Third arrest might seal future for Lionel Tate


By Andrew Ryan and Paula McMahon
Staff Writer

May 25, 2005

Pembroke Park Lionel Tate, who at 12 faced life in prison for murdering a playmate, may have squandered his freedom for four 14-inch pizzas.

The bill for the pies -- pepperoni and sausage, extra cheese, pineapple, and ham -- came to $33.60, according to a Domino's Pizza receipt.

Police say Tate placed the order from his 12-year-old friend's apartment Monday afternoon and forced his way back inside just before the pizza arrived, roughing up the boy before robbing the deliveryman with a .38-caliber revolver.

No one was seriously hurt and nothing was taken except for the pizzas, which the deliveryman dropped while tumbling down the stairs as he tried to get away.

Tate had pizza smattered on his clothes when deputies from the Broward Sheriff's Office arrested him, said BSO spokeswoman Liz Calzadilla-Fiallo.

He faces charges of armed robbery and armed burglary with battery. More significantly, he could return to prison for 20 to 30 years if he is found guilty of violating his probation, court officials say.

It's another twist in the life of the youngest American ever sentenced to life in prison.

Tate made international headlines when he was convicted of the 1999 murder of his 6-year-old playmate, Tiffany Eunick. In 2001 he was sentenced to life in prison, but the conviction and sentence were overturned. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and in 2004 was released on one year's house arrest and put on probation for 10 years.

In September, when police arrested him outside his home at 2 a.m. with a knife, he was jailed for 52 days for the probation violation. A judge also raised the terms of his probation, which he had followed until Monday's alleged misstep.

Tate's critics aren't surprised he is in trouble again.

"If we'd got him the kind of help and attention he needed early on, maybe it would never have gotten to this point," said Michael Brannon, a forensic psychologist who examined Tate over 2 1/2 days in 1999 and found that Tate had a "high potential for violence."

Brannon blamed Tate's defense for slowing down the process by arguing that Tate was borderline mentally disabled. Defense experts said prosecutors bear the blame because they didn't charge Tate as a juvenile, which they said would have brought a rapid resolution to the case.

While many of Tate's supporters made no secret of their disappointment, they offered their support.

"We are still standing with him in this struggle," said Rev. Dennis Grant, part of a team of community and religious leaders who lobbied the state for Tate's early release.

"I'm not saying he should not take any responsibility, but I'm not going to believe anything until an investigation has been done," Grant said.

After the September incident, acting Broward Circuit Judge Joel T. Lazarus told Tate there would be "zero tolerance" for future problems and increased his probation to 15 years. Tate also had to complete 1,000 hours of community service, observe a curfew, undergo random drug tests and was subject to random checks by his probation officer.

Tate earned his high school diploma and was attending culinary school, records show.

He has been a regular fixture in Pembroke Gardens, an apartment complex a block from where he lived with his mother on Southwest 52nd Avenue, in the same house where Tiffany died.

Residents said he spends time with younger children, playing football and video games and zipping around on a motorized scooter.

Though they said he was immature and often digressed into silly falsetto voices, parents and playmates also said Tate behaved himself and even shied away from trouble.

About 3:40 p.m. on Monday, however, police say Tate called Domino's Pizza from his friend's apartment.

When the pizza order arrived, Tate pointed the revolver at deliveryman Walter Ernesto Gallardo, police said.

Gallardo, 44, screamed, dropped the pizza, tripped down a flight of concrete stairs and ran, according to police and witnesses.

When Broward Sheriff's deputies arrived a few minutes later, two people identified Tate as the robber: the boy in the apartment and Gallardo, who returned with police.

Calzadilla-Fiallo, the Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, declined to comment on where detectives think Tate got the revolver, which had not been located Tuesday afternoon.

Tate's mother, Kathleen Grossett-Tate, and Deweese Eunick-Paul, the mother of the 6-year-old murder victim, could not be reached Monday for comment.

When Tate makes his first appearance in magistrate court today, his former trial attorney Jim Lewis will represent him.

People are rushing to judgment, Lewis said.

"He told me he didn't do it, he got there after the fact. The cops recognized him right away and I think their suspicions went to him immediately," Lewis said Tuesday.

"We don't have all the facts yet," Lewis said.

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Community leaders had lobbied for Tate's early release? I found the line, "He told me he didn't do it," especially rich. Just the mean old police. And that rotten luck-accidently killing a six-year-old, walking outside and forgetting that pesky knife on his person and then arriving just after an armed robbery (and looking just like the robber?)- this kid can't win for losing.

[This message was edited by BLeonard on 05-25-05 at .]

That whole culinary school thing might explain his need for the pineapple pizza.

A judge also raised the terms of his probation, which he had followed until Monday's alleged misstep.

Misstep? Misstep? How can these writers possibly in good conscience use language that intentionally downplays shoving a revolver in some poor 44 year old pizza guy's face?

The man is 44 years old and his job is delivering pizza. Can we maybe show the victim a scintilla of respect? You don't become a 44 year old pizza delivery guy without some hard luck and some poor choices, but the man is WORKING. Can't the press show just a touch of understanding that the man with a JOB was just terrorized?

[This message was edited by Philip D Ray on 05-25-05 at .]