TALLAHASSEE - Martin Lee Anderson, the 14-year-old Panama City boy who died after being manhandled by guards at the Bay County Sheriff's Office Boot Camp, will join an elite group of other Florida children who met a tragic end.
His name will appear atop a new state measure intended to protect other kids from a similar fate.
The state House of Representatives voted unanimously Thursday to shut down the state's remaining military-style boot camps for juvenile delinquents, calling the budget item the ''Martin Lee Anderson Act.'' The provision replaces them with programs that stress education, counseling and aftercare.
Martin, who was convicted of joy riding in his grandmother's Jeep, entered the Panama City boot camp Jan. 5. He died hours after a group of guards punched and kneed him.
His death is under investigation by a Tampa-based special prosecutor appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, and federal prosecutors are looking into the case as well.
State Sen. Tony Hill, a Jacksonville Democrat who has helped spearhead efforts by the state's legislative black caucus to hold guards accountable in the youth's death, called for ''justice'' in the case Thursday from the floor of the Senate, saying the teen was ``viciously murdered.''
Herald staff writer Marc Caputo contributed to this report.
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