A Second Chance for a Young Killer

Sixteen-year-old Lionel Tate, sent behind bars for the rest of his life for a murder he committed at age 12, could be a free boy again as soon as today.

At their Pembroke Park residence in suburban Fort Lauderdale, his mother has been readying her only child’s room. “My son wants to come home. I want him home,” said Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.

During the nearly three years he has spent in state custody for the killing of a young playmate, Tate, now an 11th-grader, has grown 4 inches to a gangly 6 foot 2. At the same time, an eating disorder has reduced his weight by nearly 50 pounds to 158.

Last month, Tate’s conviction for first-degree murder and life sentence without parole were overturned by a Florida appeals court, which ruled that his mental competency to participate in his own defense at such a young age should have been checked before the case went to trial.

The fate of Tate, who experts say was the youngest person ever to receive a life sentence without parole in the United States, has reignited a debate that still smolders in Florida and throughout the country on the standing of juvenile offenders in courts.

As concerns about youth crime mounted in the 1990s, more than 40 states changed their laws to make it easier to try juveniles as adults. In California, voters in March 2000 overwhelmingly approved Proposition 21, which granted prosecutors the same sort of leeway their Florida counterparts have in deciding whether certain teens should be tried as adults. In 2002, the California Supreme Court upheld the measure’s constitutionality.

Tate’s case, and two other high-profile murder trials in Florida in which the defendants were juveniles, have helped bring about a backlash against the trend of treating young offenders like grown-ups.

In Florida, an outraged lawmaker has proposed amending laws so a child found guilty of a crime punishable by death or life imprisonment would be eligible for parole after eight years in a juvenile lockup. The offender would have to be 15 or younger and have no prior convictions.

“We have to understand that children are not just short adults,” said Democratic state Sen. Steve Geller of Hallandale Beach, author of the bill. “It is ridiculous to me that we are taking kids who may still believe in the tooth fairy and sentencing them to life without parole.”

The Tate case was a “big flashlight” illuminating how the justice system often mishandles young offenders, said retired Florida Juvenile Court Judge Frank Orlando, director of the Center for the Study of Youth Policy at Nova Southeastern University. Though Orlando characterized the case as atypical, he said it highlighted a general shift in American society toward punishment and retribution for young lawbreakers in lieu of rehabilitation efforts.

“We’ve made it too easy to arrest children,” Orlando said.

The victim in Tate’s case was a child half his age. In 1999, according to police, Tate and 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick were watching television in his home when he started beating her. The autopsy showed the much smaller girl suffered a lacerated liver and at least 35 other injuries.

Before his trial, prosecutors had offered Tate a plea bargain: In exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder, he would spend three years in a juvenile facility. But his mother, who maintains that the death was accidental, rejected the offer. Tate was charged with first-degree murder.

In his defense, he said he accidentally killed Tiffany while imitating the moves of professional wrestlers. The jury didn’t believe it and found him guilty. That verdict meant an automatic life sentence. A few days shy of his 14th birthday, Tate was faced with what then seemed like the certainty of imprisonment for the rest of his life.

“One reason this case has resonated so loudly is that the general public is perplexed at what seems an absurd result,” said Bob Schwartz, executive director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia, an independent watchdog group.

As a result of the state appeals court ruling and its order that there be a new trial, the original plea bargain deal was offered again. This time Tate and his mother accepted it.

The teenager, housed in a single cell at the maximum-security juvenile prison north of Lake Okeechobee, signed a formal agreement Jan. 4 to plead guilty to second-degree murder. In exchange, he is to be sentenced to three years in prison -- most of which he has already served -- one year of house arrest and 10 years of probation.

Today, Tate is scheduled to appear in a Fort Lauderdale court for a bond hearing, and could be freed by a judge right away. On Thursday, he is expected back in court to enter a formal plea of guilty to murder in the second degree. Lawyers familiar with Florida criminal procedure said the retrial could be over within hours. On Friday, Tate will turn 17.

The victim’s mother, Deweese Eunick-Paul, told NBC’s “Today Show” on Friday that although she was not disappointed that Tate would soon be out of prison, she still wanted him to accept responsibility for murdering her daughter.

Attorney Ken Padowitz, who prosecuted the boy during the first murder trial and now, as a lawyer in private practice, represents Eunick-Paul, said during the TV program that his client had a “big heart” for wanting to make sure her daughter’s killer got another chance -- “a second bite of the apple,” as he put it.

At the time of the killing, Tate’s mother had been napping as the children played downstairs. A special prosecutor was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to see whether there was evidence to support criminal neglect charges against her, and concluded there was none.

“Don’t think Lionel and his mother aren’t remorseful for what happened. They are,” said Henry Hunter, the Tallahassee attorney representing Tate’s mother.

Tate’s sympathizers said no child, no matter what offense he committed, should have to spend the remainder of his life behind bars. Moreover, the boy is black, and some of his defenders charged that his race played a significant role in the guilty verdict and life sentence.

In its Dec. 10 ruling, the Florida appeals court sidestepped those issues, focusing instead on whether a defendant of Tate’s age was competent to understand the intricacies of plea bargaining and courtroom procedure. The three-judge panel ruled he was incapable, a decision some experts said could have repercussions that reached far beyond his own future.

“For too long, courts have assumed that if a child was awake and half alert that he was competent,” said Schwartz of the Juvenile Law Center. “What the Florida appeals court said is: If you’re going to expose a 12-year-old boy to the possibility of life without parole, you’re got to make sure you’re not railroading him. Legislatures are going to have to give guidance to judges on what they should do when a [juvenile] defendant is incompetent.”

As for Tate, one Florida lawmaker with experience in youth counseling is worried about how he will fare under the terms of the plea bargain.

“I think he’s almost setting himself up for failure,” said state Rep. Gustavo A. Barreiro, who founded and ran a group home for convicted youth offenders in Wisconsin.

“To really expect this young man to go back home and be under house arrest for a year, then 10 years’ probation, it’s going to be very difficult,” said Barreiro, a Miami Republican. “All it takes is one violation and you’re back in prison for life.”

During the year of house arrest, Tate will be able to attend school and church, but all his movements will have to be approved a week in advance by a community control officer, said Richard Rosenbaum, the boy’s lawyer. The control officer will phone his residence periodically to verify his location.

His lawyer predicted that Tate, who likes playing basketball and hopes to get a separate phone line in his room for his 17th birthday, “will be like any other teenager.”