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Tate asks for withdrawal of guilty plea

FORT LAUDERDALE - Lionel Tate wants a judge to allow him to withdraw his guilty plea to a charge of robbing a pizza delivery man, saying Tuesday that he can prove he didn't do it.

Tate, sentenced to life in prison for killing a 6-year-old girl when he was 12, said in a letter to Broward Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus that he didn't fully understand the consequences when he pleaded guilty March 1 to the robbery.

That plea called for a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison, sparing Tate a potential return to prison for life for violating probation stemming from the 1999 murder.

Tate, now 19, said he could prove he did not commit the May 23 armed robbery, but added that he did not wish to withdraw his no-contest plea to violating probation.

"It was not explained to me in great detail on what I can and cannot appeal. . . . I can prove to you and others that I did not commit these crimes," Tate told Lazarus in the letter.

Lazarus has scheduled a March 31 hearing on Tate's request. Tate is scheduled to be sentenced under the plea deal on April 3.

Tate's attorney, Ellis Rubin, said Tuesday that Tate's letter "comes as a complete surprise and shock to me."

The chief prosecutor, Chuck Morton, said Tate told the judge when he pleaded guilty that he understood the consequences and that the plea was irrevocable.

[Last modified March 22, 2006, 01:58:24]