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Hearing set for October in Long Island case
Posted: September 19, 2007 12:20 pm
Marty Tankleff was a senior in high school in 1988 when his parents were killed. He allegedly confessed to the crime and has served more than half his life in prison for killing his parents – a crime he has always maintained he didn’t commit. An appeal based on new evidence of his innocence will be heard by a New York appeals court on October 4. The Innocence Project is among groups that have urged the court to grant Tankleff a new trial based on evidence that Tankleff’s confession was false and other new evidence in the case. In a press release yesterday, Tankleff’s attorneys called for justice after nearly two decades.
“In light of the overwhelming evidence that Marty's conviction was unjust, the outcome of this case will say more about our system of justice than it will about Marty. No system of justice can claim legitimacy if it incarcerates a man so obviously innocent. Our optimism, therefore, is based on the quality of our judicial system, the integrity of appellate judges who are separated from local politics and ultimately our faith that truth will prevail.
Read the full press release here.
Read the Innocence Project’s Amicus brief in this case, as well as other briefs filed on Tankleff’s behalf and the District Attorney’s response. Listen to Innocence Project Staff Attorney Olga Akselrod and others as they discuss Tankleff’s case on public radio in March 2007.
Tags: Marty Tankleff
Hearing today in Long Island case
Posted: October 4, 2007 12:55 pm
An appellate court is hearing arguments today in the case of Marty Tankleff, who has maintained his innocence since he was arrested in 1988 for allegedly killing his parents. He was convicted in 1990 based partly on an admission of guilt that he says was coerced.
The Innocence Project has consulted with Tankleff’s attorneys and filed a brief in the case asserting that it has some of the hallmarks of a false confession and a wrongful conviction.
Read more about the case on Tankleff’s website.
Listen to Innocence Project Staff Attorney Olga Akselrod and others as they discuss Tankleff’s case on public radio in March 2007.
Tags: Marty Tankleff
New York man granted new trial in murder case
Posted: December 21, 2007 1:40 pm
A New York appeals court today threw out the conviction of a Long Island man who has spent 17 years in prison for a murder he says he didn’t commit. Marty Tankleff was convicted 17 years ago of killing his parents in the Belle Terre, NY, home he shared with them. Tankleff was 17 years old at the time of the crime and says he woke up one morning to find his parents murdered. After hours of questioning, Tankleff allegedly confessed to the murder, saying he may have “blacked out” or “been possessed.” He quickly recanted the alleged confession, but it was used against him at his trial. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
"It is abhorrent to our sense of justice and fair play to countenance the possibility that someone innocent of a crime may be incarcerated or otherwise punished for a crime which he or she did not commit," read the decision from Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, in part.
The ruling, by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, was not only a vindication for Mr. Tankleff, but it also raised questions about police and prosecutorial methods in Suffolk County. It was not immediately clear when Mr. Tankleff, 17 at the time of the murders and now 36, would be released. It also was not clear whether a new trial would be held.More background on the case:
Read the full story here. (New York Times, 12/21/07)
Visit Marty Tankleff’s website for a case summary, legal documents and more.
Download the Innocence Project’s Amicus Curiae brief before the New York Supreme Court.
Listen to Innocence Project Staff Attorney Olga Akselrod and advocates for Tankleff in an appearance on NPR earlier this year.
Tags: False Confessions, Marty Tankleff
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.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.
"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)
Read the Innocence Project's amicus brief in the case.
Tags: Marty Tankleff
Editorial calls for special prosecutor in New York case
Posted: December 31, 2007 2:50 pm
For nearly two decades, Marty Tankleff has said he was wrongfully convicted of killing his parents. Last week, the conviction was finally thrown out, due to evidence pointing to Tankleff’s innocence and the involvement of alternate suspects. He was released from prison on bail while prosecutors consider a new trial in the case.
And an editorial in yesterday’s New York Times calls for Suffolk County officials to appoint a special outside prosecutor in the case to ensure that any retrial is handled fairly.
Now that Mr. Tankleff has won another day in court, his case deserves a dispassionate, thorough and honest re-examination. Mr. Tankleff’s defenders insist that this is not possible from the Suffolk County district attorney, Thomas Spota. They are demanding that he hand the case to a special prosecutor. While Mr. Spota had no direct involvement in the Tankleff prosecution, which was tried by his predecessor, he and his office do have multiple connections to some members of the large cast of characters in this convoluted case. A detective who lied to Mr. Tankleff while taking his confession, for example, had been previously defended by Mr. Spota, then a private lawyer, in a corruption investigation, and later when the detective was accused of assault.
The law can be swift and sure when making a case against a defendant and hustling him off to prison. When it is found to have made grave errors, it must be just as honest and forceful in correcting them. We are counting on Mr. Spota to pursue the fairest case the evidence now supports. Or to back away if — as so many on Mr. Tankleff’s side insist — the evidence just isn’t there.For more than a year, an official New York state inquiry has examined the investigation and prosecution of the case by Suffolk County officials, a source told the New York Times.
Read the full editorial here. (New York Times, 12/30/07)
"The (State Investigation Committee) is viewing this as a serious and significant investigation,” said a person who works with the officials overseeing the investigation and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter was confidential. “The commission is looking at how Suffolk County handled this case.”Read more about Tankleff’s case here.
Read the full story here. (New York Times, 12/29/07)
Tags: Marty Tankleff
New York man will not be retried
Posted: January 2, 2008 5:20 pm
Marty Tankleff, who served 17 years in New York prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing his parents, will not be retried in the case, the Suffolk County District Attorney announced today. Tankleff, who has consistently maintained his innocence in the case, was released last week on bond after a panel of appellate judges tossed his conviction due to new evidence in the case.
"It is no longer possible to reasonably assert that the case ... would be successful," Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.Since his release last week, Tankleff, 36, has spent time with relatives and yesterday visited the graves of his parents.
He said his office will formally drop the indictment against Martin Tankleff in the 1988 deaths of Arlene and Seymour Tankleff at a scheduled Jan. 18 court conference in Riverhead.
Read the full story here. (New York Times, 01/02/08)
Read more here.
Tags: False Confessions, Marty Tankleff
Marty Tankleff thanks supporters, calls for state reforms
Posted: January 3, 2008 5:39 pm
A New York man who served 17 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of killing his parents in 1987 spoke out today about his long struggle for freedom and the reforms needed in New York state to ensure that others don’t suffer his fate.
Marty Tankleff was 17 years old when he woke up to find his mother dead and his father unconscious in the house he shared with them. His father would later die in the hospital, and Tankleff was immediately interrogated by detectives as a suspect. He was charged with the murders after allegedly making statements that he may have “blacked out” and committed the crimes. The “confession” was immediately recanted by Tankleff and he never signed the written version.
Today, Tankleff joined his attorneys and Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck in calling for reforms in New York State – including an Innocence Commission and a law requiring the electronic recording of all interrogations – that would prevent future wrongful convictions.
"I knew I wasn't the only innocent man in jail," Tankleff, 36, said in the news conference at a Garden City law office. He thanked the lawyers and investigators who worked on his case, resulting in an appellate court's overturning his conviction, and the decision by the Suffolk County district attorney's office not to pursue another trial. "It's just been a long, long fight," Tankleff said. "I never gave up. They never gave up."Read more about Tankleff’s case in a story in today’s New York Times.
Read the full story here. (New York Newsday, 01/03/08)
Visit Tankleff’s website for legal filings and more background on the case.
Download an Innocence Project report on recommended reforms in New York.
Tags: Marty Tankleff
NY Times calls for recording of interrogations
Posted: January 14, 2008 11:12 am
“What did Martin Tankleff look and sound like when he confessed in 1988 to bludgeoning and slashing his parents to death?” the New York Times asks in a Saturday editorial. “We’ll never know. There is no video or audio recording, just an incomplete narrative, handwritten by detectives, which Mr. Tankleff signed, quickly repudiated, and spent nearly two decades trying to undo.”
DNA exonerations have proven that false confessions happen. In more than 25% of wrongful convictions overturned by DNA testing, a defendant confessed to a crime they didn’t commit. And electronic recording of interrogations prevents false confessions. Recording also aids prosecutors and law enforcement investigations – preserving a true account of an interrogation, allowing officers to focus on questions and not note-taking, and providing a training tool for future interrogations.
Illinois, Alaska and Minnesota – along with more than 500 local jurisdictions – record interrogations in some or most investigations. A bill stalled in the New York legislature last year, and the Times calls for passage of recording legislation this year.
The Tankleff case and the recent high-profile exoneration of Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison for a rape and murder he confessed to but did not commit, both argue strongly for fixing this glaring flaw in New York’s justice system.Download the Innocence Project’s 2007 report on critical reforms to the New York criminal justice system.
Read the full editorial here. (New York Times, 01/13/08)
Read more about Marty Tankleff’s case.
Read more about Jeffrey Deskovic’s case.
Does your state have a law requiring recording of interrogations? Find out in our interactive map.
Tags: Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, Jeff Deskovic, False Confessions, Marty Tankleff
In legal limbo, NY man awaits future
Posted: April 25, 2008 12:26 pm
Marty Tankleff was released from a New York prison in December after serving 17 years for the murders of his parents, a crime he has always maintained he didn’t commit. Since his release, Tankleff has been adjusting to his newfound freedom – reconnecting with family and enduring the difficulties of learning to navigate all of the new technology since he went to prison – like cell phones and the Internet. He is enrolled in Hofstra University to study sociology and philosophy. He told the New York Times that he hopes to go to law school to work on wrongful conviction cases.
“I think I have the education for it — and the experience,” Mr. Tankleff said with a smile as he sat on the couch at his aunt’s home. Referring to letters from desperate prisoners seeking help with appeals, he said: “I know what those guys are like. I was one of them.”But before he can focus on the future, he needs his case to finally be behind him. He was 17 years old when he woke up to find his mother dead and his father unconscious in the house he shared with them. His father would later die in the hospital, and Tankleff was interrogated by detectives as a suspect. He was charged with the murders after allegedly making statements that he may have “blacked out” and committed the crimes. The “confession” was immediately recanted by Tankleff and he never signed the written version.
The charges against Tankleff are still pending, and New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been appointed as a special prosecutor in the case. Cuomo will announce on June 16 whether charges against Tankleff will finally be dropped. But the case will never really be over, Tankleff told the New York Times.
“I just wish the case would be over,” he said, referring to it as “the gorilla on my back.”
But with his parents dead and 17 years of freedom lost, he said, the case “will always be part of me.”
Read the full story here. (New York Times, 04/25/08)
Tags: Marty Tankleff
Charges dropped against New York man
Posted: June 30, 2008 4:32 pm
More than 17 years after Marty Tankleff was convicted of killing his parents, his ordeal is finally over. Prosecutors announced this afternoon that they would not retry Tankleff in the 1988 murder of his parents, which sent him to prison at age 17. Tankleff was released in December, but he had to wait in legal limbo as state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was appointed as a special prosecutor and charged with producing a report on the case.
Tankleff, who woke up one morning in the Long Island home he shared with his parents to find his mother dead and his father unconscious, allegedly told police he may have “blacked out” and committed the crimes. He was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck said today that Tankleff should never have been tried in this case.
“This is a clear case of a false confession. If Marty Tankleff’s interrogation had been videotaped, there would be no ambiguity about his innocence,” Scheck said. “The evidence clearly shows that Marty Tankleff’s confession was coerced, and he should never have been prosecuted in the first place. Electronic recording of interrogations in New York State should become mandatory, as it is in several other states and hundreds of jurisdictions nationwide. In New York State, 17 people were wrongfully convicted based on false confessions and later exonerated (10 of them were exonerated through DNA testing).”
Read press coverage of today’s announcement here:
Associated Press: NY drops case vs LI man in murder of his parents
On Wednesday, Tankleff will join Innocence Project Policy Director Stephen Saloom and others at a public forum coordinated by the New York Senate Democratic Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform. The forum will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial & Educational Center at 3940 Broadway (at 165th St.) in New York City.
Tags: Marty Tankleff
Tankleff, finally free of charges, calls for reforms
Posted: July 25, 2008 12:17 pm
Marty Tankleff was released from a New York prison in December, but it took until this week for charges against him to be officially dropped. On his second day as an officially free man, he told to a group of attorneys on Long Island yesterday about the dangers of false confessions and critical reforms to prevent them.
"For 20 years, in my case, there have been two competing versions of what took place in the interrogation room," Tankleff told the audience, going on to speak about the importance of videotaping complete interrogations so juries can see the facts for themselves.
Tankleff, who woke up one morning in 1988 in the Long Island home he shared with his parents to find his mother dead and his father unconscious, allegedly told police he may have “blacked out” and committed the crimes. His father later died in the hospital, and Tankleff, 17, was convicted of the murdersand sentenced to 50 years to life in prison. He served 17 years before his release in December.
Watch video from yesterday’s speech at Newsday.com.
Tags: False Confessions, False Confessions, Marty Tankleff
Friday Roundup: Opinions on Innocence
Posted: December 5, 2008 6:20 pm
To start this week’s roundup, here are some views from around the country from editorials and op-eds published this week.
Law professor Dan Simon questions a recent report by that Larimer County, Colorado, District Attorney that found that no past convictions in his jurisdictions warranted post-conviction DNA testing.
A former Baltimore Police officer and a former Texas District Attorney both wrote op-eds this week calling for the state to repeal the death penalty due to the risk of executing an innocent person.
And in Montana, The Daily Inter Lake ran an editorial on the Montana Innocence Project and its quest to free innocent inmates in the state and preventing wrongful convictions.
There was also plenty of news this week on exonerees and prisoners seeking to overturn wrongful convictions.
New York inmate Lebrew Jones is waiting for DNA test results that could prove his innocence after 21 years behind bars for a murder he has always said he didn’t commit. The Innocence Project has consulted with Jones’ attorneys on the case.
A new book will be released later this month on the wrongful conviction of Marty Tankleff, who was released from prison in 2007 after serving 17 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
A California woman’s burglary conviction was overturned last week more than a decade after her wrongful conviction, thanks to the work of the Northern California Innocence Project.
And the Innocence Project client Curtis McCarty, who was exonerated last year after serving 21 years on death row in Oklahoma prison for a crime he didn’t commit, was in Rome this week for a conference on the death penalty.
Tags: Curtis McCarty, Marty Tankleff