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| Boy convicted in wrestling death transferred from adult prison |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 03/14/2001 |
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Lionel Tate, the 14-year-old boy serving a life sentence for the murder of a 6-year-old family friend, is now in a juvenile prison, having been transferred three days after he entered an adult prison. Officials secretly moved Tate on Monday night, shifting him from the South Florida Reception Center near Miami to the maximum security Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Center about 100 miles to the north. He will be kept with 47 other boys convicted of violent crimes, said Catherine Arnold, a spokeswoman with the Department of Juvenile Justice. After evaluation, Tate will be assigned an education program and mental health treatment, Arnold said. He will stay at Okeechobee for the foreseeable future unless he becomes violent or disruptive, in which case he would be sent back to adult prison, she said. Jim Lewis, Tate's attorney, did not immediately return a call for comment Tuesday. Tate received a mandatory life sentence Friday for the 1999 murder of Tiffany Eunick, for whom his mother was baby-sitting. Tate says he accidentally killed the girl while imitating pro wrestlers, but a jury rejected that defense, convicting him of first-degree murder. The girl suffered numerous injuries, including a skull fracture and a severed liver. Before trial, prosecutors offered a plea bargain of three years in a juvenile prison, a year of house arrest and 10 years of probation, but the defense rejected the offer. Lewis said Monday that a notice of appeal will be filed this week in addition to a request for clemency with the governor. Janet Keels, coordinator for the Office of Executive Clemency in Tallahassee, said prisoners are not normally eligible for clemency until they have served two years, but Gov. Jeb Bush can waive that requirement and also order the request expedited. For clemency to be granted, the governor and at least three of the six independently elected members of the state Cabinet must agree. Prosecutor Ken Padowitz has said he'll recommend Tate's sentence be shortened, but wouldn't say by how much. Tiffany's mother, Deweese Eunick-Paul, told CBS's 'The Early Show' on Tuesday that while she thinks three years would have been a light sentence, she doesn't oppose having Tate released eventually. She said it would 'give Lionel a chance to at least try to get rehabilitated.' She disputed the defense claim that Tiffany's death was an accident. 'You don't play with that kind of force,' she said. 'My daughter's body spoke for itself.' |
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