Death in the desert

The defense's case
Defend as he might his philosophy of helping troubled kids, Charles Long’s so-called “tough love” now stood condemned by a phoenix prosecutor as negligent, uncaring, even brutal.

But was that unfair to the real Charles Long?

As the trial dragged on, this deeply religious man never wavered from the daily routines that were so reassuring to his wife and four children. His days in court were bracketed by morning chores and dinner time prayers.

Charles Long: I have been taught very well to appreciate my creator’s justice. So time will take care of everything. The truth will be told.

Now in court, the defense set about telling Long’s version of the truth: that Anthony was a very sick boy, both mentally and physically. He had conditions Long’s attorney claimed Anthony’s mother had not sufficiently revealed.

The first witness called to support that argument was Long’s own wife,  Carmelina. She reported on a strange conversation with Anthony’s mother shortly after the boy’s death.

(Court transcript) Carmelina Long: She said he had been trying to kill himself for three years and he finally did it. And I asked her why she didn’t tell us that before.  And she said, “Because you wouldn’t take him.”  And, no, we wouldn’t have taken him had we known he was suicidal.

Had Anthony actually committed suicide out in the desert?

Under cross-examination, Anthony’s mother revealed her son had a number of emotional problems starting at an early age.

(Court transcript) Defense attorney: He was slapping his siblings, and you were very upset with that, is that—

Melanie Hudson, Anthony Haynes’ mother: That was in March.

Defense attorney:  He would engage in fire-setting, is that right?

Hudson: He did one time, I believe, yes.

The psychiatrist who had been treating Anthony took the stand and was asked about a report that warned that Anthony was a suicide risk.

(Court transcript) Defense attorney: Anthony is reported, and this would be by his mother, to be ingesting inedible objects. Further, it states that Anthony is at risk of suicide.  Constant observation is recommended.  What did you do with this information, Dr. Cobourn?

Dr. Cobourn, psychiatrist: I continued to speak with the family and discuss his safety with them.  And at no point did they express that they felt he was at danger of harm to himself.

Certainly, his doctors and others had been sufficiently concerned about Anthony’s mental health to have prescribed, over the years, a veritable stew of powerful psychotropic drugs.

Dr. Cobourn: Wellbutrin, Tenex, Adderall, Trazodone and Depakote.

Defense attorney: Why would Tony be given anti-psychotic medications?

Dr. Cobourn: He would have severe temper tantrums and that would lead to some physical aggression. I think we talked about instances of slapping his siblings, pushing the step-father.

But, now, after making a case for suicide, the defense offered a second— and altogether different theory.

They called, as a witness, the doctor who performed the autopsy on Anthony, the one who ruled the boy’s death accidental.

Iliescu, medical examiner: 99.9 percent of pathologists are going to call this manner accidental.  There’s no question about that.

Because, while performing the autopsy the doctor discovered Anthony had a serious medical condition.

Iliescu: Anthony was not a healthy individual. His liver was a toxic liver—not very severely toxic, but it was a diseased liver.

His liver was damaged by one of the medications he had been taking.  And the other drug Anthony was on? A powerful stimulant. 

Iliescu: Anthony’s pulse rate was 160 to 180 at one point at the boot camp.

And then the examiner suggested that Anthony’s death had occurred not in the desert, but back in the motel, while under the care of the drill instructor, Troy Hutty because there was water in the lungs.

Iliescu: I was more concerned about the hotel room than anything else. I felt that’s where the death took place.

If the medical examiner was right, claimed the defense, it was Hutty whose actions led to Anthony’s death, all while Long was far away.

And there was something else about Hutty, the drill instructor: He had also been charged in connection with Anthony’s death but had made a plea deal  with prosecutors for a lesser charge— negligent homicide— in exchange for his testimony against Charles Long.

On the stand, Hutty testified that he had given Anthony an extra dose of his powerful medication when the boy had begun to hallucinate earlier in the day.

Mark Barry, deputy county prosecutor: What prompted you to give him his medication?

Troy Hutty: Suspected that maybe that might treat his ailment were, you know, being erratic.

Did that extra medication, administered by a man who had no medical training, start Anthony on his slide toward death?  Overweight, out of shape, his liver damaged by one mood-altering drug, his heart racing from another, Anthony Haynes was in no condition to stand for hours in the hot Sonoran desert.

The jury might like to have heard Charles Long himself answer questions about his “tough love,”  punishment methods, or why he made the decisions he did.

But the loquacious Long decided that when it came to his own trial, he would remain silent.

Was Long guilty of second-degree murder? Or was Anthony’s death an accident? Or did this sad, disturbed boy intend to kill himself all along?

The jury of four men and eight women had no idea, as they left the court, how difficult it would be to reach a verdict.

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