Teen Once Sentenced to Life Can Go Home

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Lionel Tate, the Florida youth once sentenced to life in prison for the death of a playmate, can return to his mother's home while he serves probation, a judge ruled Monday.



Tate, 17, the youngest person in modern U.S. history to be sentenced to life in prison, was freed earlier this year, but then was accused of violating probation in September.


He was moved to another home, but that family requested that he be removed because the frequent visits by probation officers were too stressful, authorities said.


On Monday, Tate's legal representative, Howard Greitzer, told the judge the teen wanted to return home.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=8&u=/ap/20041129/ap_on_re_us/wrestling_death

Jay

You can't send 12 year olds to prison for life. It was an accident or a stupid mistake, either way he's too young to send to prison for life.

To bad he's got to deal with PO's now. It's another form of punishment.

Why in the would would anyone want to punish him?
:eyes:

has what to do with this? If you are going to give special consideration to victims, based on age, shouldn't you do the same for the offender?

Jay

for the killing of tens of thousands of small children.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

in prison. Cause we are all guilty of murder now.
:eyes:

I'd rather see the war supporters in prison.

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He never intended to kill her, no matter how dumb he was about it. He was twice her age. That was a total of 12. I am al for punishment. I support the death penalty, but this kid was as much of a kid as the 6 year old.

it was so sad, all of it.

He should stay in jail.

not abide by his probation.

My knee jerk reaction would be no, but is foster care any better? It's a tough call.

Jay

Are you saying its his mother's fault?

And yes, if my 12 year old brutally beat a 6 year old to death, i might feel some sense of respnsibility.

that it was okay to wrestle with a little girl half his age - and size. Whose responsibility is that? If not his parent, then who?

And it's parole not probation.

Jay

And no, we shouldn't execute him. Not right now, anyway, unless he kills another 6 year old after he turns 18.
:spank:

and I am sorry.

Jay

And the kid still spends part of that time locked up in a juvenile facility.

Sometimes the courts use the term "probation" and the state uses "parole".

Traditionally, I know, probation generally refers to a sentence of supervised living in the community, where parole is the same thing for someone who is being released from prison before their sentence is complete. Juveniles aren't usually sentenced to a term of years by most states, although Florida is always the exception to any rule of thumb. The kid also may have been tried in adult court.

He was tried as an adult, got life in prison, but was granted a new trial.
Instead of going trough a new trial, he agreed to probation, which he violated, while living at home. Thus, he was send to live with someone else, but apparently, that someone else doesn't want him to live there anymore, so, he is going back home.

My feeling is that if he was "adult" enough at 12 years old to warrant life in prison, then he should be afforded EVERY RIGHT that an "adult" in society has now that he's released. Let him buy cigarettes, buy alcohol, work more than 20 hours a week, rent cars, get lower insurance rates...whatever.

I don't understand why now, he's "just" a 17 year old. Obviously, he was tried as an adult when he was 12. Therefore, he should be just as much of an adult now that he's out and free. But of course, that won't happen because that would be fair and equatable.

I'm happy to see this young man out of jail. He should have never been sent to jail to begin with. He was rough housing---rough-housing that unfortunately cost a little girl her life, but it wasn't malicious in nature, it wasn't premedatated, and he never set out to kill her.

Glory be to all of us who were LUCKY enough to have our shenanagans as youth turn out in a non-lethal way. I can remember PLENTY of things I did as a young stupid child that feasably could have resulted in the death of another child. I remember things that my friends did that could have resulted in my death if things had gone horribly wrong. Accidents are accidents because they're not meant to happen. I feel badly for this young man, and sadly, if his life turns for the worst, people will say "SEE! We knew it would come to this! HE WAS A KILLER WHO WAS LET OUT" instead of blaming the inherent negative influence that a child as young as 12 faces being sent to prison for several years.

Sad all around for all parties involved. I hope Mr. Tate can get the issues in his life straightened out and show all of the "KILL HIM" crowds that what happened was an unfortunate accident, and not a testament of evil nature (even though by some of the responses on this thread, Mr. Tate could save 1000 children from a burning building, but that will never attone for his evil, malicious ways)

I feel badly for this young man, and sadly, if his life turns for the worst, people will say "SEE! We knew it would come to this! HE WAS A KILLER WHO WAS LET OUT" instead of blaming the inherent negative influence that a child as young as 12 faces being sent to prison for several years.

Not to mention the sense of BETRAYAL that a child must feel that the entire society not only didn't PROTECT and HELP him -- which was their proper responsibility -- but turned against him, and viciously.

It was an absolutely ghastly thing, all of it. I'm thrilled he's released, and I hope with all my heart that this hasn't scarred him for life in ways that I fear it could.

an "unfortunate accident"? She had died from her injuries, and the "kid" kept changing his story regarding what had happened to her. HTF are you able to deduce it was an "unfortunate accident"?
:eyes:

that he was, does NOT have the cognative processes that an adult has. Any developmental psychologist worth their salt will say the same thing. A 12 year old is not developed mentally the same way a 22 year old is.

Was he careless in his playing with her? Certainly. He was immitating wrestling moves and they were PLAYING TOGETHER. I don't recall that he crawled into her bed and beat her over the head as she slept. I don't recall that he out of the blue just pummeled her and killed her. They were playing together, as children do. He imitated a move he saw wrestlers do.

Of course, adults know that wrestling is a play-sport. The moves are choregraphed and practiced, and that wrestlers are taught how to fall, how to hit, how to jump onto someone with minimal injury.

But this was a CHILD. a 12 year old CHILD. He didn't know that what he was doing could KILL someone. He was playing.

What part of "unfortunate accident" is so hard to comprehend. There was no malace. There was no previous intent. I don't see why you're so hung up on the fact that a 12 year old child made a ghastly mistake. That isn't to diminish the death of his friend, a young girl of 6. However, I don't understand what purpose a life sentence serves.

We're not talking about a hardened gang member who at 12 has robbed old ladies of their purses, taken part in strong-armed robbery against a store owner, or raped and tortured young women. He was a CHILD whose play got out of hand. Tragic, yes. He should undergo psychiatric counseling, definitely. But he should NOT spend the rest of his life behind bars because of an ACCIDENT.

I guess I could understand the rage if, instead of being 12, he was 22. Or 17. Or an age where one inherently "knows better". He wasn't playing with a loaded gun that went off. He didn't throw rocks at her head or put bleach in her milk. I guess that *I* can see the difference, degree-wise, in THOSE actions vs. someone playing and playing too rough.

My god---when I was in 4th grade, a schoolmate of mine pushed me off the monkeybars, causing me to break my wrist. No harm, no foul. I went to the DR, got a cast, and she had to say "i'm sorry". No arrest for assault and battery. it was an ACCIDENT. She didn't mean to push me. However, I'm assuming by posts in this thread, many people would suggest that my fellow 9 year old friend be locked away for 20 years minimum for assault and battery, and that she should have known better and what a worthless criminal she was destined to be, what, with the accidental pushing and all that :eyes:

Your thoughts echo mine, both at the time of the incident, during the trial and now. I couldn't have said it better. Thank you for your articulate responses.

I have kids the age of this young man. I know how 12-year-olds think. And I am elated to hear they have paroled him. I hope he gets the help he needs to deal with the trauma of it all and can find a way to go on with his life.

how many of the people who believe a 12 year old is old enough to be responsible for his actions when a serious crime is committed are suddenly concerned about being too immature when deciding to have an abortion is the issue?

that a 12 year old is "emotionally mature" enough to be tried as an adult, and as you said, at the same time NOT emotionally mature enough to make their own decisions regarding reproduction BUT *IS* emotionally mature enough to be a parent should abortion be restricted to a child that age.

Which is it---not mature enough to make a "heavy" decision about abortion, but COMPLETELY mature enough to make the oh-so-light-hearted decision to place their child up for adoption, or to be a parent to that child should they choose to keep it.

Even for juviniles, but I think justice has been served in this case.

I honestly believe this kid didnt intend to kill that girl. If anything I think he was guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

I saw the parts of the trial on TV and from what I saw the kid seemed a bit "slow," and yeah he was a kid. I found it quite believable that he killed the girl without meaning to.

His sentance was too harsh and I think he has served enought time for this crime.

If on the other hand he had intentionally murdered people like say Lee Malvo, then I think he would deserve the death penalty.

I think Lee Malvo deserves the death penalty and I dont think his youth should be an excuse to avoid it.

Remember in Bowling for Columbine when Micheal Moore told about that six-year-old who shot a classmate, and the police chief said that people had written in from around the country saying that the kid deserved life in prison or the death penalty?

I feel that kids, even teenagers, are eminently salvageable with the exception of a few sociopaths.

For example, I was opposed to Kip Kinkel being sentence to life in prison for the Springfield, Oregon shootings. The kid was not legally insane, but he was definitely mentally ill, suffering from severe depression if not borderline schizophrenia. His parents handled him poorly (buying a mentally disturbed kid a gun?), but I doubt that he would reoffend if his mental problems were under control.

VICKSBURG, Mississippi (CNN) -- The father of Lionel Tate, the 14-year-old sentenced to life in prison for killing a 6-year-old playmate, said Wednesday his son needs to be punished, but the sentence he has been given is excessive.

John Tate also said he couldn't believe the boy's mother turned down a plea deal that would have put the boy in juvenile detention for three years, followed by house arrest and probation.

Lionel was convicted in Florida of first-degree murder for killing Tiffany Eunick while they were playing two years ago. He was 12 at the time. The girl suffered numerous injuries, including a skull fracture and a severed liver

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:tIXGYaB2y-wJ:www.cnn.com/2001/LAW/03/14/wrestling.death.02/+Lionel+Tate&hl=en

who had advanced from harming animals to harming humans, based on what I read about the case. (Children like that probably need to be under state control indefinitely, altho perhaps not in a regular jail, since the chances of them doing something similar are so high.) This case seemed more like bad judgement and a horrible outcome. The boy needed to be held accountable for his actions, but not the way this proceeded.

Wasn't Florida also the state where they tried those 2 brothers, who were around 9 and 11 when they were accused of killing their father, who they said was sexually abusing them? At the same time, the same district attorney tried and I believe convicted an adult involved with the children for the murder of the father. The jury on the kids' case was not told that a different theory of the crime and a different defendant had been simultaneously prosecuted. The boys were convicted of second degree murder, I think, and sentenced to life in prison. As soon as it got to the Court of Appeal, the verdicted was vacated, and the judge urged the prosecuter to come up with a reasonable plea bargain, which was what happened in the end.

When most states don't even try drunk drivers on counts serious enough to imprison them for life, it's hard to understand doing that to a child.

Six-year-old Tiffany was, obviously, a very beautiful girl. Sweet, gentle with animals, a model child. She was thrilled to have a friend in Lionel, because he was so much bigger and older that she felt he could protect her. He even baby-sat her often.

But one fatal day, while Lionel's mother was asleep, the one-hundred-seventy pound boy started ruthlessy beating forty-eight pound Tiffany. In the end, Tiffany suffered a fractured skull, detached liver, broken rib, and numerous bruises, cuts and contusions--especially on her face. Doctors compared her injuries to a fall from a three-story building. The tiny lifeless body had blood flowing from it's ears, nose, mouth and eyes

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:bX2yudpyJ0EJ:www.perfect-night.org/victims/stories/tiffanyeunick.html+Tiffany+Eunick+injuries&hl=en

What, we are supposed to go by your sense on who will be serial killer and he will not? The story of him imitating a professional wrestler isn't the only one he told. He can't even keep his story straight on what he did to the 6 year old girl.
Yet, her death was somehow an unfortunate accident and he is a poor little boy.
Well, I am not sure it will be long before he goes back to prison. Since he is over 12, not many probably will cry if he does.
:eyes:

Tate, a 14 year old boy who viciously slammed 6 year old Tiffany Eunick into a wall and stomped and beat her until she died. He beat her until her ribs were broken, her abdomen was stomped so hard that it ripped a part of her liver off, and her head was split open, and he didn't stop until she lay dead in pools of blood.


http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:pamzHyrYDmEJ:www.radgeek.com/gt/2001/03/11/lionel_tate+Lionel+Tate&hl=en

watched wrestling on TV all the time? I remember when this happened and we had lots of problems around that time with kids wanting to wrestle each other at school. They didn't realize that the 'pro' wrestling they saw on TV was staged.

If this was the case, then I do believe his parent is responsible for allowing him to watch wrestling and not making him understand that it was 'entertainment' and shouldn't be copied.