guards. The incident was captured on videotape.
CAMPS CLOSED
Bush asked Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober to handle the case and backed legislation that abolished the military-like juvenile justice facilities in Florida. The boot camp has closed, but the case is still pending and there have been no arrests.
Bush said the accusations of a cover-up were ''not true, but I share their unbelieveable frustration. Mr. Ober: If you're watching, please let's get this resolved,'' he said.
Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, who is Ober's spokeswoman, declined to discuss the family's comments Monday.
''It is a very active, pending investigation,'' Bondi said.
The NAACP of Florida announced that if the case is not resolved by the time Gov.-elect Charlie Crist is sworn into office on Jan. 2, the organization will urge students from around the state to march on the capital in silent protest.
`EVIDENT COVER-UP'
Charles Evans, president of the NAACP's Tallahassee branch, ticked off a chronology of events in the case that point to what he called ''the failure of Gov. Bush'' to faithfully execute his official duties and an ``evident cover-up by the executive branch of this state.''
Sen. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat who has championed the family's case for months, said she had held her fire against Bush and Ober to allow the prosecutor time to thoroughly investigate the killing.
Now, she believes the delay is no longer intended to give prosecutors time but politicians cover.
''Someone was told to sit on this investigation and I'm not sure who gave those orders,'' Wilson said. ``There has been so much uncovered that maybe they think it's best to sit on it.''
She said that Ober had assured her the case would be complete by the end of September, then changed that and told her it would be done by the end of October. Now, with Bush leaving office and Crist taking over, the governor is a lame duck and unlikely to force any action, she said.
''If you go to a 7-Eleven right now and steal a pack of cigarettes and it's caught on videotape, they come and find you and arrest you,'' she said. In Anderson's death, however, ''no one has been fired; no one has been transferred; no one has been arrested,'' she said.
Miami Herald staff writer Carol Marbin Miller contributed to this report.
