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Sides form over boot camp death :
Many minds in Panama City appear made up along racial lines as jury
selection begins
September 25, 2007
By Abbie Vansickle
Jonathan Wilson remains hopeful that the
Gina Jones, Martin Lee Anderson's
Cassandra Johnson says, "Things are 'fixin'
guards will get a fair
trial
mom holds his photo taken hours
to be ugly."
before he entered the boot camp
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - At her cozy
diner in downtown Panama City, Cassandra Johnston dishes up fried
this and fried that for the lunch crowd in exchange for generous
servings of local chatter.
So when she heard that a
14-year-old black teen had died here after he was roughed up by boot
camp guards, most of them white, she knew something bad was cooking.
"This thing's fixing to be ugly,"
says Johnston, 39, who is white. She leans in. Her voice drops to a
whisper. "I've been here since day one. Everybody's pretty much got
their own opinion, depending on what race they are."
When residents learned the seven
guards and boot camp nurse would face trial right here in Bay County
on charges of aggravated manslaughter, many wondered: Can there be a
fair jury here? Many, Johnston included, have doubts.
Jury selection started Monday in
this small city nestled along the Gulf Coast. Tourists might think
of eternal spring break when they hear the name, but Panama City is
different from Panama City Beach. It's slated for a lot of growth,
residents say, but growth hasn't happened yet.
"Baby, this is a small southern
town," Johnston says. "It is run by a select group of people."
Many of the 1,400 potential jurors
trickled into the Marina Civic Center at 8 a.m. Monday.
One by one, potential jurors were
vetted by prosecutors and defense attorneys. The court started with
the handful who said they didn't know about the case. Juror 145 said
he listens only to "overseas" news. Juror 70 said she doesn't pay
attention to any news. Juror 102 had been out of the country for two
years.
Anderson's mother, Gina Jones, sat
in the back of the room. A row of reporters lined a wall on the
side.
Young and old, white and black,
most jurors knew about the case. Many could name major players such
as controversial Bay County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert, as
well as discuss details about boot camp policy and whether Anderson
died of suffocation or sickle cell trait.
Most had some opinion on the case.
Many said they would do their best to put that aside and to listen
to the facts in court. Still, some of those in the jury pool seemed
far fewer than six degrees of separation from those involved.
Juror 114 had worked as a nurse in
the corrections system for years. She said she put a lot of the
responsibility on the boot camp's nurse but promised she could be
fair. She made it past the first round.
Juror 46 knew one of the guard's
families and begged not to be picked. He was sent home. Juror 10 was
friends with Anderson's mom. She, too, went home. Juror 73 knew all
about the case and said she was so afraid to be on the jury that she
couldn't be impartial. The judge sent her home.
In addition to being widely known,
the boot camp case has aroused passionate feelings in the community.
On a recent afternoon in
Cassandra's Place, a local man who wouldn't give his name ate pasta.
The man, who is white, said he sides with Anderson's family and that
his mind was already made up and so is everyone else's, one way or
another.
Outside the restaurant, a group of
white men stood gabbing. When asked about the case, there was plenty
to say.
Kenneth French, a 61-year-old
retired Panama City police officer, was out of town on vacation when
he learned of Anderson's death. His first thought?
"I said, God, don't let that boy be
black," French says. He said that it was Anderson's own fault that
he was in the boot camp and that the guards weren't to blame.
French and his friends think the
teen died of sickle cell, not from the guards' actions.
"Everyone in this town knows every
detail," he said.
At a local municipal meeting to
spruce up the city's downtown, the tenor of talk is less rough but
just as opinionated.
Robert Hurst, vice president of the
historical society, appliance store owner and ardent building
preservationist, sums it up.
"Well, it's mostly divided between
the whites and blacks," he said. "The whites basically sympathize
with the sheriff's deputies that the guards are getting the raw end
of the deal."
Another of the meeting's attendees,
James Oshields, who helps run a community alliance, echoed Hurst,
adding that, like many in the white community, he supports the
medical examiner.
"We'd like to see him vindicated
and get back in office," Oshields says.
In another part of town, City
Commissioner Jonathan E. Wilson Sr. spends his days cutting hair at
Wilson Brothers Barber Shop. On this day, the discussion is the Jena
Six, a case of black teens accused of beating a white teen in
Louisiana. The Jena case has attracted thousands of protesters.
Wilson, the city's only black
commissioner, said he would love to feel there will be a fair jury
in Panama City.
"I really feel -- and I would
rather say this than to say otherwise -- that we could choose a jury
here in Bay County that would be impartial," he said.
That said, he had his own thoughts
on the case.
"A lot of people look at this as a
racial case, but I don't see it that way," he said. "I think it was
just a case of negligence on the officers' part."
For him, it's about power gone
awry. He doesn't want this case to add to any racial divide. He
wants healing.
"Somewhere we've got to get beyond
the racial thing in this country," he said. "This gives people an
idea that racism is still alive."
The struggles of the civil rights
movement were clearly on the minds of black students outside the
civic center during jury selection.
From the jury room could be heard
the chants of protesters outside, yelling, "What do we want?
Justice. When do we want it? Now."
One held a sign that showed
Anderson in his casket. Another held a poster that recalled a civil
rights icon who also died as a young man. It read, "Emmett Till?"
Times researcher John Martin
contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at (813)
226-3373.
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