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14-Year-Old Boys Tried As Adults, Get Long Sentences

2001

In Florida, 14-year-old Lionel Tate is tried as an adult, convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a 6-year-old playmate when Lionel was 12. Lionel insists that the killing was accidental, occurring when he playfully imitated professional wrestling maneuvers. Several months later, Nathaniel Brazill, also 14, is convicted of second-degree murder after being tried as an adult in Florida for shooting his teacher. Nathaniel is sentenced to 28 years in prison without possibility of parole.