Defense attorney, doctor spar on Day 3 of boot camp trial

By ABBIE VANSICKLE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 6, 2007

Panama City resident Don Gray walks near the Bay County Juvenile Court House.
	[AP photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Doctor Vernard Adams, medical examiner for Hillsborough County, testifies Friday. "The death could not be natural because it was not caused exclusively by disease," said Adams.

PANAMA CITY -- In early 2006, Dr. Vernard Adams first watched a video of Martin Lee Anderson's last moments at a juvenile boot camp. He saw guards force ammonia in the 14-year-old's face.

To Adams, it all looked wrong. He disagreed with a fellow medical examiner's opinion that Anderson died of a rare blood disorder.

"The death could not be natural because it was not caused exclusively by disease," Adams testified Friday in the trial of boot camp employees accused of killing the teen.

Adams, the Hillsborough medical examiner who performed a second autopsy on Anderson, told jurors his conclusion came largely from the video. Defense attorneys criticized his approach.

"If your interpretation of the video is wrong, then your cause of death is wrong. Would you agree with that?" asked attorney Robert Sombathy.

"Yes," Adams replied.

The doctor's testimony took several hours in the morning, and he was one of only two witnesses in the third day of the trial. The other prosecution witness, Tampa toxicologist Cynthia Lewis-Younger, explained the chemical composition of ammonia capsules.

During hours of morning testimony, Adams faced tough questioning from Waylon Graham, a defense attorney with a thick southern accent and a flair for the dramatic.

Graham questioned Adams' motivations in a high-profile case that led to harsh criticism of Bay County Medical Examiner Charles Siebert, who performed the first autopsy and blamed Anderson's death on sickle cell trait.

Graham pointed out the political pressure in the case, which included a directive from then-Gov. Jeb Bush to Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober to resolve it.

"You were the man of the hour, weren't you?" Graham asked sarcastically. "And you looked upon this as a duty thrust upon you by the governor, right?"

"Yes," Adams answered calmly.

Graham's questions drew reactions from courtroom spectators, who chattered so loudly the judge threatened to have people removed if they couldn't be quiet.

Graham portrayed Adams as an outsider who fell victim to political pressure. He asked Adams where he grew up. Adams answered, "Maine." Graham responded: "I grew up right here."

Adams said he had no idea the case would become such a big deal back when he first heard of it in February 2006. He had heard only that a second opinion was requested in the autopsy of a teen boy in Panama City.

The doctor agreed to review the case. At the time, he figured he would just look at paperwork and analyze Siebert's test results.

Soon, though, the case became the focus of national attention as legislators demanded answers in Anderson's death. Adams found himself in the middle of the controversy.

When Ober was assigned to investigate the case, he called Adams, telling him that the governor wanted an answer, but he never pressured Adams, the doctor testified.

Anderson's body was exhumed and taken to Tampa for a second autopsy. The teen's family brought its own forensic pathologist, who wanted to perform the autopsy, Adams said. He allowed the pathologist to observe.

Graham asked if Adams felt a need to please everyone.

Adams said no, that he ignored the outside pressures, that he actually found the family's pathologist, Michael Baden, to be a "kind of a pest."

Still, Graham continued to press him on that point.

"All this background, all this knowledge that you had and, lo and behold, Dr. Vernard Adams issues a report that clearly will not get him criticized by the media?" Graham asked.

"No, sir, that's incorrect," Adams said.

Adams said he had no doubts the guards and nurse played a role in Anderson's death.

"This is the only place in the world that I am aware of where ammonia capsules were used in this way," he said.

[Last modified October 5, 2007, 23:37:21]