Martin's arrests: joy riding in his grandmother's stolen Jeep, violating curfew while on probation for the car theft, and stealing candy.

WITNESSES TO VIOLENCE

The 10 frightened boys who were present in the exercise yard Jan. 5 also were told that Martin died of an illness - although they had watched in horror as guards punched and kneed the youth and dragged him around.

Aaron Swartz, a Leon County 14-year-old who was admitted to the camp the same day as Martin, said a mental-health worker told the youths that Martin died of "medical reasons" and that the actions of guards "had nothing to do" with his death.

"She was telling us how athletes die every day, all the time, because of medical reasons. That healthy athletes stop and die, so it's not unusual, " Aaron told The Miami Herald.

Martin's mother, Gina Jones, said she was given the same story at Bay Medical.

The boot camp's commander, Capt. Mike Thompson, was with her at the Panama City hospital just after 10 a.m., before Martin was flown to Pensacola, Jones said. She asked what had happened.

Thompson responded that her son "ran two or three laps and just collapsed." Thompson couldn't be reached for comment.

At 1:30 a.m. when Martin was pronounced dead, Jones said that Lt. Charles Helms was with her and broke down, crying. "That boy didn't deserve this, " she recalled him saying. "He never told me he was one of the first people to put his hands on my baby." Bay Sheriff Frank McKeithen, though, knew it would only get worse - because of a videotape of Martin's last moments. In an unusual move, he issued a statement on Jan. 17 saying the tape would eventually lead to "many questions, concerns and accusations."

Yet McKeithen, who on several occasions has expressed sympathy for the dead teen's family, didn't discuss the tape's contents at the time, nor would the FDLE, which possessed it.

But two state representatives who privately insisted on viewing the tape couldn't keep quiet after what they saw. Barreiro and Democrat Dan Gelber told The Miami Herald for a Feb. 9 story that Martin had been "brutally" beaten and "flung around like a rag doll."

FDLE Commissioner Tunnell shot off several e-mails that day, bashing the lawmakers and assuring McKeithen, who soon called the legislators "loose cannons, " that his agency would fight a request from The Miami Herald that the video be made public.

Tunnell received an e-mail that day from an FDLE assistant commissioner, Scotty Sanderson, who wrote that the medical examiner was expected to release his report soon and "bring this case in for a landing quickly. Our side will be ready to roll out as soon as we get the toxicology findings."

"Hurry - BEFORE I get REALLY carried away, " Tunnell replied.

The next day, Tunnell called McKeithen's cellphone, according to records obtained by The Miami Herald. McKeithen says the commissioner only left a message, as he did in four other calls listed in records from Tunnell's office cellphone.

"There were no calls that I had with Mr. Tunnell that were inappropriate, " said McKeithen, who declined to discuss any specifics. According to the FDLE, the agency was working on 11 other cases with the sheriff's office when the calls were made.

A week later, on Feb. 16, Siebert, the Bay County medical examiner, released his report, concluding that Martin died of natural causes when an undetected genetic blood disorder, sickle cell trait, together with rigorous exercise, led him to bleed to death.