Juror:this wasn’t about wrestling...it was about brutality

It was the brutal way 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick was killed that led to Lionel Tate’s first-degree murder conviction, three jurors and an alternate said following the decision on Thursday.

“This wasn’t about wrestling at all,” juror Stephen Dankner said of the pro wrestling defense employed by Tate’s attorney, Jim Lewis. “It was about brutality. The boy brutalized the little girl.

“Whatever he was playing, he should have known he was hurting her. He knew what he was doing. Seeing the actual damage he did was the deciding factor to me.” The 12 jurors and two alternates were shown gruesome autopsy photographs of the 6-year-old victim.

Dankner, 44, a computer systems analyst, said the jury discussed 14-year-old Tate’s tender age during the more than three hours of deliberations. But they decided his beating of Eunick 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 Eunick’s battering -- more than 30 injuries including a skull fracture -- “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.”

Lori Brazeau, 31, an alternate juror who sat through all the testimony in the seven-day trial but did not participate in deliberations, said she also would have voted for first-degree murder.

“I don’t think I could have gone any other way, but I’m glad I was an alternate. I think it would have been very difficult,” she said. “I don’t think he intended to kill her, but he did.”

Several jurors declined to comment on the case. 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,” she 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,” said Pow-Sang.

“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.

“It was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. No one found it easy,” he said. “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.”

Staff writer John Holland contributed to this story.