Panama City, Bay County, Florida
Sunday, May 26, 2013
By: Kevin Earl Wood, allunited@bellsouth.net
You receive a court order that is titled “ORDER DENYING PETITION.” Bad news, right, if you are the Petitioner?
However, in the case of a Petition filed by Medical Examiner Michael Hunter, through the office of the Florida Attorney General, denial of the State’s Petition to Exhume the bodies of numerous children believed to be buried in unmarked graves at the Dozier School for Boys in Marianna comes as good news. The State of Florida and all parties concerned in the exhumations and unearthing the truth behind the deaths of fifty or more children at the school may soon get to begin work on the exhumations.
Dr. Hunter, through Assistant Attorney General Nicholas Cox, filed a Petition to Exhume Human Bodies/Remains with the Circuit Court in Jackson County, Marianna, Florida on March 12, 2013. The Petition sought court approval to begin the excavations, if such permission is required by law.
During a hearing on April 15, 2013 the judge raised several questions that he posed to Mr. Cox. On May 15, 2013 Mr. Cox responded essentially arguing that permission of the court may not be required prior to the exhumations. This was because Florida law provided that unmarked human burials are subject to investigation by the local medical examiner.
The Court, Judge William Wright, concluded decisively in his order, and to the favor of the state, that “The Medical Examiner has statutory authority to conduct investigations, and the State Attorney has the authority to pursue autopsies when necessary. There are current Florida laws in place on handling unmarked graves and moving buried human remains.”
Now all that is needed is for the property owner of Dozier to coordinate and plan for further forensic investigation and excavation at Dozier being conducted by the University of South Florida (USF) now that no further court action is required.
The Dozier property is owned by the Florida Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund established by the Florida Constitution, Article IV, Section 4(f) that states, “The governor as chair, the chief financial officer, the attorney general, and the commissioner of agriculture shall constitute the trustees of the internal improvement trust fund and the land acquisition trust fund as provided by law.”
This would include Florida Governor Rick Scott as chair, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jeff Atwater, Attorney General (AG) Pam Bondi, and Commissioner of Agriculture (COA) Adam Putnam which is the Governor and his Cabinet.
AG Bondi has been an outspoken supporter of the continuing investigation and exhumations at Dozier. In response to Judge Wright’s May 24th, 2013 Order AG Bondi stated,“I remain committed to assisting with the efforts to help resolve unanswered questions regarding deaths at the Dozier School for Boys. In light of today’s adverse ruling, we will be meeting with the interested parties and considering the next course of action to explore other avenues.”
COA Putnam is likewise a supporter of the Dozier investigation as he stated to the Cabinet.
Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam’s Comments to the Florida Governor and Cabinet on Dozier
Governor Scott and CFO Atwater have surprisingly remained fairly silent as the Dozier investigation has progressed.
Governor Scott has, however, on May 20, 2013, signed an appropriations package for the Florida 2013-2014 budget that included a $190,000 line item for furtherance of the Dozier investigation by USF. That same day U.S. Senator Bill Nelson announced that he is supporting an application by USF for federal funds to use DNA to identify remains at Dozier. The Florida budget package will take effect July 1, 3013.
COA Putnam is likewise a supporter of the Dozier investigation and spoke on the Dozier matter at a previous Cabinet meeting.