New Plea Deal Could Free Boy Sentenced to Life for Murder

A Florida boy who was sentenced to life without parole for a murder he committed when he was 12 could be out of prison within weeks under a plea bargain that prosecutors offered Friday.

Lionel Tate, now 16, was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 after he, his mother and his attorney rejected a plea bargain that would have put him behind bars for three years. The defense team had hoped to spare Tate any prison time by convincing a jury that the 166-pound boy had accidentally killed his 6-year-old neighbor, Tiffany Eunick, while imitating wrestling moves he had seen on TV.

But after testimony that Tiffany had suffered dozens of injuries -- including a cracked skull, a broken rib and internal hemorrhaging -- the jury ruled the 1999 killing deliberate. Under Florida law, the sentence of life without parole was automatic.

It was also immediately controversial.

Human-rights groups around the globe, including Amnesty International, campaigned vigorously for a court to overturn Tate’s conviction. Two weeks ago, Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal did just that, ruling that Tate had been too immature to aid his own defense and, in particular, to evaluate plea offers at the time of his trial.

After the appeals court ruling, Florida prosecutors had “a series of discussions with all the affected parties” and decided to revive the original plea deal, said Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for Broward County State Atty. Michael J. Satz.

Ishoy would not elaborate on the negotiations. But he did say prosecutors had felt they had to wait until Tate’s appeal wound through the system before offering him a reduced sentence.

The deal -- identical to the one Tate rejected two years ago -- would let him plead guilty to second-degree murder if he accepts a sentence of three years in prison, a year under house arrest, 10 years of probation and continuing psychological treatment. Tate has already served 33 months, mostly in a maximum-security juvenile detention center. If he accepts the deal, as seems likely, he will get credit for time served and should be out within a few months at most.

“This plea was the right [deal] before the trial, and it’s the right thing to do now,” Ishoy said.

Tate’s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, would prefer that her son be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter instead of second-degree murder, her attorney, Henry Hunter, said Friday night.

Glenn Roderman, an attorney who represents Tiffany’s father, Mark James, said late Friday that the offered deal is “more than fair.”

“He should have taken it to begin with,” Roderman said.