Young Killer Is Ruled Competent; Lawyers Acknowledge His Ruse [Lionel Tate faked being suicidal]

The NY Times ^ | Dec. 20, 2005 | KELLI KENNEDY

[summer]

Lionel Tate

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Dec. 19 - A youth convicted in 2001 of stomping a 6-year-old playmate to death was ruled mentally competent on Monday for a hearing to determine whether he is returned to prison, perhaps for life. The ruling followed his lawyers' acknowledgment that he had faked being suicidal.

...The 18-year-old defendant, Lionel Tate, arrested on robbery charges in May while on probation in the murder case, sent a judge a letter from jail earlier this month saying he was hearing voices and wanted to kill himself. ...

Mr. Tate's lawyers said at that hearing on Monday that his letter had actually been written by another inmate, who, they said, had also advised Mr. Tate about what to say to two court-appointed psychologists who subsequently examined him.

Mr. Tate was convicted of first-degree murder in 2001 for killing his playmate, Tiffany Eunick, when he was 12. He was initially sentenced to life in prison without parole, but an appeals court reversed his conviction in 2003, saying his mental competency should have been evaluated before trial. He avoided retrial by pleading guilty to second-degree murder, in exchange for one year's house arrest and then probation.

He was arrested again in May, however, this time on charges of robbing a pizza deliveryman at gunpoint....

The prominent Miami trial lawyer Ellis Rubin, newly retained by Mr. Tate's family, said Monday that the defendant had admitted that the letter to the judge was written by an older inmate; Mr. Tate merely signed it.

...The two psychologists, who examined Mr. Tate separately, testified at the hearing that he had been manipulative and uncooperative. One of them, Barton Jones, said Mr. Tate had appeared to be "feigning a mental disorder." [...]

[summer]

Geesh, what a mess this kid has made of his life.

[summer]

I hate to say it, but there just comes a point where I stopped feeling sorry for this kid. He was let out of jail after a 6 year old died at his hands, and he can not even recognize the erpeated chances he was given to live his life in freedom. Now, it's probably back to prison forever. What a wasted life.

[wideawake]

Put this waste of oxygen away for good already.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Geesh, what a mess this kid has made of his life.

Atleast he's alive. More than you can say for that poor girl. Lock him up forever, he will kill again.

[summer]

I am guessing you and I would not be objective enough to serve on any jury for this kid. But, really, my gosh, how many chances does one get in this world, after causing a death? He had a 2nd chance and he seems to have really blown it. Yes, he's innocent until proven guilty, but this latest ruse is not helping his credibility in my book.

[FreePaul]

Geesh, what a mess this kid has made of his life.

Surely you don't blame him for this mess. Are you sure that society, schools, Bush, race hatred or something else aren't to blame? You must be one of those mean spirited conservitives who think we should be responsible for what we do. Oh, wait a minute. This is FreeRepublic not DU. Never mind.

[goldstategop]

Lionel Tate was a sociopath. But because of his looks, the liberals succeeding in bamboozling our justice system to let him off the hook for the murder of a little girl. And look at what he did. Note to liberals: its the values, stupid.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

[TCats]

Yeph. And he can't even write and probably can't read either. Who are the Libs going to blame for this?

[Natty Bumppo@frontier.net]

Disbar Mr. Tate's lawyer for misconduct.

[AbeKrieger]

TIME for SOCIETY to TAKE OUT ITS TRASH.

[SJSAMPLE]

Love the picture.
"I killed this many."

[OldFriend]

I never felt sorry for Tate. He murdered a defenseless little girl.

[summer]

I wanted to believe it was just a freak "accident" but frankly, I no longer believe that. I realize big kids do not always understand how strong they are and how much damage they are doing, but, still -- they do know when they are hurting someone, and that physically hurting someone, in itself, is wrong. He could have stopped, but he didn't.

[thegreatbeast]

No, it was no accident. It was determined in his trial that the little girl who was half his age and one-third his size had been worked over for something like FIVE TORTUROUS MINUTES.

[dsc]

"Atleast he's alive. More than you can say for that poor girl. Lock him up forever, he will kill again."

Lock him up forever *and* he will kill again. Maybe some guy who's in for a minor, non-violent crime.

[ncountylee]

Tookie, Tookie, Tookie.