Lionel at 13
Lionel today

Could there be any more good news today? Lionel Tate has been freed from prison at the age of 16--after serving three years of a life sentence in Florida for killing a playmate.

You can find a recap of the case here.

Don't miss this moving column on the Marcus Dixon case in the Houston Chronicle by Marian Wright Edelman, President and founder of the Children's Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., titled Echoes of old South in teen's legal lynching.

Update: This just in from someone familiar with the case and players:

The U.S. said today it has no plans to release three teenagers, ages 13 to 15, who have been detained at Guantanamo for more than a year. Even though last August, prison camp commander Brig-Gen. Geoffrey Miller said he would recommend they be sent home.

The U.S. describes their living conditions in a way that makes it sound like they are at summer camp:

The military official said the three were being kept separately from older prisoners in a refurbished house. They shared a large bedroom and there was also a dayroom, a kitchen and a facility where the teens received daily lessons.

"They are being tutored in their own language and are learning other skills. They are being taught to read and mathematics." The official said there was a large yard around the house where the teens played soccer, volleyball and other games.

But lest the picture seem too rosy, consider this: the boys have not been allowed any contact with their families. The U.S. doesn't know if their families know where they are. The boys have no idea what the future holds in store for them.

Jo Becker, advocacy director for children's rights at Human Rights Watch, voiced deep concern the children were still being held and called for their release. "They have been in detention since the early part of last year without any direct contact with their families or knowledge about what is going to happen to them," said Becker.

She appealed to the military to free the detainees so they could be re-integrated with their communities and said there was particular worry about them being separated and detained during the vulnerable teen years.

The U.S. won't discuss how many 16 to 18 year olds are at Guantanamo, but Human Rights Watch says there are some and that they are being housed with adult prisoners. To us, that alone is a human rights violation. Children, and 16 to 18 year olds are children, should never be housed with adult prisoners. Here are some stats:

Children housed in adult jails and lock-ups have been found to be eight times more likely to commit suicide, five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, two times more likely to be assaulted by staff, and 50 percent more likely to be attacked with a weapon than children in juvenile facilities.

A sixteen year old's murder conviction has been overturned in Nevada after he has served fifteen years. He pleaded guilty upon advice of his lawyer who had told him that if he did not, a jury would sentence him to death because he was black and the victim was white.

Jimmie Davis was 16 when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1988. In its ruling Wednesday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was "almost no possibility" that a jury would have imposed a death sentence, given his age and the background of the case.

The court said Davis' counsel "failed to conduct a meaningful investigation" before recommending the guilty plea. "Perhaps most egregiously, it appears from the record that defense counsel may not have been aware that Davis was only 16 years old at the time of the offense," the court said.

Davis, 31, of North Las Vegas, has said he accidentally shot Brittain Gelabert with the stolen .38-caliber revolver she was trying to sell him for $100.....The attorney general's office had argued against his appeal and in support of the conviction, saying that even if the shooting was accidental it could be considered murder under state law.

Now the D.A. will decide whether to retry Davis. We think 15 years is enough and hopes the DA decides against it.

By TChris

Lionel Tate -- the 16 year old boy who, at the age of 14, became the youngest person ever sentenced to life in prison -- signed a plea agreement that, if approved by the court, should cause Lionel to be released from detention this month. The agreement is similar to one that Lionel rejected before his trial. A Florida appellate court reversed Lionel's first degree murder conviction after concluding that Lionel's competence to understand the proceedings should have been evaluated prior to his trial. Talkleft has written about Lionel's case here and here.

The agreement calls upon Lionel to plead guilty to the lesser charge of second degree murder in exchange for a recommended sentence of three years in detention (almost all of which Lionel has already served), a year of house arrest and 10 years of probation. During his trial, Lionel's defense contended that Lionel inflicted injuries accidentally while imitating wrestling moves that he had seen on television. Given the risk that the defense might fail in a second trial and that Lionel might lose his freedom for the rest of his life, signing the agreement was the right choice. Offering Lionel an agreement that recognized the difference between a child's immature decisionmaking and an adult's calculated intent was also the right choice.

By TChris

In the past, students who violated a dress code were sent to the principal's office for a scolding. In Toledo, a student whose low cut top and unbuttoned sweater were unacceptable to school officials, and who refused to wear the bowling shirt they offered as alternative garb, was arrested, handcuffed, and taken to the juvenile detention center. Other violations of Toledo's "safe school ordinance" deemed worthy of arrest include "being loud and disruptive, cursing at school officials," and "shouting at classmates." Only a handful of 1,727 school-related arrests in Lucas County in 2002 were for serious incidents.

The administrative judge for the Lucas County juvenile court is concerned that school officials and the courts are "demonizing children" by referring increasing numbers of minor offenses to the juvenile justice system. The "growing criminalization of student misbehavior" has become a widespread problem, leading to complaints from juvenile court judges in states that include Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida.

Arresting and incarcerating students for nonviolent behavior does little to promote school safety. It reflects the "zero tolerance" mentality that has allowed school officials the luxury of replacing discretion and common sense with "zero thinking." Arbitrary and heavy-handed use of the criminal justice system in schools teaches students to resent authority, not to respect the law. It also wastes limited resources that the police and courts can devote to serious offenders.

Really good news. The prosecutors in the Lionel Tate case have re-offered him the deal his mother turned down for him prior to trial. In three months he'll be out of prison, serve a year on home detention and then ten years on probation:

Tate beat 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick to death when he was 12, claiming he accidentally killed her while imitating pro wrestling moves he had seen on television. He was tried as an adult, convicted of first-degree murder and received an automatic life-without-parole sentence in a case that led to international criticism of Florida's tough handling of juveniles who kill.

The plea bargain would let Tate, now 16, plead guilty to second-degree murder and receive a sentence of three years in prison, of which he has already served 33 months, Broward State Attorney Michael J. Satz said in a statement.
That would be followed by a year under house arrest and 10 years of probation. Tate would also have to undergo psychological treatment.

More details of the case and history are available here.

An ABC News poll shows that most people support a life over death sentence for John Lee Malvo, who was a juvenile at the time of the sniper attacks.

Given a choice, 52 percent say they'd prefer a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for Malvo, while 37 percent prefer the death penalty. (Support for execution is higher, 56 percent, when no other option is offered).

The results reflect broader concerns about executing juveniles. With no alternative offered, a quarter of Americans support the death penalty for juvenile killers in general, a quarter say it depends on the circumstances and half oppose it. But given an alternative, 62 percent prefer mandatory life; just 21 percent favor capital punishment.

By T. Chris

A teenager in North Carolina, accused of planning to explode homemade napalm bombs at his high school and keeping a "corpse list" of 20 names (including his own), will be prosecuted in juvenile court.

"Every one of us who is a parent has to have nightmares about what might have happened ... but nevertheless it is essential that we keep focused on what did happen and what needs to happen now," Chief District Court Judge William Hamby said. "It is not appropriate at this point to punish based on what might have been."

It is refreshing and encouraging to see a judge base a decision on what happened, not on what might have happened. The boy obviously needs help, and Judge Hamby deserves praise for having the courage to recognize that juvenile court is best situated to provide that help.

An 11 year old pleaded guilty today in New Jersey to kidnapping and killing a toddler when he was 10. Aaron Kean was not charged as an adult. The Court sentenced him to 18 years in the custody of the juvenile justice system.

Under terms of the sentence, he will be evaluated periodically and could be released at any time it is determined that he is rehabilitated. If he is released early, he would be subject to six years of supervision.

Kean is expected to be sent out of state to a specialized children's mental health facility. This is how child offenders should be treated--through attempts at rehabilitation. Not like Florida treated Lionel Tate.

Lionel at Trial, Age 14

Some great justice news today:A Florida appeals court ordered a new trial for Lionel Tate--the youngest person ever sentenced to a life term for murder. Lionel was 12 when he killed a playmate. He claimed at trial they were just wrestling.

Appellate judges ordered a new trial Wednesday for a teenager serving a life sentence for killing a 6-year-old playmate, raising questions about whether child murderers are competent to be tried as adults and locked away with no hope of parole.

The judges at the 4th District Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that Lionel Tate's first-degree murder conviction and life sentence should be reversed because Tate's competency should have been evaluated before the trial. The boy's lawyers had claimed he was imitating pro wrestlers when he killed Tiffany Eunick in July 1999.

Tate's family turned down a plea bargain before the trial that would have given him a three-year sentence.

Details of the case and sentence are here and here. The text of the decision is here.

Lionel Today

In a case of Abner Louima redux, a counselor at the nation's largest residential treatment center for troubled youths is being held on charges of sodomizing a juvenile resident with a broomstick:

Sometime between 9 and 10 p.m., the authorities said, the victim, a resident of Wolfe Cottage, one of 22 residences on campus, was chased and cornered in a shower room by 16-year-old Elliot Perryman, who sodomized him with a broomstick while Jason Brown, 29, an assistant cottage supervisor, held him down. It was unclear what prompted the attack, the police said.

The victim reported the assault to the staff on Friday and was treated at a campus infirmary and at St. Joseph's Hospital in Yonkers. The two suspects were arrested then and charged with first-degree aggravated sexual abuse, a felony carrying prison terms of up to 25 years. They are being held in the Westchester County Jail on $50,000 bail each for a hearing on Dec. 4.

....At Children's Village, a nationally known treatment center whose broad lawns and rolling hills offer sanctuary to hundreds of emotionally scarred children and youths, a small army of social workers, psychiatrists, teachers and counselors have sought in recent days to help the residents deal with the devastating allegations.

But there were no answers to the most troubling questions: How could a case of sodomy have occurred in an institution that prides itself as a sanctuary for troubled children? If true, why had it happened? And how could a counselor have taken part in such a thing? Ms. Stutz said it was useless to speculate, pending a full police investigation.

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