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Lionel Tate Released on Bond
Aired January 26, 2004 - 14:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we move on to Florida where Lionel Tate was granted bond today and released after three years in prison. You'll remember, he has been serving a life sentence for killing 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick when he was 12 years old.
Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey joins us live from Miami. Kendall, first, give me your reaction to today's bond hearing and the fact that this young man, now 17, is going to be free tonight.
KENDALL COFFEY, FRM. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I think it's an extraordinary moment when you look at fact that he was sentenced to life in prison, and really all the different challenges that were raised by his lawyers to the appeal to this being too extreme were rejected.
What happened is his lawyers found a single narrow issue, that he hadn't gotten a competency hearing at the time he rejected the plea deal, and were able to get him a new trial based on that.
So in the scheme of legal things, this is a near miracle and a very extraordinary day for Lionel Tate.
LIN: And a legal technicality. But prosecutors are not choosing to retry him. Why is that?
COFFEY: They're not choosing to retry him because is he now willing to accept the very same plea deal that was offered before his trial before, that is to say, three years in prison, which he's essentially already served, a year of house arrest and ten years probation.
And very critical, Carol, is the fact that the mother of the 6- year-old Tiffany, who was killed through the beating administered by Lionel Tate, has supported this plea bargain. And without her support, for what most would consider to be a compassionate outcome, this plea bargain would not have happened and Lionel Tate would not be leaving prison today.
LIN: Why did Tiffany's mother choose forgiveness?
COFFEY: Because first of all, she has apparently -- I've never met her -- got to be an extraordinary woman. Most victim's families want maximum punishment every time out. And the background of this is that the two families were friends. Lionel was actually a very close friend of Tiffany's. All the more underscoring the dimensions of this tragedy.
LIN: Any indications this young man is no longer dangerous?
COFFEY: Well, that's why the prosecutors insisted on a very extended period of probation. And in fact, the family of Lionel Tate is fashioning in effect, almost a circle of mentors, interdisciplinary, from psychologists to police to clergy, in order to assure that he gets through this long probation successfully.
Sometimes it takes a village to help a young man get through difficult times. While the system has given Lionel Tate a second chance, all the indications are he's not going to have a third chance.
LIN: You know it was a wrenching trial to witness and take a look at how much this young man has changed in the three years. There he is on the right in the year 2000 when he was sentenced. And now, much thinner, leaner, more mature presence about him.
COFFEY: This is one of the extraordinary things, Carol, about the harshness with which Florida and some other jurisdictions so punish juvenile offenders. The reality is that they're a very different person four years later than someone is at 12, 13.
And yet nothing about this appellate decision is going to reduce the severity with which Florida can charge children as adults, try them as adults. And in a case like this...
LIN: Really? So you don't think it will change for future sentencing guidelines in that state?
COFFEY: It does not change the ability of prosecutors to charge as adults very young offenders. Or in this case, the necessity of a life sentence had Lionel Tate been convicted.
Let's not forget that Nathaniel Brazil was 13, killed his teacher with a gun. His 28 year sentence is not being revised in the slightest. And the others that await this kind of justice in Florida may not get the second chance that Lionel Tate got.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Kendall Coffey. But a happy day, I'm sure for Lionel Tate's family. We saw pictures of his mother crying in court earlier. Thank you.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 26, 2004 - 14:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we move on to Florida where Lionel Tate was granted bond today and released after three years in prison. You'll remember, he has been serving a life sentence for killing 6-year-old playmate Tiffany Eunick when he was 12 years old.
Former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey joins us live from Miami. Kendall, first, give me your reaction to today's bond hearing and the fact that this young man, now 17, is going to be free tonight.
KENDALL COFFEY, FRM. FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I think it's an extraordinary moment when you look at fact that he was sentenced to life in prison, and really all the different challenges that were raised by his lawyers to the appeal to this being too extreme were rejected.
What happened is his lawyers found a single narrow issue, that he hadn't gotten a competency hearing at the time he rejected the plea deal, and were able to get him a new trial based on that.
So in the scheme of legal things, this is a near miracle and a very extraordinary day for Lionel Tate.
LIN: And a legal technicality. But prosecutors are not choosing to retry him. Why is that?
COFFEY: They're not choosing to retry him because is he now willing to accept the very same plea deal that was offered before his trial before, that is to say, three years in prison, which he's essentially already served, a year of house arrest and ten years probation.
And very critical, Carol, is the fact that the mother of the 6- year-old Tiffany, who was killed through the beating administered by Lionel Tate, has supported this plea bargain. And without her support, for what most would consider to be a compassionate outcome, this plea bargain would not have happened and Lionel Tate would not be leaving prison today.
LIN: Why did Tiffany's mother choose forgiveness?
COFFEY: Because first of all, she has apparently -- I've never met her -- got to be an extraordinary woman. Most victim's families want maximum punishment every time out. And the background of this is that the two families were friends. Lionel was actually a very close friend of Tiffany's. All the more underscoring the dimensions of this tragedy.
LIN: Any indications this young man is no longer dangerous?
COFFEY: Well, that's why the prosecutors insisted on a very extended period of probation. And in fact, the family of Lionel Tate is fashioning in effect, almost a circle of mentors, interdisciplinary, from psychologists to police to clergy, in order to assure that he gets through this long probation successfully.
Sometimes it takes a village to help a young man get through difficult times. While the system has given Lionel Tate a second chance, all the indications are he's not going to have a third chance.
LIN: You know it was a wrenching trial to witness and take a look at how much this young man has changed in the three years. There he is on the right in the year 2000 when he was sentenced. And now, much thinner, leaner, more mature presence about him.
COFFEY: This is one of the extraordinary things, Carol, about the harshness with which Florida and some other jurisdictions so punish juvenile offenders. The reality is that they're a very different person four years later than someone is at 12, 13.
And yet nothing about this appellate decision is going to reduce the severity with which Florida can charge children as adults, try them as adults. And in a case like this...
LIN: Really? So you don't think it will change for future sentencing guidelines in that state?
COFFEY: It does not change the ability of prosecutors to charge as adults very young offenders. Or in this case, the necessity of a life sentence had Lionel Tate been convicted.
Let's not forget that Nathaniel Brazil was 13, killed his teacher with a gun. His 28 year sentence is not being revised in the slightest. And the others that await this kind of justice in Florida may not get the second chance that Lionel Tate got.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much, Kendall Coffey. But a happy day, I'm sure for Lionel Tate's family. We saw pictures of his mother crying in court earlier. Thank you.
COFFEY: Thanks, Carol.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
