The parents of a 14-year-old boy who died after he was at a boot camp came a step closer to receiving $5 million in compensation at a legislative hearing.

Robert Anderson couldn't handle it anymore.

A tall furniture mover with a deep voice and fierce demeanor, Anderson drifted away from his lawyers and a grief counselor, huddled alone in a corner and whimpered. He wept at the prospect of having to testify in a legislative hearing Friday to determine how much he should be compensated for the death of his 14-year-old son, Martin Lee Anderson, after he was at a boot camp.

''It makes no sense,'' Anderson said just moments before. ``Why? Why do I have to do this?''

The answer: Because the Legislature wants it that way.

Families of people victimized by the state must prove they deserve compensation -- $5 million in Martin's case. So, later in the day, Anderson walked back into the hearing, took the stand and answered his attorney's question about his loss: ''We can't describe what we're going through.'' That was all he could muster. Same with Martin's mother, Gina Jones.

''The only thing I could say is Martin is gone,'' she said. ``What happened to him was wrong. You all think it was right. No, it's not right at all.''

Both went outside and cried again, just as they often have since Martin died Jan. 6 last year.

The hearing at which they testified was part of what's known as the ''claims'' process. People harmed by government can collect only $200,000 per incident -- even if a local government or a state agency has agreed to pay more -- unless the Legislature approves a larger amount in what's known as a ''claims bill.'' The House and Senate each appoint a special master to hear each case in its entirety and judge its merits.

The Legislature hasn't approved a claims bill in two years.

Assuming the Martin Anderson bill reaches his desk, Gov. Charlie Crist intends to sign the claim into law. Crist called the case ''horrible'' and recently agreed the state should pay Martin's parents $5 million for his death after he was beaten by Panama City boot-camp guards last year.

Shortly after Crist's announcement, the Bay County Sheriff's Office, which ran the camp for the state Department of Juvenile Justice, agreed to an additional settlement of $2.24 million.

During Friday's hearing in a Senate committee chamber, Anderson and Jones frequently stepped outside as enhanced video of Martin's caught-on-tape beating and possible asphyxia at the hands of seven guards played over and over again.

Department of Juvenile Justice lawyers said the agency wouldn't defend itself, allowing family attorney Benjamin Crump to call witnesses who portrayed the department and the boot camp as ineffective and cruel. A former inspector general for the department, Steve Meredith, said agency staffers kept use-of-force reports from him for years. Meredith is suing the agency, saying he was fired for speaking out about Martin's death.

Meredith also said that when sheriff's personnel showed him the videotape shortly after Martin's death, they used matter-of-fact language to describe the knee-strikes and use of ammonia capsules on Martin in a failed effort to revive him so he could continue running laps.

Criminal profiler William Gaut testified the guards were punishing Martin and acting with a ``mob mentality.''

An autopsy found Martin was asphyxiated from the ammonia capsules. The first autopsy found Martin died from natural causes owing to sickle-cell trait -- a disputed finding called ''untenable'' in telephone testimony Friday from a renowned pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden. The second autopsy was performed after the family agreed to exhume Martin's body, then have it reburied.

''Few alive have experienced what this family has experienced -- to go to a windy cemetery on a day with no less than 12 satellite trucks and watch you pull your son out of the ground,'' said their attorney, Daryl Parks. ``So when you look at damages, think most folks sit up under a green tent at the cemetery one time. They've sat three times.''

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