Tate probation violation hearing postponed

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Tate is on probation for the 1999 killing of a 6-year-old girl.

Facing a possible life prison sentence, convicted child killer Lionel Tate won postponement of a Monday probation violation hearing after writing a letter to the presiding judge claiming that he is "hearing voices" and has contemplated suicide.

Broward County Circuit Judge Joel T. Lazarus granted Tate's handwritten request for a psychological examination and set a competency hearing for Dec. 19, which will determine whether Tate is capable of understanding the charges against him and their consequences.

Tate, once the youngest person in modern U.S. history sentenced to life in prison, is on probation for the 1999 killing of 6-year-old Tiffany Eunick, which happened when Tate was 12. Tate's lawyers initially claimed he accidentally killed the girl while imitating professional wrestling moves he saw on television.

Tate, now 18, is accused of violating terms of probation by allegedly robbing a pizza delivery man at gunpoint in May and possessing weapons, either of which could return him to prison for life. If Tate is found competent, his probation violation hearing would likely be rescheduled sometime in January.

In his letter to Lazarus dated Thursday, Tate complained that his public defender, H. Dohn Williams, "doesn't know my mental condition" even though "I stated to him before that I was hearing voices and that I wanted to kill myself."

Tate also cited a Florida law by statute number requiring a psychological evaluation upon request, adding that Williams "stated to me that I don't have a problem. He is my attorney, not a doctor."

Asked to comment on Tate's claims, Williams said, "I can't tell you what Lionel thinks." Williams said a psychologist examined Tate over the weekend, but those preliminary results are confidential.

Broward County prosecutors declined comment.

Tate was found competent for legal purposes before he reached his plea agreement on second-degree murder charges in January 2004. That plea came three years after Tate's initial first-degree murder conviction and life sentence. They were later thrown out by a Florida appeals court, in part because it was unclear from the court record whether Tate understood what was happening to him before and during trial when he was 13.

Tate has not attempted suicide in the Broward County Jail, said sheriff's spokeswoman Liz Calzadilla-Fiallo. But he has had disciplinary problems including belligerence, refusal to cooperate and "physical altercations and horseplay," she said, including an August incident in which he broke a jail window after repeatedly banging his fist on it. Tate has been charged with criminal mischief in that case.

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All right reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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