Parents claim
coverup in boot camp death
By MARY ELLEN KLAS
November 20, 2006
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 video tape.
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.
Hillsborough
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.
Dr. 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.''
Bush spokeswoman
Alia Faraj called allegations of a cover-up
''ridiculous.'' She said the governor is ''very
frustrated'' by the lengthy investigation and
believes ''time is of the essence.'' But short of
calling Ober's office weekly to prod them to keep
working, there is not much more he can do, she said.
''We share the
Anderson family's frustration and we would like to
see the resolution of this,'' she said.
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 yo ugo 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.
Video | Bootcamp footage