Lionel Alexander Tate

Case record: Lionel Alexander Tate

Identity

Lionel Alexander Tate was born on January 30, 1987. He was described as the youngest American citizen ever sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole.

Background

In 2001, Tate was 14. He was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1998 battering death of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick in Broward County, Florida.

Tate was left alone with Eunick while she was being babysat by Tate’s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, while she took a nap upstairs.

Tate was tried as an adult under a Florida law that did not require him to have had the actual intent to kill to be convicted of first-degree murder.

The offence

Tate was convicted of killing Eunick by stomping on her so forcefully that her liver lacerated.

Eunick’s other injuries included a fractured skull, fractured rib, and swollen brain.

The injuries were characterized by the prosecution as "similar to those she would have sustained by falling from a three-story building."

Coroner’s description of the death

The cause of Tiffany Eunick’s death was listed as "blunt force trauma."

Investigation

After the conviction for Eunick’s first-degree murder, appeals proceedings addressed Tate’s mental competency.

Trial

Tate’s defense argued that the then 12-year-old, 166 pound boy was playing with the 6-year-old, 46 pound girl, and had accidentally killed her while showing her professional wrestling moves he said he had seen on television.

Defense counsel Jim Lewis never argued that Lionel Tate did not kill Tiffany Eunick. Lewis’s defense was based on Tate’s love of professional wrestling, which depicts scripted and choreographed acts of extreme violence. Lewis stated that it was not Lionel’s fault that Tiffany was killed and that it was the fault of the World Wrestling Federation.

Prosecutor Ken Padowitz said:

"He didn't have to say 'I'm going to kill Tiffany Eunick,'" "All that is required is that he intended to act, not that he intended the result."

In sentencing, Judge Joel T. Lazarus of Broward County Circuit Court said that "The acts of Lionel Tate were not the playful acts of a child [...] The acts of Lionel Tate were cold, callous and indescribably cruel."

The judge also said:

"The evidence of Lionel Tate's guilt is clear, obvious and indisputable," "That evidence supports the jury's verdict."

Tate’s mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, claimed that her son was just "playing" with Tiffany and that her death was the result of a "tragic accident."

On January 26, Ms. Grossett-Tate added that she couldn’t believe it when the Broward County Circuit Court jury returned a guilty verdict after three hours of deliberation, and she said she was certain the jury would acquit him.

Sentencing

Tate was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for first-degree murder.

The judge handed down Florida’s mandatory sentence for those convicted of first-degree murder: life in prison without parole.

Appeals

In January 2004, a state appeals court overturned Tate’s conviction on the basis that his mental competency had not been evaluated before trial.

The prosecution openly joined Tate’s plea for leniency in sentencing and offered to help in his appeal.

The trial judge criticized the prosecution for compromising the integrity of the adversarial system and said that if the prosecution felt that life imprisonment were not warranted, they should not have overcharged him with murder in the first place.

After the conviction was overturned, Tate accepted the same plea deal he originally turned down.

Tate was released on one year’s house arrest and 10 years’ probation.

Probation violation and subsequent events

On September 3, 2004, Tate was arrested for violating the terms of his plea bargain when he was found outside his house and carrying a four-inch knife.

On October 29, the Associated Press reported that Tate was placed on zero tolerance probation for an additional five years.

On November 30, Tate was allowed to return to the home of his mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate.

The family he had been staying with asked that he be removed because frequent visits by state probation officers were too stressful.

Armed robbery arrest and plea bargain

On May 23, 2005, Tate was charged with armed burglary with battery, armed robbery, and violation of probation, according to the Broward County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office.

Tate greeted Domino’s Pizza deliveryman Walter Ernest Gallardo with a handgun outside a friend’s apartment after phoning in an order. Gallardo dropped four pizzas and fled the scene.

Tate then re-entered the apartment, assaulting the occupant who did not want Tate inside.

Gallardo called 9-1-1 upon reaching the Domino’s store and returned to identify Tate.

No gun was recovered.

Sentencing for gun possession and upheld sentence

On March 1, 2006, Tate accepted a plea bargain and was to be sentenced to 10-30 years imprisonment in a sentencing hearing in April 2006.

Tate admitted that he had violated probation by possessing a gun during the May 23 robbery that netted four pizzas worth $33.60.

Tate refused to answer questions about where he got and later disposed of the gun.

Tate was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea for robbery but was sentenced to 30 years in prison on May 18, 2006 on the gun possession charge.

That sentence was upheld on October 24, 2007.

Pizza robbery no contest plea

On February 19, 2008, Tate pled no contest to the pizza robbery and was sentenced to 10 years.

The sentence was to run concurrently with his 30-year sentence for violating his probation.

Other details

Housing and custodial status referenced during clemency discussion

Jim Lewis appealed for clemency to Florida governor Jeb Bush to see if Tate’s sentence could be commuted to a lesser prison term.

Pending the clemency hearing, Governor Bush ordered that Tate be housed in a juvenile lock-up.

Allegations and claims made by private investigators (new evidence)

In August 2007, two South Florida private investigators alleged DNA evidence and two new victim statements proved Tate likely did not rob Walter Gallardo at gunpoint inside a Pembroke Park apartment on May 23, 2005.

The allegation included a claim that the Broward State Attorney’s Office knew it had the wrong guy but would not act.

The private investigator Joe Carrillo said:

"The Broward State Attorney's Office knows they got the wrong guy, but they are not going to do anything about it," "And it stinks."

Carrillo stated he and former FBI agent Bob Whiting worked without pay on Tate’s case for almost two years.

The investigators’ allegations included that Tate was incarcerated without bond at the Everglades Correctional Institute and had cycled through three defense lawyers, including the late Ellis Rubin.

Gallardo’s account of the pizza delivery

Gallardo delivered pizzas about 4:20 p.m. to unit 208 at 3871 SW 52nd Ave. in Pembroke Park.

Gallardo initially had no answer at the second-floor apartment, so he turned around to leave.

Gallardo then heard someone yell "Hey!" while descending the stairs, walked back up, and saw unit 208’s door slightly ajar.

Gallardo said that behind the door was a black man with a black bandanna covering his mouth and pointing an "old handgun" at him.

Later that evening, Gallardo identified Tate.

Evidence described in the investigators’ account

The narrative stated that Willie Corouthers had been searched and that traces of Tate’s DNA were found in maroon shorts Gallardo claimed the assailant wore.

The investigators alleged that Corouthers was 16 years old at the time of the pizza caper and lived on the first floor of the building where the crime took place.

Corouthers’s statement and related text message

Corouthers reportedly gave prosecutors a sworn statement in September 2005.

Corouthers said:

"Some days I would see him walking to school," "But I never said anything to him until he started coming around where I live."

Corouthers said that Tate sent him a text message on the day of the robbery:

"U still want to bust that lick after school?"

Corouthers explained:

'"bust that lick" is slang for robbery'

Corouthers claimed the robbery never happened and said:

"That was all talk,"

Corouthers said:

"Lionel was at the top of the staircase," "He said, 'I ordered the pizza, sir.'" "Lionel goes into the house, and the pizza man is like right behind him."

Corouthers said he then heard Gallardo scream and saw Lionel waving a gun at the man, and he described:

"The man falls, boom, and then either he fell down the stairs or he ran," "He's screaming help, help, help."

The narrative also stated that this account did not align with Gallardo’s account, and it said Corouthers had fingerprints on one of the pizza boxes and did not mention the black bandanna.

Corouthers said he was on the sidewalk outside the apartment building when Gallardo drove up and that he did not identify Corouthers from the beginning because he was scared and because he said Corouthers told him he was going to kill him, quoted as:

"Because I was scared, and he said he was going to kill me."

Thompkins deposition and statements

Tuquincy Thompkins was described as 12 years old and living in the apartment where the robbery took place.

Initially, Thompkins told BSO detectives she saw Tate rob Gallardo. Two months after the robbery, the narrative said she recanted and told private eye Carrillo.

During an October 11, 2005 sworn deposition, Thompkins said Tate wasn’t there and described a different account:

Thompkins said:

"I saw him take it out," "And that's when I ran in [my mom's] room, and that's when I heard a scream."

Zawalski Edwards jail call

The narrative described Zawalski Edwards as a convicted felon who called Tate’s defense team from jail.

The narrative stated that Edwards was in Corouthers’s apartment the night of the robbery and claimed Edwards saw Corouthers wearing the maroon shorts and placing them "on top of the cabinet ... where the cops found it," as Carrillo said.

Whiting added that Edwards had nothing to gain by implicating Corouthers, quoted as:

"We are not law enforcement, so it's not like we can offer him anything," "he says." "There was absolutely no benefit for him."

Forensic case report and court delay

The narrative stated that a forensic case report by Virginia-based Bode Technology Group on February 9 found significant traces of Corouthers’s DNA on the black bandanna police said was used in the armed robbery.

Based on the alleged DNA evidence, Judge Lazarus agreed to delay the trial set for April, and the next hearing was held in September.

Prosecutor and sheriff spokesman statements in the narrative

The investigators’ account said they told Assistant Broward State Attorney Charles Morton about exculpatory evidence, but Morton did not want to hear anything that would exonerate Lionel, quoted as:

"he doesn't want to hear anything that would exonerate Lionel."

Broward Sheriff’s spokesman Elliot Cohen dismissed the private eyes’ charges and said:

"I'd expect nothing less from two people who are working for the person they are trying to exonerate," "Cohen says." "The court record is extensive and pretty clear."

Additional trial- and sentencing-related remarks quoted in the narrative

Kathleen Grossett-Tate said:

"I want my son out." "He should not be there!"

She also asked:

"How do you tell a child 'you're going to prison for the rest of your life for playing'?"

Timeline fragments included in the narrative but not separately stated in the legal status

The narrative referenced dates including:

• July 28, 1999, in Miramar, Florida, when Tate practiced wrestling moves with Tiffany Eunick.
• January 26, when Tate’s mother said she couldn’t believe the jury verdict.
• September 2004, when police found Tate carrying a knife.
• April 2006, for a sentencing hearing timing.
• October 24, 2007, for the upheld sentence date.
• February 9, for the forensic case report date.
• August 02, 2007, for the publication date of the narrative discussing new evidence.