In the Anderson case, the system
failed
By Bob Gabordi
December 3, 2006
Sometimes I wonder if it's just me
or if the world has just gone mad. Maybe it's some of both.
Last week, I wrote on my blog on
Tallahassee.com that arrests in the Martin Lee Anderson case do not
prove that the justice system works. It did not work the way it is
supposed to, and it is only because of challenges to the system that
anyone paid attention.
ADVERTISEMENT
It set off what politely could be
described as passionate responses, some directed at the dead
14-year-old, but a few directed elsewhere, including at me. Blog and
attack away; I'm not backing down.
For background, my blog was in
response to comments from a state official saying the arrests should
show that the system worked as it should.
Martin Lee Anderson spent one day
at a Bay County juvenile boot camp before being beaten, kneed and
kicked by guards last January. He died the next day, and his death
was ascribed to the sickle cell trait. The system was perfectly
willing to accept that and move on.
It took the tenacity of his parents
and a demand for justice on the part of students at Florida A&M,
Florida State and Tallahassee Community College to make a
difference. A nudge from the state's media helped, too, but most of
us said and did too little too slowly.
Saying that the system worked and
that justice is being done is just something to make us feel better
about ourselves as owners of the system. It's like a car with a
broken engine being towed uphill. It might arrive at the right spot,
but that's not working. The engine is still broken, and it still
needs to be fixed.
On Tuesday - nearly 11 months after
guards were seen on a video hurting Anderson the day before he died
- charges of aggravated manslaughter in the death of a child were
brought against seven guards and a nurse.
Those charged are to be presumed
innocent unless they are convicted in court, not by public opinion.
But the part that bothers me most is how so many of us just shrugged
and went back to work when the initial report came out.
The students and Anderson's parents
made us listen by bringing the call for justice to Gov. Jeb Bush's
office door and refusing to leave until he heard what they had to
say. State Attorney Mark Ober, special prosecutor in the case,
sought a new autopsy report, which said Anderson died from
suffocation caused by guards at the boot camp, who forced ammonia
tablets into his nose while covering his mouth.
An attorney for one of the guards
has already said more will come out during the trial about Anderson,
and how he said bad words to the guards and misbehaved. One who
responded to my blog this week wrote that he was not bothered by the
guards' slapping Anderson around. Others have pointed out how
difficult some children are to manage.
Perhaps they did not read the fact
that Anderson is dead.
No one knows if anyone will be
convicted of anything. But what is obvious here is that the system
did not work. And, speaking as the parent of a 12-year-old boy, if
no one is ever punished for Martin Lee Anderson's death, I'll never
again believe it can.
Bob Gabordi is executive editor of
the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached by
clicking on the comments button on his blog on Tallahassee.com, via
e-mail at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or by telephone (850) 599-2177.
|
