Lionel Tate

A teen whose life sentence for beating a 6-year-old playmate to death was thrown out signed documents pleading guilty to second-degree murder in a deal that could get him out of prison as early as this month. Lionel Tate, 16, signed the papers at a maximum-security juvenile prison in Okeechobee, where he is being held in the 1999 death of Tiffany Eunick.

The mother of a teenager who received a life sentence for murdering a 6-year-old playmate has approved a plea bargain that could allow the boy to be released from prison in the next month, an attorney said Wednesday. Richard Rosenbaum, Lionel Tate's attorney, said the teen had been awaiting his mother's approval. Rosenbaum estimated Tate could be released Jan. 29. "Lionel Tate is ready to move on to the next stage of his life," Rosenbaum said.

The state attorney general's office will ask the 4th District Court of Appeal on Monday to reconsider a decision throwing out Lionel Tate's first-degree murder conviction and life sentence in the slaying of a 6-year-old playmate. Prosecutors say in the motion that the panel incorrectly considered post-verdict arguments and the trial court's findings.

A Florida appeals court has ordered a new trial for Lionel Tate, the teenager who was sent to prison for life three years ago for killing a 6-year-old playmate when he was 12. The court ruled that not enough had been done to make sure that Lionel understood what was going on in court.

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday ordered a new trial for a boy serving a life sentence for killing a 6-year-old girl when he was 12, saying his ability to understand the complex proceedings against him should have been taken into consideration. In reversing the 2001 first-degree murder conviction of Lionel Tate, the 4th District Court of Appeal wrote that Tate's capacity to assist in his defense -- key to determining his competency to stand trial -- was clearly in doubt.

Convicted of a brutal murder, Lionel Tate seemed precisely the child that get-tough sentencing laws were designed to punish. Although he was just 12 years old when he beat a young playmate to death, Tate received life in prison without parole. But barely a week after the boy, now 14, was led in shackles from a courtroom, he has become a symbol for child advocates, state lawmakers and even prosecutors who say the laws are too tough and too inflexible.

A Florida judge's outrageous decision last week to sentence a 14-year-old to life in prison without parole for the murder of a 6-year-old playmate is but the last act in a train wreck of justice system failures in this wrenching case. In January a Miami jury convicted Lionel Tate of first-degree murder in the horrific beating death of Tiffany Eunick.

A 14-year-old boy who said he was merely imitating his pro wrestling heroes when he killed a young playmate was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole--a fate that some jurors and even the prosecutor say is too harsh. Broward County Judge Joel T. Lazarus imposed the mandatory sentence on Lionel Tate, calling his actions "cold, callous and indescribably cruel."