Boot camp leader testifies

He says he thought Martin Anderson was shirking boot camp.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 9, 2007

Former Bay County Boot Camp commander Mike Thompson looks at inmate Martin Lee Anderson's medical report held by prosecutor Pam Bondi during the fourth day of the trial.
	[AP photo]

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Former Bay County Boot Camp guard Charles Helms Jr., demonstrates the use of compliance force used on boot camp inmates.

PANAMA CITY - In all his years as a soldier and drill instructor, Charles Helms Jr. never lost a man -- until the day the 14-year-old came to boot camp.

He figured Martin Lee Anderson was shirking exercise. He held ammonia under the boy's nose. And then, from the moment he gave the order to call 911, Helms stayed with him, he said in court Monday.

"I don't leave the kid's side until Lifeflight takes him because it's one of my kids. I'm responsible," he said. "You never leave one of your soldiers. You never leave one of your troops."

Helms, a 51-year-old with a weathered face and a white crew cut, commanded the boot camp yard on Jan. 5, 2006, the day Anderson collapsed while running laps. As the first defendant to testify, Helms provided a soundtrack to the silent videotape of the teen's final moments in the boot camp's yard.

It was the fourth day of the trial of eight boot camp employees accused in the death. Helms, Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh and camp nurse Kristin Schmidt each face charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Monday marked the end of the prosecutors' case and the beginning of the defense's.

Before Helms testified, jurors heard briefly from a man who monitored the boot camp program for the Department of Juvenile Justice and from a DJJ employee who saw Anderson the night before he was transferred to the boot camp.

Prosecutors closed their case with Dr. Shairi Turner, DJJ's medical director, who said she spoke with the camp nurse shortly after Anderson was hospitalized.

"Did she tell you ammonia was used?" asked Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi.

"No, she did not," Turner said.

"Did she tell you Martin Anderson's mouth was covered?" Bondi asked.

"No, she did not," Turner replied.

Walter Smith, who represents Enfinger, started the defense, telling the jury that the boot camp employees' intentions weren't evil.

"This is a day at the office for all of these people," he said.

That idea was echoed throughout the afternoon as jurors heard from two of the boot camp's top brass: Capt. Mike Thompson and Helms.

Thompson supervised the boot camp in January 2006. He said the camp was a paramilitary environment, the sort anyone who has been through the military would understand.

"We were drill instructors," Thompson said. "Drill instructors come from the military. That's the way we were trained."

Thompson was at the boot camp when Anderson arrived in January, but it was Helms, a former Army drill instructor, who had direct control over the teen that day.

Helms called the boot camp a "shock incarceration" program, a regimen designed to put young offenders on the right path. Drill instructors often face resistance from teens on the first day, which is why he thought Anderson was faking illness.

Helms was on the phone when he realized there was a problem. In the yard, he saw guards surrounding Anderson.

"I heard the offender say something to the effect that, 'I'm not going to do this,' or 'I'll do it tomorrow,' something along those lines," Helms said.

Helms walked jurors through the video, pointing out when he used ammonia.

"I was trying to put my hand just over the mouth and give it support so that if he did rise up, like he did do, I wouldn't be busted in the mouth," he said.

When he noticed Anderson was wet with sweat, motionless and unblinking, Helms realized the gravity of the situation. He turned toward the nurse.

"I think we looked at each other, and said, 'Call 911,' at almost the same time," he said.

From there, he rode with Anderson in the ambulance, then drove to Pensacola, where the teen was flown for emergency care. There, Helms met the boy's family.

"A doctor came in and talked to the family about the possibility of removing him from life support," Helms recalled. "I'm dumbfounded. I don't know what to say. Removing him from life support? It's just not believable."

Testimony continues today.

Abbie VanSickle can be reached at vansickle@sptimes.com or 813-226-3373.

Defendant Charles Helms

Lt. Charles Helms Jr., 51, the camp's second in command, a military veteran with three children, joined the boot camp staff in 1994. He was suspended without pay for five days in April and May 2005 for violating the sheriff's code of conduct, including submitting false written reports and making false statements to staff members. After he was forced to leave the boot camp, he took a job at a chemical plant.

[Last modified October 9, 2007, 00:12:51]