Innocence Blog

Long Island man released on bond after conviction is thrown out

Posted: December 27, 2007 6:40 pm

Marty Tankleff was released from a Long Island jail today after posting $1 million bond while prosecutors consider a new trial against him. Tankleff has served 17 years in prison for the murder of his parents, a crime he has always said he didn't commit, and a panel of New York judges last week threw out his 1990 conviction due to new evidence pointing to Tankleff's innocence.

"I was as upset when Marty was convicted as I was the day I learned that there were murders," said his aunt, Mary Anne McClure. "Now we can mourn my sister properly, because we haven't been able to for 19 years."…

The case had raised questions about coercive interrogation tactics and drew the support of the Innocence Project, an organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people.

"It's a great day for justice in New York and in the country generally," said Barry Scheck, the project's executive director.

Read the full story here. (Associated Press, 12/27/2007)

Tankleff was convicted partly based an alleged confession that he immediately recanted, saying he had been pressured by detectives. Evidence of other perpetrators in the murders has surfaced since Tankleff's conviction, and the Innocence Project has filed an amicus brief in his case, pointing out that false confessions or admissions have been a factor in 25 percent of wrongful convictions later overturned by DNA testing.

Read the Innocence Project's amicus brief in the case.

 

Tags: Marty Tankleff