|
| Associated Press |
| Lionel Tate, now 15, is appealing a life sentence in Florida. He was 12 when he killed a 6-year-old girl. He was 13 when he was sentenced. |
IAMI, Jan. 4 He is more than six feet tall now, and the baby fat that used to define his face is gone. Nearly everything about Lionel Tate's childhood is gone.
He was 12 when he killed a playmate and 13 when he was sentenced to life in prison with no parole after being convicted as an adult of first-degree murder two years ago.
Today, Lionel drifts between the world of a 15-year-old who likes basketball and wants new gym shoes and the world of a murderer who is monitored by armed guards and lives in a cell.
Nearly everyone involved in the case Lionel's mother, his defense lawyer, the prosecutor and even a juror says things should not have turned out this way. But they say little or nothing could have been done to prevent it.
His mother can look back at a plea agreement, which she rejected, that would have let her son out of juvenile detention by the end of this year. His lawyer can look back at a strategy that garnered headlines, but no sympathy. The prosecutor, who was willing to agree to a three-year sentence, said he had not wanted Lionel to face a lifetime in prison. And a juror said he was horrified to learn the effect of the first-degree murder verdict that he had agreed Lionel deserved.
At first Lionel had hundreds of supporters, who took some comfort in Gov. Jeb Bush's promise to consider clemency. But the demonstrations are over, and the governor has raised no further hope of a reprieve.
Now the case thought to be the first in which a life sentence was imposed for a crime committed at so young an age heads to appeal, with Lionel's lawyers arguing that the sentence is cruel and unusual for a defendant so young. They say lawmakers did not intend for the murder law under which he was sentenced to apply to children who killed.
They contend, too, that Lionel was too young to help make crucial decisions in his defense. They cite, for example, his mother's decision to turn down the prosecutor's offer to let him plead guilty to manslaughter and serve 3 years in juvenile detention, a year of house arrest and 10 years on probation. They also say no other juvenile in Florida has received so harsh a sentence for killing another child. Even the prosecutor, Ken Padowitz, says the sentence should be reduced.
"What I think we should have in a civilized society for a 12-year-old who is convicted of the heinous and horrible crime, such as the one here, is some hope of rehabilitation, to be able to come out into the community as a productive member of society," said Mr. Padowitz, who is now in private practice.
The state is expected to file its response to the issues raised on appeal any day, and a decision could come within months. Lawyers for the Florida attorney general's office did not return calls seeking comment.
The case began on July 28, 1999, when Lionel's mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, was baby-sitting for a friend's daughter, Tiffany Eunick, 6. While Ms. Grossett-Tate took a nap in her bedroom, Lionel and Tiffany played downstairs. The play turned rough, and when Ms. Grossett-Tate came downstairs, she found Tiffany unconscious and tried to revive her.
At trial, Lionel's lawyer, Jim Lewis, said his client was a naοve boy showing a fragile little girl wrestling moves he had admired on television. But prosecutors said the girl's injuries showed he intended to hurt her when he tossed her around. Her skull was fractured, her ribs were broken, her liver was lacerated.
Jurors found that Lionel had meant to hurt Tiffany, if not kill her, which constitutes first-degree murder in Florida when the victim is a child. The crime carries a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
The outcome stunned people across the nation. Governor Bush said he would look at the case and consider reducing the boy's sentence. Months later, Mr. Bush said he had decided that Lionel should serve two years of his sentence, which began in March 2001, before being considered for clemency.
One reason the case will be closely watched is that it was the first of three cases that put Florida at the center of a growing debate over the prosecution of juveniles as adults.
Nathaniel Brazill of West Palm Beach was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2001 for shooting his teacher. He was 13 at the time of the shooting.
Derek and Alex King were convicted in September of second-degree murder for bludgeoning their father to death with a baseball bat in 2001, when they were 13 and 12. The verdict was recently overturned because the judge found that their rights to a fair trial had been violated when the prosecutor separately tried a friend of the King family for the same crime. In a plea agreement they admitted to manslaughter. Alex, now 13, agreed to serve seven years in prison; Derek, 14, agreed to serve eight years.
One person who says he hopes Lionel's appeals succeed is Stephen Dankner, a juror in his trial.
"It's been two years when I talk about it, it comes back, and it's not a fond memory," Mr. Dankner said. "I didn't expect to be chosen because the first thing out of my mouth when they were selecting jurors was: `We're in the wrong building. This kid was 13, 12 years old when he did this. We should be in juvenile.' "
Mr. Dankner said he initially wanted to acquit Lionel, believing he had not intended to kill Tiffany, but was convinced by other jurors that the prosecution had made its case. He said what happened next gave him many sleepless nights.
"As I was driving home, I heard on the radio that he would be spending the rest of his life in prison," he said. "I didn't know that was mandatory."
Mr. Padowitz, the prosecutor, said he had been caught between a juvenile system that would have been too lenient and an adult system that was too harsh.
"I was faced with an impossible choice," he said. Hoping to avoid trying Lionel for first-degree murder, Mr. Padowitz said, he offered a generous plea agreement.
Bernard Perlmutter, director of the Children and Youth Law Clinic at the University of Miami, said Mr. Padowitz's words ring hollow.
"It's a cop-out," Mr. Perlmutter said. "When you don't want to be held accountable to sending a juvenile to adult system where there may be some political backlash, they can always say we didn't do it, the grand jury asked for it."
Ms. Grossett-Tate says she is still stunned at how the case unfolded but does not regret rejecting the plea because her son is innocent.
"Lionel loved Tiffany," Ms. Grossett-Tate said. "It was an accident." She said that she was a stern disciplinarian when her son lived with her and that he had never been in trouble before.
Tiffany's parents could not be reached for comment, and a lawyer for her mother, Deweese Eunick-Paul, did not return calls. Ms. Eunick-Paul said on a television program after the trial that she was frustrated that Lionel's mother would not accept that her son was to blame for the death, but that she favored punishment and rehabilitation rather than an adult prison for life.
Ms. Grossett-Tate says she tells her son he will come home one day but not to think too far ahead.
"I tell him that people are out here who are praying for him," she said, " `Just don't be in a hurry. It may not be tomorrow, it may not be the next day, but don't think that you're going to be in here for life.' "
Ms. Grossett-Tate has also had to temper her expectations. After the trial, she left Lionel's bedroom intact for months. She has since packed his belongings in boxes, where she says they will stay until he comes home.
"I think I've matured a little from all of this, and I think my son has, too," said Ms. Grossett-Tate, 40, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper.
In some respects, Lionel has settled into a predictable life behind bars. He wakes up about 6 a.m. and exercises with other young prisoners at the Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Correction Center near West Palm Beach. He spends most of the morning and afternoon in school there. He is in ninth grade and participates in group counseling. On weekends he visits with his mother for a few hours and attends church on Sundays.
"He's coping with the situation," Ms. Grossett-Tate said.
Citing Lionel's pending appeal, his lawyers would not permit him to be interviewed.
In a striking example of Lionel's unusual position, the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice declined to make Lionel's incarceration records available because he is a minor, though he was tried, convicted and sentenced as an adult.
Mr. Padowitz said the case was a tragedy for all involved. "As a prosecutor I wanted to ensure that justice was done in this case for Tiffany Eunick," he said. "As a human being, I could not help but be affected by the tragedy involving her murder and the fact that the person responsible was 12 years old."
