Death in the desert

The prosecution's case
As he waited for his trial to begin, Long tried his best to keep up his family’s faith and maintain an iron front against doubters. But when the trial started, the prosecution laid out a case which appeared to be quite damning. They underscored Long’s “Don’t spare the rod” philosophy.

Charles Long's mug shot / AP

Long’s boot camp, said the prosecutor, was engaged in the systematic humiliation and physical abuse of children.

One young man, called by the prosecution, testified that after an escape attempt, Long threatened him with a hunting knife. Another camper said he also tried to get away—but was caught and spent days shackled to a barbecue post. One teenager claimed that he and others were randomly beaten by members of the staff.

Chris Delaney, camper: I received a very large scar on my face. They were extremely violent. I mean ...

Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: What did they do?

Delaney: I had people jumping on my chest...

All these stories, the prosecution claimed, established a culture of abuse that eventually lead to Anthony Haynes’ murder. 

And then, in court, the terrible story was revealed in testimony: Anthony Haynes’ last day.

That Sunday morning, Long was relaxing at a motel about a dozen miles down the road, according to one parent  who was at the camp volunteering his time that weekend.

(Court transcript) Defense attorney:  And when you were out there at the camp, Saturday night, who was there with you to supervise those children?

Corriere, parent/volunteer: Nobody but me and Hutty.

Hutty was Troy Hutty, a drill instructor.

On early Sunday morning, he says, his son and others told him they had been systematically beaten by  drill instructors a few days before.

(Court transcript) Attorney: And so after seeing the bruises on his chest, what did you do?

Corriere:  I said, I ain’t putting up with this s**t, and I told Justin to go get his stuff --  we’re leaving.

Attorney:  You were upset at the time?

Corriere: I was very upset.

Attorney:  So did you take any action with respect with camp?

Corriere: We started calling other parents.

Attorney: Why were you doing that?

Corriere: Because we wanted them to get their kids out of there; they didn’t need to be there.

But, when alarmed parents called Long, demanding to know what was going on and a rebellion began to grow, kids testified, Long did not investigate their claims. Instead, he rushed from his motel to the camp and demanded to know which kids wanted to quit his program.  Campers, like Chris Delaney, said he used a military term: “drop on request,” or D.O.R.

Delaney: “Drop on request” is a term used when you want to leave for anywhere, like the military, to have a D.O.R. in basic training, you can leave at any point in time.

Morrison: So, Charles Long used that?  “Does anybody wanna go D.O.R.?  Does anybody wanna leave?”

Delaney: Yes.

Morrison: How many people said they did?

Delaney: I’d say about three-quarters.

Including Anthony Haynes.

Melanie Hudson, Anthony’s mother: What I understood, that if they got in that D.O.R. line, parents were supposed to be called immediately.

But the prosecution produced witnesses to say that Long did not call parents. Instead, they testified, Long ordered students wishing to leave the program to stand in formation on this patch of desert.

As the hours slipped by, one of the drill instructors, Troy Hutty, told the court, he noticed Haynes behavior took a sudden bizarre turn.

(court transcript) Troy Hutty, drill instructor: He was eating’ dirt.  Some—

Deputy country prosecutor mark: Did you actually see him eating dirt?

Hutty: Yes.

Barry: How could—

Hutty: He had dirt in his mouth and dirt around his teeth and whatever.  I gave him water.  Tried to make him rinse his mouth out,  He didn’t wanna drink any water. He was just being real defiant.

Kids and drill instructors watched as Haynes, now dehydrated, flopped to the ground and appeared to go into convulsions.

Morrison:  What did his face look like?

Delaney: Blank.

Morrison: Like, he wasn’t even there?

Delaney: Yeah.

Morrison: Was he breathing?

Delaney: It was like just barely actually breathing... shallow. Just enough for me to hear.

But according to prosecution witnesses, Charles Long did not summon medical help or call 911.

Instead, he ordered drill instructor Hutty and several kids to load Haynes into the back of a pick up truck. Long ordered that Haynes be taken to a motel a dozen miles away for a cold shower.  Hutty testified that he tried to rouse the unconscious Haynes by hitting him.

Hutty: Smacked him in the face. Tried to get his you know, “Wake up.  Come on let’s go.  Stop playing.  Let’s go.” 

The kids said they helped undress Haynes and drag him into the shower.

Delaney: We placed him into the tub, had him sit straight up, with his back to the back of the shower... We turned on the shower.  Never hit his face.  Actually—more or less never hit him.  He was never in a position where water could actually get into his mouth or anything like that.  His mouth was closed.

Morrison: How long did he sit in there?

Delaney: He sat there for at least a good 17 minutes.

When Hutty finally checked on Haynes, he was repulsed by what he found.

Hutty: He just was spittin’ up this—this mud stuff. 

They dragged Haynes out of the shower; he continued to vomit mud.

Delaney: One of the instructors there pushed on his stomach and mud just started coming out of his mouth.  We’re like, “What in the world?”  And, the more he pushed on his stomach the more it came up.

So, did they finally get medical help?  No.

The prosecution made the point that rather than call 911, Hutty instead phoned Long, who gave the order to bring Haynes back to camp.

Morrison:  So, you carried him back to the truck?

Delaney: Yep.  Still not responsive, just limp.

Morrison: Still clearly alive at that point?

Delaney: I wouldn’t necessarily say that—I don’t think it was actually checked.  I don’t think we actually even knew whether or not at that time, you know—

Morrison: You couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead?

Delaney: No.  At this time I don’t think anyone was actually thinking about it.  I think we were just thinking like, you know, guess we all just thought he was still alive.

Morrison: When you got back to the camp what did you do with him?

Delaney: We took him out of the truck and we laid him on his sleeping bag.  And at this point I sat him down and I realized his pupils are dilated. He’s not breathing anymore.

And only then did Long’s wife called 911— the prosecutor said, much too late to save the boy.

(911 tape) Carmelina Long: We’re doing CPR on him right now.

EMT: What happened?

Carmelina Long: He refused to drink water. Every time we tried to hydrate him, he was just refusing  because he doesn’t want to be here. He was eating dirt all day.

EMT: Is he breathing at all?

Carmelina Long: Is he breathing colonel? They want to know is he breathing?

Charles Long:  No!

Carmelina Long: No he’s not.

Then there was the emotional testimony of Anthony’s mother.

Melanie Hudson, Anthony Haynes' mother: The doctor looked at me and told me they did everything they could for him. And I looked at them, and I said, “Don’t tell me my son’s dead.”

In court, Charles Long was battered by damning testimony from one prosecution witness after another.

But was Long really so callous, so negligent? Was it tough love that killed Anthony Haynes? Or, as the defense was about to claim, was it something else altogether?

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