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Examiner clings to job after boot
camp
He says all the facts about a teen's death will come out soon.
September 18, 2007
By Alex Leary
Bay County medical examiner Dr.
Charles Siebert speaks during a news conference in Panama City,
Fla., about the death of Martin Lee Anderson, 14, at a state boot
camp for delinquents earlier this year. Siebert said that Anderson,
who was beaten by guards, died from internal bleeding caused by a
blood disorder and not from injuries he may have suffered while
being restrained.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. - A year and a
half ago, Charles Siebert was condemned as the medical examiner with
the gall to rule that a boy who collapsed at a boot camp died of
natural causes.
 His
conclusion -- that Martin Lee Anderson died of sickle cell trait, a
disease that mostly affects African-Americans -- stood in stark
contrast to what millions saw on TV. A surveillance camera captured
guards hitting and kneeing the 14-year-old.
Protesters flooded the Capitol.
They accused the doctor of racism and a coverup. Seven guards and a
nurse are scheduled to go on trial here next month, each facing up
to 30 years in prison. Siebert lost his job.
Now Bay County, the center of the
controversy, has become Charles Siebert's sanctuary, a safe haven,
though probably temporary, from the legion of critics who called for
his head. Fired by the state Medical Examiners Commission this
summer, Siebert has been given his job back by Bay County State
Attorney Steve Meadows.
Gina Jones holds a photo of her son, Martin Lee
Anderson, taken just before he entered the boot
camp facility.
"I will not sacrifice Charles
Siebert on the altar of political expedience or correctness,"
Meadows said in June.
"There have been so many
conflicting stories from the experts about what happened. We are all
willing and anxious to let the courts try this case, not politicians
or the public," said County Commissioner George Gainer.
Siebert, 45, who is appealing his
dismissal, says he has backers in more vital corners: the medical
community. Experts have come to his defense, calling the sickle cell
trait finding credible.
"I'm actually looking forward to
the trial," Siebert said in an interview at his office on a recent
afternoon. "It's going to be the first time that all the truth comes
out."
A second rescue
 Meadows
has thrown a lifeline to another political figure disgraced by the
January 2006 boot camp death: former Florida Department of Law
Enforcement commissioner Guy Tunnell. Tunnell, a Panama City native
and former Bay County sheriff, is working as an investigator for the
State Attorney's Office at $72,000 a year.
"I felt it would be a waste to have
that much talent just walk out the door all because he made one
mistake that he has apologized for. When is enough enough?" Meadows
said.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, seated,
hands Gina Jones, the
mother of Martin Lee Anderson, a pen after signing the
wrongful death compensation bill in Tallahassee, Fla.
Tunnell got in trouble when
reporters discovered he was trading e-mails with Bay County Sheriff
Frank McKeithen about the boot camp investigation -- an inquiry
Tunnell's agency was leading. Then, in April 2006, Tunnell made
snide remarks about the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Sen. Barack Obama of
Illinois, who were expected to come to Tallahassee for a protest.
Meadows is unabashed by his hiring
moves, which have gone largely unnoticed outside Bay County.
"I hope it says that we don't just
make knee-jerk decisions based on press accounts or protests, but
rather that we make our decisions on the facts and the best judgment
we have regarding the abilities of the people who have come into
question," he said.
"Birds of a feather flock
together," scoffed state Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, an early
and vocal critic of Siebert. "That's what makes people cynical about
government."
Expert's support
"It's a horrible thing to watch,
you've got to admit that," Siebert says of the videotape at the
center of the case. "But if you break it down, nothing they did to
him killed him."
Siebert's findings were so widely
scorned that the special prosecutor ordered a second autopsy.
Hillsborough Medical Examiner
Vernard Adams concluded that Anderson was suffocated, partly by the
guards' hands and ammonia they pushed in his face. Backed with that
report, Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober charged the guards and
a nurse, who stood around while Anderson was being manhandled, with
aggravated manslaughter on a child.
That was November. In the months
since, Siebert's confidence has grown from the support he has
received.
Dr. E. Randy Eichner, a sickle cell
expert and retired professor of medicine at the University of
Oklahoma, prepared a report calling Siebert's autopsy "scientific,
explanatory and credible." In a court deposition he says Adams'
scenario about ammonia causing vocal chord spasms is "fantasy. It is
just as unscientific as you could possibly get."
Adams, who declined comment for
this story, stood by his report in a deposition in June. He said it
was possible Anderson was suffering from the beginning of sickle
cell trait and perhaps it made him die sooner, but that "there's
enough suffocation going on to entirely account for the clinical
events that followed." Other experts have concurred with his
findings, according to statements in the case file.
One powerful critic
BurnieThompson, a conservative
radio host in Panama City, has sharply criticized the news media
outside Bay County and Gov. Charlie Crist for being dismissive of
the medical examiner.
"Significant information has been
omitted in this case," Thompson said in an interview, "and that's
egregious."
Nevertheless, in June, the Medical
Examiners' Commission voted to fire Siebert, saying that by
diminishing the guards' role he was dishonest in his autopsy.
But Meadows quickly appointed
Siebert as the interim medical examiner. The prosecutor pointed to
the commission's own survey of 45 law enforcement officials, funeral
directors, prosecutors and public defenders, all but two of whom
expressed support.
"Despite what amounts to reckless
character assassination by some media outlets and, regrettably, even
some members of our government," Meadows said, "I believe Dr.
Siebert to be a competent and thorough medical examiner not beholden
to anyone or any cause."
Meadows now chairs the committee
that will pick a permanent medical examiner. Only two people have
applied, a man from Arizona and Charles Siebert.
"I've been saying all along that
I'm right, and now I have the support locally," Siebert said.
"That's one of the reasons why I'm fighting as hard as I am."
No matter how many people may
support him, though, Siebert is facing an unwavering critic: Crist,
who has the final say in picking medical examiners.
"I don't think he's qualified,"
Crist said last week, adding that he wants to look into ways to have
Siebert removed from the interim post, which pays $200,000. Told of
the experts who have backed Siebert, Crist says it doesn't matter.
"I've lost confidence in him."
Siebert all but concedes defeat. "I
don't see a long-term future here anymore. They took science out of
the equation and it became a political game and that's a shame."
Alex Leary can be reached at aleary@sptimes.com
or 850 224-7263.
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