View Full Version : 14 Yr. Old American Teenager Murder Conviction
I don't know how many people here have heard about this on the news, but I was severely shocked when I heard it.
For those of you who did not hear what happened:
An american boy 2 years ago was babysitting a six yr old friend of his. He was playing with his friend, performing some wrestling moves on her. Stupid yes, but anybody could do it. Anyway in the process, she coincidently dies.
Anyway in the court hearing, he was convicted of murdering his seven year old friend whilst slinging her and has received life imprisonement with no parole.
For a country that gets involved in other countries affairs about human rights they have some own fricking problems of themselves. How the hell can you stick a 14 year old boy into prison for the rest of his life, never to be free again for one stupid error he did when he was 12. ITS NOT FUC**** HUMANE!!!!!!!! Convicting him of murder is absolute bullshit when it should be manslaughter. Second, people that murder people with prior intent get less time than life imprisonement that so why the hell are they taking it out on this poor guy. I DONT BLOODY GET IT!!!!
IS THERE ANY JUSTIFIABLE REASON WHY HE HAS BEEN PUT INTO PRISON FOR SO LONG WHEN HE HAS DONE ONE SMALL MISTAKE HE WILL REGRET FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!!! IT WASNT MURDER SO WHY TREAT LIKE IT WAS, AND HE ISN'T SOME MULTIPLE MURDER PHYSCO!!! I REALLY FEEL FOR THE GUY NOW HIS WHOLE LIFE IS RUINED....
As you can guess i am very pissed off at the american justice system :mad: :mad:
A very pissed off and angry Visro :mad:
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I was put on this Earth to complete a certain number of tasks. I am so far behind, I will never die...
[This message has been edited by Visro (edited 10 March 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Visro (edited 10 March 2001).]
Heres the article from www.news.com.au (http://www.news.com.au) if you missed it on TV:
Boy, 14, gets life in prison
10mar01
AN American boy who murdered a six-year-old girl becomes the youngest person to be jailed for life in America.
Judge Joel Lazarus imposed the mandatory sentence on Lionel Tate, who is now 14, calling the slaying of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick "cold, callous and indescribably cruel."
Tate becomes one of the youngest defendants in the United States ever to be sentenced to life behind bars without parole.
Tate was found guilty January 25th of beating Tiffany to death at his home. Tiffany suffered a fractured skull, a lacerated liver and more than 30 other injuries on July 28, 1999, from being punched, kicked, stomped and thrown.
During the trial, the defense argued that the 170-pound boy did not mean to kill the 48-pound girl and thought he could body-slam people and they would walk away unhurt, just like his wrestling idols on television.
The judge rejected a defense request to throw out Tate's conviction or reduce it to second-degree murder or manslaughter.
``The evidence of Lionel Tate's guilt is clear, obvious and indisputable,'' Lazarus said.
The judge also questioned the defense argument that Tate was imitating pro wrestlers. "It is inconceivable that such injuries could be caused by roughhousing or horseplay or by replicating wrestling moves," he said.
Tears rolled down Tate's cheeks after the sentence was read, and he was led away in handcuffs and leg shackles. His mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper who described Tiffany's death to the judge as a "tragic accident," showed no reaction. Several Tate family friends and relatives wailed.
Defense attorney Jim Lewis had tried to put pro wresting and TV itself on trial. But the judge blocked him from calling as witnesses wrestling stars Hulk Hogan and The Rock, or from summoning psychologists to testify about the effect of pro wrestling on children.
Lewis said he will appeal and also ask Gov. Jeb Bush to reduce the sentence.
Prosecutor Ken Padowitz urged the judge to uphold the first-degree murder conviction but said he will support the request for clemency from the governor. However, he added: "That by no means is an indication that I don't believe that the jury's verdict was correct."
He said the Legislature should change the law so that judges have leeway in sentencing juveniles convicted as adults of first-degree murder.
Padowitz would not say what sentence he believes Tate deserves, but pointed out that before the trial, Tate, his mother and his lawyer repeatedly rejected a plea bargain that offered three years in a juvenile prison, one year of house arrest and 10 years of probation.
"That was a fair plea offer and if I could turn back time I would take it," the boy's lawyer said.
The judge also rejected a defense request for a mental competency hearing. The defense had argued that Tate did not understand before his trial that he faced life in prison if convicted.
A few days after Tiffany's death, Tate told police he picked her up and accidentally hit her head on a table. In a videotaped interview with a court-appointed psychologist, Tate claimed to have accidentally thrown Tiffany into a stairway railing and a wall while trying to toss her onto a sofa.
The defense's own experts conceded that Tate's story would not have accounted for all of Tiffany's injuries, which one prosecution expert said were comparable to falling from a three-story building.
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I was put on this Earth to complete a certain number of tasks. I am so far behind, I will never die...
WCE2000
11 Mar 2001, 17:37
Thats is pretty harsh.
Life sentence for a mistake a kid made when he was 12.
Even those kids in England - the kids who got their name changed - got off when the blatanlty murdered a young boy.
The story the kid said that 'he was practicing wrestling moves' seems a little far fetched if the extent of the damage to the girl is true.
Even still, i dont think life behind jail is too far. I would say the appeal would see the sentence reduced from life, to probably 3/4 years, i would reckon.
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JUB JUB JUB
11 Mar 2001, 17:48
YOU ABSOLUTE MORON - WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? HUH?
IT WASN'T MANSLAUGHTER - DID YOU SEE HER INJURIES? NO. YOU SHOULD BE PUT TO DEATH YOU STUPID ****EN POOF.
Well if the injuries are true they sound a lot more than a wrestling match. I think the kid deserves 20 years with parole, 10 years Probation. Life inprisonment is a little far.
Ok when i first posted the topic all the info i had was from hearing it on the news and it sounded like he had killed her by accident. After reading the full article though I've decided it probably was murder but that doesn't change anything, life imprisonement for a 14 year without the chance of ever getting out is too harsh.
eastuagh36
12 Mar 2001, 06:25
It shouldn't be illegal to kill girls. Most of them just grow up to be whores, anyway!
Stealth bomber
12 Mar 2001, 09:34
This is what happens when the Republicans are in office!
As for those school shootings, that is karma getting it's revenge on public education boards that do absolutely nothing about bullying and harassment paired with a severe lack of gun control laws perpetuated by a huge misinterpretation of our constitution. Damn that's a long sentence.
As long as our law system is this pathetic, I might just stay over here for awhile.
eastuagh36
12 Mar 2001, 10:00
Originally posted by Stealth bomber:
As long as our law system is this pathetic, I might just stay over here for awhile.
I always assumed you were an Australian living in Wisconsin. Who would come from the USA to a shithole like Victoria?
I feel sorry for you!
Port Power for the flag!
I'm not too sure I agree.
14 year olds are just as capable off committing violent acts as adults. I don't think you can excuse punishment simply on the basis that is was ONE mistake- yes a big mistake indeed.
Having said that, there are a few issues that need to be considered:
1) Apart from the sentance, the harshness of which is problematic, no one has discussed the appropriatness of shackiling a 14 year old. Unless he had attempted escape, which is doubtful considering his apparent mental state (there were no reports of attempted escape either), the degree of restraint used was scandolous.
2) From what I saw on television, the accused looked a "few cents short of a dollar". Mental impairment is a defense for murder. How were the defense attorneys unable to prove this?
3) Why did the parents turn down the plea bargin?
Cheers.
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"Strangely enough, in the midst of change, the present course may often be the most risky one. It may only serve to perpetuate the irrelevancy."
melbournemartin
23 Aug 2009, 13:01
I was strolling through the old posts on this board (as I do when I am bored sometimes) and I came across this. It is interesting to see how it unfolded, and it didn't turn out well :(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Tate
The original decision was eventually overturned and he got to accept the original plea bargain. He later violated parole and got 30 years for that and 10 years for the act of holding up a pizza place with a gun.
You can't even begin to imagine how much the incident with the little girl and subsequent trial would have affected him.
Invigoration
23 Aug 2009, 13:19
Sounds like the initial verdict should never have been overturned.
it was only Dominos pizza, hardly worth violating parole for
Haha, old BigFooty (2001 era) was hilarious.
There's no way you'd be able to get away with any of that these days with ModNazis.
Rosstickle
23 Aug 2009, 14:48
IS THERE ANY JUSTIFIABLE REASON WHY HE HAS BEEN PUT INTO PRISON FOR SO LONG WHEN HE HAS DONE ONE SMALL MISTAKE HE WILL REGRET FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE!!! IT WASNT MURDER SO WHY TREAT LIKE IT WAS, AND HE ISN'T SOME MULTIPLE MURDER PHYSCO!!! I REALLY FEEL FOR THE GUY NOW HIS WHOLE LIFE IS RUINED....
I know i'm 8 years late but that comment is very funny. I think killing someone is a bit more than a SMALL mistake.:o
melbournemartin
23 Aug 2009, 16:32
The person was only small though...
...okay that's a terrible joke.
The person was only small though...
...okay that's a terrible joke.
Only a small crime :D.
Barwick17
23 Aug 2009, 18:52
I still laugh (probably not right) at Visro believing the 'practising a few wrestling moves' and then you read the injury list.
How can some idiot be so one-eyed? There are some nasty people out there
The Cranium
25 Aug 2009, 01:19
Didn't realise the thread was so old...
But....
Tate was found guilty January 25th of beating Tiffany to death at his home. Tiffany suffered a fractured skull, a lacerated liver and more than 30 other injuries on July 28, 1999, from being punched, kicked, stomped and thrown.
I think there may of been intent here somewhere....and she was either unconscious early and or a lot of pain....don't drop the soap...
The Cranium
25 Aug 2009, 01:23
Where's the OP now...
LOL, have a read of this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Tate
boncer34
25 Aug 2009, 15:01
I still laugh (probably not right) at Visro believing the 'practising a few wrestling moves' and then you read the injury list.
How can some idiot be so one-eyed? There are some nasty people out there
You did of course read the whole thread and realise that he took back what he said about it only being a few wrestling moves and that he concedes it was murder? Or did you just jump up on your horse?
MrEAGLES
25 Aug 2009, 15:29
Its very interesting reading the thread from start to finish, at first the people agree that it is a bit harsh but then later after reading the WIKI link...we all realise the kid is so twisted and most likely purposefully did those things to that little girl and our attitude RIGHTLY change.
What I dont understand is when hes was placed under probation, which he violated, and continued to commit more crimes and only ended up with 30years?? After originally getting Life for the first crime? :confused:
Having all this said, I hope he dies in prison, or is tortured!!
Rosstickle
25 Aug 2009, 22:45
Is this the kid referenced in Dave Chappelle's "For What it's Worth"?
magic_johnson!
27 Aug 2009, 14:13
Isn't a life sentance only 25 years?
apollo_creed
27 Aug 2009, 16:19
you absolute moron - what do you know about what really happened? Huh?
It wasn't manslaughter - did you see her injuries? No. You should be put to death you stupid ****en poof.
jub jub jub :d :d
apollo_creed
27 Aug 2009, 16:19
It shouldn't be illegal to kill girls. Most of them just grow up to be whores, anyway!
oh there's some beauties in here.
red+black
27 Aug 2009, 23:11
I notice the OP was 15 years old himself when he created this thread. Possibly why he felt so strongly.
rofltown
28 Aug 2009, 22:09
How do you look up old threads like this one? I can't find any beyond the 5 pages it has in the forum display.
bit_pattern
28 Aug 2009, 23:08
You utter ****ing knobs :thumbsu
DoubleO7
29 Aug 2009, 00:17
How do you look up old threads like this one? I can't find any beyond the 5 pages it has in the forum display.
Change your display options found at the bottom of the page (Board page). There should be three drop-down menus that appear like this: 'Sorted By', 'Sort Order' and 'From The'. Click on 'From The', and then navigate down to 'Beginning'. After choosing the 'Beginning' option, all threads from the start date of this board should appear.
If that doesn't work for you, you could always look in the Board archives (http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/archive/index.php/f-99.html)...
rofltown
29 Aug 2009, 02:07
Change your display options found at the bottom of the page (Board page). There should be three drop-down menus that appear like this: 'Sorted By', 'Sort Order' and 'From The'. Click on 'From The', and then navigate down to 'Beginning'. After choosing the 'Beginning' option, all threads from the start date of this board should appear.
If that doesn't work for you, you could always look in the Board archives (http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/archive/index.php/f-99.html)...
Thanks, wow the general discussion boared used to be filled with even more crap than there is now.
Isn't a life sentance only 25 years?
Parole for a life sentence is usually set around 25 years however, a judge can rule that someone can be sentenced to life without parole like the case below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Knight
Australia's own Hannibal Lector.......
Thanks, wow the general discussion boared used to be filled with even more crap than there is now.
And yet people say the site has gone downhill...