Defense Begins Arguments In Florida Juvenile Boot Camp Murder Trial

October 8, 2007 5:55 p.m. EST

Panama City, FL (AHN) - Eight juvenile detention employees stood trial Monday in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy whose 2006 beating, caught on surveillance cameras, led Florida authorities to shut down the Panama City facility.

Martin Lee Anderson collapsed on January 5, 2006 during a mandatory run at the "boot camp" and was subsequently kicked, punched and kneed by drill instructors. A 27-minute surveillance video of the incident also shows them covering Anderson's mouth while administering ammonia capsules. Defense lawyer Walter Smith said the defendants were military veterans who thought they "were dealing with one kid who just didn't want to finish the physical assessment."

"This is a day at the office for these people and they're just following the rules," Smith told the jury. "Nobody is going to say that those hammer strikes or knee strikes were unlawful; they were strictly according to procedure."

Anderson died the next morning in a Pensacola hospital.

Autopsies showed that he died from a "lack of oxygen." There is disagreement among medical examiners, however, as to whether he suffocated because of the actions of the instructors, or due to a rare medical condition. Anderson had sickle-cell trait, a rare, usually benign blood disorder that can limit the body's ability to transport oxygen when under physical stress.

Anderson was sent to the camp after trespassing at a nearby school and stealing his grandmother's car. The state-managed boot camps are intended to "provide a shock incarceration environment and to place young people under stress" to deter them from a life of crime, according to Smith.

Henry Dickens, Charles Enfinger, Patrick Garrett, Raymond Hauck, Charles Helms Jr., Henry McFadden Jr., Joseph Walsh and Nurse Kristin Schmidt each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted of felony-aggravated manslaughter of a minor. The jury will also have the option to convict them of lesser charges, at their discretion.