Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Lionel Tate became the youngest person sentenced to life in prison in modern U.S. history when he was convicted at 13 of murdering a young girl, but he got out on probation after his first conviction was thrown out.
Now, he could go back behind bars for life for allegedly robbing a deliveryman at gunpoint of four pizzas worth $33.60.
Gun possession is enough to revoke probation, and Broward County Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus, who will hear the case set to begin today, can send Tate back to prison – for up to a life term – whether or not he is convicted of the new allegations.
“The state has only to put on evidence to satisfy the conscience of the court that there was a violation,” said Tate’s attorney, Dohn Williams. “You don’t have to prove that a crime was committed.”
To many juvenile justice experts, Tate is a symbol of the difficulty that the justice system has dealing with children who commit serious crimes. Rather than seeking to rehabilitate them, Florida and dozens of other states have laws permitting them to be tried and punished as adults.
Tate, now 18, killed 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, a neighbor his mother was babysitting, on July 28, 1999. His lawyers initially claimed the girl died accidentally while the 160-pound boy was imitating wrestling moves he saw on television, but experts said the girl died of skull fractures and a lacerated liver suffered in a beating that lasted one to five minutes.
He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in 2001. In 2004, an appeals court tossed out the conviction after finding that it was not clear whether Tate understood what was happening to him. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to time served and 10 years’ probation.
In September 2004, he was arrested when police found him outside at 2 a.m. carrying a knife with a 4-inch blade. Lazarus added five years’ probation and warned he would have zero tolerance for future violations.
Earlier this year, according to court documents, another teen told Broward County detectives that Tate stole a gun in March.
On May 23, Tate allegedly called Domino’s Pizza from a friend’s apartment, ordering four pizzas. The friend later told police that Tate, armed with a revolver, hid behind the door when deliveryman Walter Gallardo arrived.
When Gallardo saw the gun, he dropped the pizzas and ran, and called police.
