Fort Lauderdale - A Florida judge sentenced a 14year-old boy convicted of killing a six-year-old girl to life in prison yesterday. The case has stirred controversy about what punishment a youth his age should face.
Broward County Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus, who had been asked by the defence to either order a retrial for Lionel Tate or reduce the verdict of first-degree murder, declined to do either and ordered the state's mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Tate was tried as an adult and convicted by a Broward County jury in January of first-degree murder in the July 28th, 1999, death of playmate Tiffany Eunick. Tate's lawyer argued during the trial that the boy, who was 12 at the time of the killing, had been trying out moves on Eunick he had seen performed by professional wrestlers on television, not understanding the damage he could do. But prosecutors said the girl's injuries were far too severe for that to be the case.