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MIAMI---Florida Attorney General, vying to be the state's next Governor, has asked the Florida Medical Examiners Commission to investigate autopsies conducted by Bay County Medical Examiner Dr. Charles Siebert that may have contained "fundamental flaws".
Siebert conducted the first autopsy in the death of Martin Lee Anderson, the 14-year-old boy who died in January at the Bay County Boot Camp. On Jan. 6, Siebert had made a determination that Anderson had died of complications from sickle cell trait which had not been previously diagnosed.
Anderson's family has charged that a cover up existed in boy's death and had the boy's body exhumed for a second autopsy after seeing a videotape showing guards kicking and beating the boy while he was being restrained, hiring renowned pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to participate.
Guy Tunnell, then commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement who had established the Bay County boot camp, tried to prevent the release of the videotape to the public and has since resigned after as a result of his role in the controversy.
The state review of Siebert which Crist has requested wouldn't include the Anderson autopsy.
Crist made his request to the commission by letter, asking the state agency to determine if Siebert violated state law while performing at least three autopsies "and any other flawed autopsies of which we might not be aware".
Crist has asked the commission not to include in its review Siebert's autopsy report of Anderson because he says that any investigation of might impede an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by Hillsborough state attorney Mark Ober, a special prosecutor appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush following Tunnell's removal from the case.
The results of the second autopsy have still not been made public but Ober has said that the teen didn't die of natural causes.
Siebert released a statement to The Miami Herald, saying that the investigation was a "politically motivated witch hunt" which is based on "misinformation and political pressure". He said he was "certainly prepared to undergo the scrutiny and fully cooperate".
The state agency could issue oral or written reprimands to Siebert if it determines there is evidence of wrongdoing, place him on probation or remove him from office.
Anderson was in his first day at the camp Jan. 5 when he complained of breathing difficulties during exercises as part of the entry process into the facility. He collapsed and died.
Reports from the Bay County Sheriff's office said that Anderson was being restrained because he had resisted attempts to get him to complete the exercise and for being "uncooperative."
Siebert was present when the second autopsy on Anderson was performed by Hillsborough medical examiner Dr. Vernard Adams.
A federal probe into the death has also been initiated by the U.S. Attorney's office in Tallahassee and the U.S Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
No guards or employees at the boot camp have been arrested or fired but the camp has been closed.
Anderson had been sent to the camp on a probation violation for trespassing at a school after he and his cousins had been charged with stealing their grandmother's car from a church parking lot.
Under a legislative budget agreement reached Wednesday, the juvenile boot camps would be eliminated and replaced with a less rigid program. Juvenile justice spending would be increased by $32.6 million, bringing the total to nearly $700 million if approved by the full House and Senate.
The boot camps would be replaced with STAR, Sheriff's Training and Respect, to be operated by county sheriffs. The sheriffs also operated the boot camps. 4-26-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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