State: Jurors reject wrestling defense

Tate was just 12 in July 1999 when, he later admitted, he flung 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick around the living room of his suburban townhouse west of Fort Lauderdale. But, his attorneys said, he was only imitating professional wrestlers he had seen on TV.

Jurors weren't buying it.

An autopsy showed Tiffany sustained more than 30 injuries, including a skull fracture, lacerated liver, broken rib, internal hemorrhaging and multiple cuts and bruises.

"This wasn't about wrestling at all," juror Stephen Dankner said. "It was about brutality. The boy brutalized the little girl."

In three hours of deliberation Thursday, Dankner and the 11 other jurors rejected the defense argument.

"Whatever he was playing, he should have known he was hurting her. He knew what he was doing," Dankner said. "Seeing the actual damage he did was the deciding factor to me."

Tried as an adult in Broward County Circuit Court, Tate faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced March 2.

Dankner, 44, a computer systems analyst, said the jury discussed Tate's age, but they decided his beating of Tiffany and the fact that he was being tried as an adult demanded an adult penalty.

"His age came into play and some of us thought briefly of considering a lesser crime, but (prosecutor Ken) Padowitz proved his case for first-degree murder," he said.

Juror William Stevenson, 50, agreed that Tiffany's battering was shocking and decisive in the juror's minds.

"The injuries were so extensive we all felt that wasn't an accident. We had to abide by the law and the law spelled it out. It wasn't just wrestling," said Stevenson, an insurance agent.

"If it had been one injury we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. If it had been somebody that was 25 or 30 years old we would have been out of there in a half hour. His age was a consideration."

Tate, one of the youngest defendants tried as an adult for murder in state history, showed no emotion when the verdict was announced, while his mother, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, lowered her eyes.

Later, Tate had tears on his face as deputies led him out of the courtroom handcuffed. His mother soon followed, sobbing uncontrollably.

Tiffany's mother, who had attended the trial, was not present.

Jim Lewis, the boy's attorney, asked that the judge allow the teen to remain home with an ankle monitor until sentencing. But Circuit Judge Joel T. Lazarus rejected the request, noting that Tate was a felon.

But, said Lazarus, "I am ordering the sheriff to treat Mr. Tate as he would a 13-year-old." Lazarus said he hoped Tate would be held at a juvenile detention center and not with the adult population at the county jail.

At a news conference, Lewis said he will appeal and ask Lazarus to overrule the jury of 10 women and two men and find Tate guilty of manslaughter.

One appeal, Lewis said, will be Lazarus' pretrial rulings that prevented him from calling wrestlers and psychologists as witnesses to discuss pro wrestling's impact on children. The defense attorney tried to force several wrestling stars, including Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Steve "Sting" Borden, to testify during the trial.

Lewis broke down when he talked of promising Tate a fishing trip this weekend.

"I feel like I let him down," he said. "I don't think any rational compassionate human being would sit still and let this child spend the rest of his life in prison for a horrible judgment."

Padowitz said there are "no winners, only losers in this case."

Asked whether Tate should spend the rest of his life in prison, Padowitz refused to answer. But he pointed out that he had offered the teenager a three-year sentence plus 10 years' probation if he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The family refused because they insisted he was innocent.

Tate, who turns 14 next week, does not face the death penalty because he is under 16. And a mandatory life sentence could be commuted by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush if so recommended by prosecutors. Padowitz declined to say Thursday what he would tell the governor.

No one disputed that the 170-pound Tate beat the 48-pound Tiffany to death on July 28, 1999, in the Pembroke Park home he shared with his mother, who was babysitting the girl.

After serving Tate and Tiffany dinner, Grossett-Tate went upstairs to sleep, leaving the children downstairs watching television. About 10:40 p.m., Tate ran upstairs and told his mother Tiffany wasn't breathing. She called 911 and administered CPR. Tiffany was rushed to a hospital and pronounced dead.

A few days later, Tate told police he picked Tiffany up and accidentally hit her head against a table. He later made a videotape with a court-appointed psychologist in which he claimed to have accidentally thrown Tiffany into a stairwell's handrail and a wall while trying to throw her onto a sofa.

The defense's own experts conceded that Tate's story would not have accounted for all of Tiffany's injuries, which one prosecution expert said were comparable to falling from a three-story building.

Juror Kathleen Pow-Sang said the trial was horrible for everyone.

"Certainly (Tate's) age affected all of us. We had to follow the law and look at the evidence, and it was pretty evident. Everything was laid out for us," she said.

But Pow-Sang, a former teacher who now works as a music therapist, said the court system was flawed.

"It was out of our hands when it charged him with first-degree murder," she said. "There was hope that we could get to manslaughter, but we couldn't get past first-degree."

The jury was instructed, she said, to start with the highest possible charge and if that charge was proved, there was no need to deliberate further.

"I think that's where the system failed," Pow-Sang said. "It failed all of us. We would have loved not to have to find him guilty of first-degree murder, but the law seemed very clear."

"We all prayed for that child, we all prayed for Lionel. It's been very hard," she said. "It was difficult for all of us."

Dankner also said the case was difficult: "I haven't slept the last couple of nights. There were a lot of caring people on the jury and everybody took the decision very seriously."

-- Information from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Los Angeles Times and Associated Press was used in this report.

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Lucy Morgan

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