Youth Who Killed at 12 Will Return to Prison, but Not for Life

[Evi]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 1 — A teenager who was sentenced to life in prison five years ago for stomping a younger playmate to death when he was 12 pleaded guilty Wednesday to armed robbery, in a deal that spares him a life sentence for violating probation.

The defendant, Lionel Tate, now 19, appeared before Judge Joel T. Lazarus of Broward County Circuit Court for a hearing stemming from his arrest last spring on charges of robbing a pizza deliveryman while on probation for the murder. Asked by Judge Lazarus if he pleaded guilty to the armed robbery charge, Mr. Tate replied, "Yes, sir."

The judge scheduled sentencing for April 3 and ordered Mr. Tate held without bail. The minimum sentence is 10 years\' imprisonment, and the maximum 30. The term will run concurrently with the sentence the judge may impose for violating probation.

Mr. Tate was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 for killing his 6-year-old playmate, Tiffany Eunick, in July 1999. His trial lawyers in the widely publicized case contended that he had been imitating wrestling moves he had seen on television and that the death was an accident.

He was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole, but an appeals court reversed his conviction in late 2003, saying he should have been mentally evaluated before trial. He was freed in January 2004, and avoided retrial by pleading guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for one year\'s house arrest and then 10 years\' probation.

In September 2004, during his period of house arrest, he was taken into custody when, the police said, they found him away from home at 2 a.m. carrying an eight-inch knife. For that, Judge Lazarus added five years to the probation and warned Mr. Tate that any future violations would not be tolerated.

But last May he was arrested again after robbing the pizza deliveryman in Pembroke Park, another Broward County community.

Assistant State Attorney Chuck Morton said the deal that led to the guilty plea on Wednesday was in Mr. Tate\'s best interest, allowing him to "avoid spending the rest of his life in jail."

Ellis Rubin, Mr. Tate\'s lawyer, expressed satisfaction with the plea deal, calling the evidence against his client "overwhelming."

"I feel very good," Mr. Rubin said after the hearing. "This was the only professional and ethical thing to do."

Mr. Tate\'s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, an officer with the Florida Highway Patrol, said she felt relieved by the plea.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/02/national/02tate.html?hp&ex=1141275600&en=b9a1b4677668bb2b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

At least he didn\'t kill another little girl. Dumb ass...

[Viper_Fujax]

id send him for life if thats what other people get. If they kill at 12 years old, theyre probably going to kill when theyre 18. Of course thats dependent on the situation, but in cold blood send them for life if thats what everyone else gets.

not being "mature" is irrelivant.

[CHIZZY]

*inhales deeply while raising index finger....


nevermind.

[clips]

maybe he\'s gettin\' all these breaks because his mom\'s with the florida patrol. i kinda felt sorry for him the first time around....but when you start doin\' stupid s**t while you\'re on probabation, it just shows he doesn\'t give a f**k...so let his ass rot in there for the next 30 or so years....