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Court Affirms Tate Violated Probation

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The Associated Press

Published: October 26, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH - An appeals court has upheld the 30-year probation violation sentence for convicted child killer Lionel Tate, setting the stage for a trial on robbery charges that could add life in prison.

Tate had sought to have the sentence thrown out, claiming his attorney was incompetent, but the 4th District Court of Appeal declined to reverse it Wednesday.

The sentence stems from charges related to his alleged robbery of a pizza delivery man in May 2005.

His acknowledgment in a plea that he had a gun during the alleged robbery represented a violation of his probation for his murder conviction in the 1999 beating death of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick.

Tate, now 20, was 12 at the time of the killing and became the youngest person in modern U.S. history to receive a life sentence. His lawyers initially claimed Tate killed the girl while imitating pro wrestling moves.

His first-degree murder conviction eventually was overturned by an appeals court in 2004. He was freed from prison under a deal in which he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years' probation.

Tate had faced 10 to 30 years in prison for initially pleading guilty to both the robbery and probation violation charges.

But in an odd twist and against the advice of his attorneys, Tate withdrew his guilty plea for the robbery but maintained the plea on the gun charge. That brought him the 30-year sentence last year. He faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the robbery.

His trial was delayed in April after his new attorneys said they have evidence that proves Tate did not commit the crime. No new trial date has been set.

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