..it rotten.


Mon, Dec. 05, 2005

Court to assess Tate's mental state

By SARA OLKON
solkon@herald.com

A Broward judge this morning ordered a hearing on whether Lionel Tate is mentally competent to defend himself against assault and robbery charges.

Tate sent a letter Friday afternoon to Circuit Judge Joel Lazarus saying he was hearing voices and wanted to kill himself.

This morning's hearing was scheduled to decide whether Tate violated his probation in May by robbing a pizza deliveryman at gunpoint. Tate denies the charges.

But Lazarus postponed that decision and set a hearing on Tate's competency for Dec. 19.

A court-appointed psychologist did a preliminary examination of Tate over the weekend, but those findings were not released.

Meanwhile, Tate will remain in jail and be watched to keep him from harming himself.

Tate, once the youngest American sentenced to life in prison, was released on probation in January 2004 after his first-degree murder conviction was overturned on appeal.

If the judge finds Tate violated his probation, he could be sent back to prison for life.

Tate, now 18, was 12 when he fatally beat his 6-year-old playmate, Tiffany Eunick, in his Pembroke Park home.

Less than a year after he won his freedom, Broward sheriff's deputies found him in a park after his curfew with a knife.

2005 Herald.com and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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