FT. LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― Convicted child killer Lionel Tate was back in court Tuesday morning where he made a plea deal in connection with charges that he robbed a pizza delivery man.
Right before jury selection was scheduled to begin, Tate, 21, pled no contest to a charge of armed robbery with a deadly weapon.
He received a ten year sentence to run concurrently with a 30-year sentence he received last year for violating his probation after he was caught with a gun.
Tate allegedly held up that pizza delivery man in 2005. A second charge of probation violation was dropped.
Tate's mother, Kathleen Grossett Tate, left court saying: "I'm tired of the whole system, the whole case, I'm just tired."
Despite Tuesday's plea deal, this case if far from over.
Tate's attorney, Jim Lewis, plans to appeal the 30 year probation violation sentence claiming that it is excessive because Lionel wasn't the one waving the gun in the robbery.
"Yes, Lionel participated in the theft but he was not standing there with a gun, robbing somebody," according to Lewis.
An effort last year to get Tate's robbery case thrown out failed when an appeals court upheld that 30-year probation violation sentence.
Tate was trying to have his sentence thrown out by claiming his attorney was incompetent. But the 4th District Court of Appeals declined to reverse it.
In 2001, Tate was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick. In 2004, an appeals court overturned that sentence, and ordered him to serve a year's house arrest and 10 years probation.
Before the appeals court intervened, Tate was the youngest person in modern U.S. history to get a life prison term. He was 12 at the time of the killing.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Lionel Tate Gets 10 Years In Robbery Plea Deal
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8 comments:
Lock his murdering lying butt up and leave him to the prisoners. He is homicidal and a sociopath. His mother needs to move on. Face it. Tate is a bad apple who probably needed psychological help long before he killed. The kid has no future and probably woll die in jail. Good thing if he does. We don't need his kind walking the streets. What? Did you think he would become a candidate for Harvard? Get serious.
Lionel lacked a stable home and parents that were there for him and that gave him guidelines, boundaries and rules. I went to school with him and a lot of kids his age were in to the same thing he was wrestling. What a kid that age does not realize is wrestling is fake and they think if the big guys live through it then others should as well. If lionel would have had parents that cared and boundaries he probably would not be in jail today and the little girl and others would have never experienced the bad from him. I doubt he intentionally meant to kill the little girl. Accidents do happen .... and the only reason why i would think the rest would happen is b/c ppl like you, who have no faith what so ever in anyone that has done wrong, go and put that in his face and tell him he is a bad apple he deserves to die in jail and wont get anywhere in life. If someone constantly told you that over and over and over i think you would act out and do wrong or something harmful too. Thats what is wrong with society these days. People do one thing wrong and they are all of a sudden a bad apple and need to be put away forever. No one has faith that people can change with a little discipline and rules.
It's not that I have no faith in people. I have no faith in so-called parents who don't parent. These ghetto mama and papa folk bring these kids into a brutal and cruel world and do nothing for them. Then when things get out of control they cry to the media and the public their kids are being unjustly treated. Not so. Lionel had choices just as you did.
He made a bad choice. He was never guided nor encouraged to do the right thing. I realize that. What you describe as his home life is the same as describing mine. It was horrible. Full of violence, fear, abuse--you name it. I CHOSE to stay the hell out of trouble and jail.
We all pay the consequences for our deeds. His mother? She's a tramp trying to portray herself as a loving, caring mother. Had she done her job he probably would have had half a chance. She's a failure as a human being and she certainly is a failure at playing on the public trust where her son is concerned.
I hope one day Lionel writes a book to tell us all what his life was really like. He probably has a tale of neglect and abuse the likes of which nobody (not even you!) knows about. He was not born the person he turned out to be. He was created.
Now he will have a chance to become someone different in jail. He will have to fight like the devil to stay alive and become a man but if he fights and wins he will possibly have the chance to live life as it was intended.
It's the second go round for Lionel. He lost the first one just being born into the family he was born into. I hope and pray he makes it through and gets out on good behavior, changed and loved by someone who will look past his upbringing and unfortunate deeds.
Hopefully his life will change for the better. What he has going for him is his fighting ability. He will have plenty of opportunity to use it in prison.
Free Lionel Tate? You have to be kidding me. When he was given the benefit of the doubt and was freed from a life sentence, he should have learned his lesson. Instead he continued to commit crimes.
The only argument someone could present to me for his freedom is that he does not belong in this country. Our tax payer money shouldn't be funding his imprisonment. If he is freed under the condition that he has to go to a third world country of his choice and never come back, this country will be a better place. When he commits his next crime there, he can be placed in a real prison. One that he won't want to go back to if he ever gets out.
Have you people never been around a 12 year old boy? He was bigger than most and did not realize his strength. The system failed him and turned him into what he has become. Someone has to explain to children the dangers of such rough play. I by no means think he had the mind set to hurt that little girl on purpose.
And good for you, anoy that went to school with him. I don't know his family situation, but I agree with everything you posted. God Bless You!
The only victim is The beautiful girl Tiffany and her wonderful family. Free Tate only if they can bring Tiffany back! My only request is that his mother and father joins him. They are both a disgrace.
He's a criminal and he's where criminals belong. Free him? H*ll no! And Heaven help the lame brain who comes near me with a petition or a fundraiser for his murderous behind. His parents need the same treatment and should have been sent away when he was.
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