Life in prison without parole

In a case that has sparked controversy over the right punishment for a person so young, Broward County Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus ordered Lionel Tate to serve the state's mandatory sentence for a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder in an adult court--life in prison without parole.

Tate was tried as an adult--in Florida, juveniles charged with serious crimes may be prosecuted as adults--and was convicted by a Broward County jury in January in the July 28, 1999 death of Tiffany Eunick.

His defense said at the trial that the girl died accidentally while Tate rough-housed with her in his home, imitating wrestlers' moves he had seen on television.

But the prosecution said the injuries she suffered were far too severe for Tate not to have known he was inflicting serious harm.

The jury agreed in its conviction, and so did Lazarus in his strongly worded sentencing statement.

"The acts of Lionel Tate were not the playful acts of a child. The acts of Lionel Tate were not the acts born out of immaturity. The acts of Lionel Tate were cold, callous and indescribably cruel,'' the judge said.

Tate's lawyers said they would appeal the sentencing, and the prosecutor, Ken Padowitz, said he would make a clemency appeal to Governor Jeb Bush for a reduction of the sentence.

Human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement the sentence was a violation of international law, which, it said, clearly states that the possibility of parole cannot be denied to children, however serious their crime.

Tate, a heavyset boy with a round face, was in court for the sentencing, dressed in beige jail clothes. He showed no emotion when Lazarus read his sentence, but was crying by the time he was led from the court here.

There were cries of dismay from Tate supporters in the courtroom when the sentencing was read, but the boy's mother, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, seemed to take the news calmly.

Tate's case, which has been watched by civil rights groups that have argued the boy is too young to face life in prison, appeared to be far from over.

Tate's appeals lawyer, Richard Rosenbaum, said he would definitely be appealing the case, and the defence has 30 days to do so.

A key twist to the case was that Tate's mother and the boy's lawyer for the trial, Jim Lewis, turned down a pretrial plea bargain from a prosecutor under which Tate would have pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served three years in juvenile detention and 10 years' probation.

Grossett-Tate said last week that she and her son had had no idea before the verdict was handed down that he might face life in prison without parole, adding she never thought he would be convicted.

On Friday, she told the court, "People say I am a fool not to accept the plea from the state, but how do you accept a plea for second degree-murder when your child was just playing?''

At a sentencing hearing last week, Eunick's father said Tate should be locked away for the rest of his life.

"Voices cry out for 'justice,' but not for justice for Tiffany Eunick ... In the court of public opinion, Lionel Tate has turned into the victim,'' the judge said.--Reuters