Doctors at Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola were given the same story. In his discharge summary after Martin died, Dr. Jason Foland, the boy's attending physician, wrote that he was told that Martin was "a 14-year-old male who presented to [the] emergency room after passing out at boot camp."

The boot camp's nurse, Kristin Schmidt, expressed few concerns about Martin's treatment by guards when the state Department of Juvenile Justice's highest-ranking medical official, Dr. Shairi Turner, interviewed her shortly after Martin's death.

Schmidt referred to Martin's ordeal as "use of force techniques, " "counseling" and and an effort by guards to "maintain control." "She noted that Martin Anderson was alert, looking around and made eye contact, " Turner wrote in her report. "The youth stated to her that he could not breathe, however, per her report, he appeared comfortable and in no respiratory distress."

If the boot camp officials' story to doctors was sanitized, the information they provided to the public was positively sterile.

In a Jan. 5 press release posted on the Bay sheriff's website and e-mailed to reporters who inquired, spokeswoman Ruth Sasser said Martin was airlifted to a trauma center "after becoming ill during Intake procedures."

"The nurse began to take his vital signs and assess his medical condition, " Sasser wrote. "When she became concerned, EMS was called to the facility. Just minutes prior to the arrival of EMS, the offender became unresponsive."

ILLNESS CITED

After Martin died on Jan. 6, the department twice repeated its claim that Martin simply "became ill" in a press release. Its headline underscored the fact that Martin died nowhere near the Panama City boot camp: Juvenile Offender Passes Away in Pensacola. Later that day, however, Sasser acknowledged to The Miami Herald that guards had used "force" when Martin became "uncooperative, " but declined to elaborate.

"The body has been turned over to the Medical Examiner's Office and authorities are awaiting autopsy results, " Sasser wrote in the Jan. 6 release.

But the autopsy itself began to raise questions. In her five-page report to DJJ administrators, Turner briefly recounted a conversation she had on the morning of Jan. 6 with Dr. Charles Siebert, Bay County's chief medical examiner:

"Reported that the Sheriff had requested that the autopsy be moved from Pensacola where the death occurred to Panama City where the boot camp was located, " she wrote. "Pathologist felt this was 'highly unusual.' "

Normally autopsies are performed in the county where a person dies. But Siebert has consistently denied saying the request to bring Martin's body back to Panama City was unusual. Turner insists he did, and said so at a hearing of the state House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee.

The evening of Jan. 6, state Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican who spearheaded the boot camp reforms as head of the justice committee that controls juvenile justice spending, got a call from DJJ Secretary Anthony Schembri, who told him of Martin's death.

"He said: 'I've investigated hundreds of these cases. He's a young black gang kid, and you'll find drugs in his system, ' " said Barreiro, who along with his committee has repeatedly faulted Schembri for lying to them.

In a written statement, Schembri responded: "I remember telling the legislators that Martin's file indicated that he was a gang member. . . I was careful not to reach any conclusions based on preliminary information."