Lionel Tate was convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of a playmate, Tiffany Eunick, and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999.

Controversial life sentence

The sentence was controversial because Tate was 12 years old at the time and his victim was 6. Tate had argued that he accidentally killed Eunick while showing her wrestling moves he said he saw on television. He had been the youngest child in modern history to be sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States, bringing broad criticism on the treatment of juvenile offenders in the justice system of the State of Florida.

Tate's mother, a Florida State highway patrol trooper, had turned down a plea bargain arrangement which would have allowed Tate to serve a three-year term for second-degree murder and insisted on going to trial on hopes of an acquittal.

Sentence reduced

After the conviction, the prosecution openly joined Tate's plea for leniency in sentencing, and even 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 was not warranted, they should not have overcharged him with murder in the first place.

In January, 2004, a state appeals court overturned his conviction on the basis that his mental competency had not been evaluated before trial. This opened the way for Tate to accept the same plea deal he originally turned down, and he was released on one year's house arrest and 11 years probation.

Probation violation

On September 3, 2004, Tate was arrested for violating the terms of his plea bargain when he was found out of his house and allegedly 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.

Returned home

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 he be removed because frequent visits by state probation officers were too stressful.