Teen once serving life in child's killing pleads guilty, goes free
Lionel Tate's guilty plea to second-degree murder allows his release Thursday from prison.
By Associated Press
Published January 30, 2004
FORT LAUDERDALE - The teen whose life sentence for killing a playmate stirred a national debate over Florida's treatment of juvenile criminals pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Thursday, finalizing his release after three years in prison.
Lionel Tate, who was 12 when he fatally beat 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick almost five years ago, declined to speak but offered through his attorney to meet with the girl's mother.
Before the plea, Tiffany's mother offered a stinging rebuke of Tate and his mother, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, but said her strong belief in God led to her forgiveness.
"I firmly believe in God, and I believe in forgiveness. I so much believe in God . . . that I have forgiven you, Lionel," Deweese Eunick-Paul said. "I have forgiven Lionel for brutally murdering my daughter."
Eunick-Paul agreed to the teen's release, but had wanted him to publicly acknowledge that her daughter's death was not an accident. In her statement to the court, she criticized Tate's mother for "deception" surrounding the case and for "hiding behind" groups that have supported her. She bemoaned the loss of her daughter, whom she called "God's child."
"There is no more hiding behind this deception. Kathleen can hide from behind her badge, the lawyers, the ministers, the Nation of Islam, but you cannot hide from the truth," Eunick-Paul said. "This was not child's play. This was not roughhousing. This was a brutal murder."
Tate listened with little reaction. His attorney, Richard Rosenbaum, said Tate is remorseful for Tiffany's death and had looked at her photograph earlier Thursday.
"By entering the guilty plea, Lionel has accepted the responsibility for Tiffany's death," Rosenbaum said.
Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus said he thought Tate understood that one violation of the agreement would send him back to prison.
"I'm sure you feel a great weight was lifted from your shoulders, ... but a new and different weight has been placed upon you," Lazarus said. "... You will have the opportunity to make your own decisions."
An appeals court threw out Tate's first-degree murder conviction last month, ruling that he might not have understood the criminal proceedings against him four years ago.
Instead of trying him again, prosecutors offered Tate a plea deal that would sentence him to the three years he had already served, which he accepted. Tate had rejected an identical plea deal before his trial in January 2001.
Tate, who turns 17 today, originally claimed that he killed Tiffany accidentally while imitating professional wrestling moves he had seen on television. He later said he leaped from a staircase and accidentally landed on her chest.
Tiffany suffered a fractured skull, a lacerated liver and at least 35 other injuries.
In throwing out the conviction, the 4th District Court of Appeal said "the evidence was clear that the victim was brutally slain." Even experts for the defense testified at the trial that Tiffany's injuries were not consistent with "play fighting."
Tate will wear an electronic ankle bracelet for one year while under house arrest. He will be on probation for 10 years, must complete 1,000 hours of community service and will get counseling.
He plans to complete high school and continue to study culinary arts. His mother and attorneys have declined to say where.
Dozen of church and community supporters rallied for Tate's release before the pope, the governor and a United Nations human rights meeting. They have vowed to follow his progress and provide any help he or his mother need. His attorneys and supporters say they hope the case brings more attention to other teens locked away for decades in Florida prisons.
A Florida lawmaker has filed legislation that would allow children who kill someone before their 16th birthday to be eligible for parole after eight years in a youthful offender prison if they have no conviction record of other felonies.
