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Lawyers: Cut teen-death award in half

By REBECCA CATALANELLO and ALEX LEARY
Published April 21, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The parents of a boy who died after guards kneed and punched him at a juvenile boot camp should get less than half of what Gov. Charlie Crist offered them, attorneys for the Legislature recommended Friday.

Martin Lee Anderson's parents are entitled to $2.3-million from the state, attorneys hired by the House and Senate to review the case said. Crist had offered the family a $5-million settlement during a closed-door meeting last month.

Both the governor and Anderson family attorney Ben Crump said the recommendation falls short.

"No amount of money could ever compensate the family for this terrible loss," Crist wrote in letters to House and Senate leaders Friday, stating he is committed to the $5-million.

The 14-year-old Anderson died on Jan. 6, 2006, a day after video surveillance caught images of seven guards roughing him up at the Panama City camp while a nurse watched.

All eight have been charged with manslaughter in the death, which fueled statewide outrage after the video was released.

Guards forced ammonia capsules up the teen's nose and used force that obstructed his breathing, experts say.

"You put that child and the way he was tortured and kicked and body slammed and ammonia tablets stuffed up his nose," Crump said, "and anybody sitting on a jury would say if this was my child, no way would I take whatever you throw at me."

The Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the boot camp, has already agreed to pay parents Robert Anderson and Gina Jones $2.4-million. The family originally sought $10-million from the state Department of Juvenile Justice and Bay County Sheriff's Office, or $5-million from each agency.

The Senate Committee on Civil and Criminal Justice Appropriations will take up the claims bill (SB 2968) and the recommendation Tuesday.

Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, called the attorneys' recommendation "a judicious evaluation." But Sen. Frederica Wilson, R-Miami, who sits on the Criminal Justice Appropriations, said it wasn't enough.

"The state of Florida should be embarrassed and ashamed and be willing to pay the $5-million that the governor promised," she said.

The claims bill requires a majority vote of the Senate before it can move to the House for consideration.

If it reaches floor debate, it could be divisive. The parents are no longer married, and Anderson's mother, the report notes, is married to a man who 11 years ago was charged with selling cocaine.

[Last modified April 21, 2007, 02:20:34]