The reason the family was suspicious: Tunnell, head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is a former sheriff of Bay County, founded the boot camp, and is friends with the current sheriff, Frank McKeithen, whose office runs the camp. ...

He also kept McKeithen abreast of the FDLE's efforts to keep a video - which showed boot camp guards kneeing and punching the teen hours before his death - from becoming public.

He sent McKeithen an e-mail on Feb. 9, the day The Miami Herald published a story quoting two members of the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee - Miami Beach Democrat Dan Gelber, a former federal prosecutor, and Miami Beach Republican Gus Barreiro - who had seen the video and said Martin had been "brutally" beaten and "flung around like a rag doll."

The two lawmakers were the first to view the video before its release. Gov. Jeb Bush told reporters he was "constrained" from discussing the tape, and indirectly criticized the two legislators who "weren't as constrained."

Tunnell sent McKeithen a copy of the Bush's remarks, adding: 'I understand that the Guv was just a `little' sarcastic when he referred to those 'less constrained' from commenting - such as the two representatives."

Barreiro, who has been a frequent critic of the state's juvenile justice efforts, said he first became concerned about the FDLE's involvement in the investigation on Feb. 8, the day he watched the video at FDLE headquarters.

"They told me before I viewed the tape that Martin did not die of trauma," Barreiro said.

Barreiro said, from the beginning, it seemed the FDLE agents "were more concerned about the critics of the boot camp than with the officers who beat Martin Anderson to death."