PUBLISHER'S NOTE: This Blog is interested in false confessions because of the disturbing number of exonerations in the USA, Canada and multiple other jurisdictions throughout the world, where, in the absence of incriminating forensic evidence the conviction is based on self-incrimination – and because of the growing body of scientific research showing how vulnerable suspects are to widely used interrogation methods such as the notorious ‘Reid Technique.’ As all too many of this Blog's post have shown, I also recognize that pressure for false confessions can take many forms, up to and including physical violence, even physical and mental torture.
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog:
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "In 2018, Suffolk County awarded Tankleff $10 million in a settlement following a 2009 federal court lawsuit against the county, which claimed detectives who investigated the murders fabricated a false confession and suppressed exculpatory evidence. Tankleff also received a $3.375 million settlement from New York State under the Unjust Imprisonment and Conviction Act."
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STORY: "Martin Tankleff, exonerated in his parents' murder, to be sworn in as lawyer," by reporter Nicole Fuller, published by Newsday on February 4, 2020. (Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter.)
GIST: "Martin Tankleff, who served over 17 years
in prison before his conviction for killing his parents was thrown
out, is scheduled to be admitted to the New York State bar Wednesday --
becoming one of a handful of exonerees practicing law in the state. "The first time my name will be read on the
record somewhere, it will be huge," Tankleff, 48, said in an interview
Tuesday ahead of the swearing-in ceremony in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
"I'll be able to represent people -- literally say, 'Martin Tankleff
for the defense' or 'Martin Tankleff for the plaintiff' -- being able to
advocate for people in a much different way." Following his release from prison 13 years
ago, Tankleff graduated from Touro Law Center in Central Islip in 2014
and in recent years has taught at both Touro and Georgetown University
and worked as a paralegal at a Manhattan law firm. After he passed the
bar exam in 2017, he faced a long approval process for admittance to the
state bar, said attorney Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence
Project, who along with former Judge Barry Kamins, represented Tankleff
pro bono during the bar admissions process. "He's already done extraordinary things,"
said Scheck, referencing Tankleff's work with Georgetown students to
exonerate a wrongly accused defendant from Buffalo. "He has continued to
be a very active spokesperson, a mainstay in the innocence movement. A
lot of exonerees have been active in trying to reform the system and
Marty has always been outstanding in that way." Tankleff was sentenced to 50 years to
life in prison in 1990 for bludgeoning and stabbing his parents, Arlene
and Seymour Tankleff, to death in their Belle Terre home in 1988. He was
17 at the time of his parents' deaths. Tankleff's conviction was based largely on a confession that Tankleff repudiated almost immediately and refused to sign.
In 2007, an appellate court overturned his conviction, ruling that Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow did not properly consider new evidence introduced by Tankleff’s legal team, and he was released. That evidence suggested that Seymour Tankleff’s business partner, Jerry Steuerman, hired a pair of hit men to kill the Tankleffs. Steuerman has always denied any involvement in the murders. Steuerman owed Seymour Tankleff $500,000 and fled to California after the murders under an assumed name after faking his death. In 2018, Suffolk County awarded Tankleff $10 million in a settlement following a 2009 federal court lawsuit against the county, which claimed detectives who investigated the murders fabricated a false confession and suppressed exculpatory evidence. Tankleff also received a $3.375 million settlement from New York State under the Unjust Imprisonment and Conviction Act. Tankleff said the bar admittance process was "torturous," but he got through it with his attorneys' help and the love and support of his wife Laurie and their daughter Kourtney. "For me, I think the reality won't actually hit until I sign the book," said Tankleff, referring to the custom of newly minted attorneys signing the attorney roll book. "I've been through so much in my life, the signing of the book really is that final culmination that you're admitted to the bar." In a text message, his former attorney Bruce Barket, of Mineola, said: "Mr. Tankleff's work and accomplishments are remarkable. From wrongly convicted to prison to exonerated to law school and now admission and helping others. It's an honor to know him." Tankleff said once he's an official lawyer, he plans to stay at Metcalf & Metcalf, P.C, the Manhattan law firm where he's worked since 2018. The parts of the law he's most interested in practicing? Criminal and civil rights law, he said, and of course, he wants to assist defendants with wrongful convictions. "Part of me wants to help educate the legal system to the pitfalls, to prevent wrongful convictions -- what things to be wary of and what to look for." John McAlary, the executive director of the New York State Board of Law Examiners, which adminsters the bar exam and vets applicants for admission to practice law in the state, did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday on Tankleff's admission."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/martin-tankleff-lawyer-conviction-overturned-1.41429938
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Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley at the link below: About 6 a.m., on September 7, 1988, 17-year-old high school senior Martin Tankleff awoke to discover his parents had been attacked in their bed in their home on Long Island, New York. His mother, Arlene, was stabbed to death, but his father, Seymour, though severely beaten, was still alive.
In 2007, an appellate court overturned his conviction, ruling that Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow did not properly consider new evidence introduced by Tankleff’s legal team, and he was released. That evidence suggested that Seymour Tankleff’s business partner, Jerry Steuerman, hired a pair of hit men to kill the Tankleffs. Steuerman has always denied any involvement in the murders. Steuerman owed Seymour Tankleff $500,000 and fled to California after the murders under an assumed name after faking his death. In 2018, Suffolk County awarded Tankleff $10 million in a settlement following a 2009 federal court lawsuit against the county, which claimed detectives who investigated the murders fabricated a false confession and suppressed exculpatory evidence. Tankleff also received a $3.375 million settlement from New York State under the Unjust Imprisonment and Conviction Act. Tankleff said the bar admittance process was "torturous," but he got through it with his attorneys' help and the love and support of his wife Laurie and their daughter Kourtney. "For me, I think the reality won't actually hit until I sign the book," said Tankleff, referring to the custom of newly minted attorneys signing the attorney roll book. "I've been through so much in my life, the signing of the book really is that final culmination that you're admitted to the bar." In a text message, his former attorney Bruce Barket, of Mineola, said: "Mr. Tankleff's work and accomplishments are remarkable. From wrongly convicted to prison to exonerated to law school and now admission and helping others. It's an honor to know him." Tankleff said once he's an official lawyer, he plans to stay at Metcalf & Metcalf, P.C, the Manhattan law firm where he's worked since 2018. The parts of the law he's most interested in practicing? Criminal and civil rights law, he said, and of course, he wants to assist defendants with wrongful convictions. "Part of me wants to help educate the legal system to the pitfalls, to prevent wrongful convictions -- what things to be wary of and what to look for." John McAlary, the executive director of the New York State Board of Law Examiners, which adminsters the bar exam and vets applicants for admission to practice law in the state, did not respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday on Tankleff's admission."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/martin-tankleff-lawyer-conviction-overturned-1.41429938
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: (National Registry of Exonerations): "Tankleff called police and after the ambulance had departed, police
took him in for questioning because, with blood on his hands, they
suspected he was involved. The interrogation went on for hours, although Tankleff told the
police that his father’s partner in a bagel store owed his father
$500,000, had threatened his parents with violence and was the last
person to leave the home the night before. At one point, detective K. James McCready told Tankleff that his
father had awakened at the hospital and identified him as his mother’s
attacker. At that point, Tankleff said his father never lied and that
perhaps he had blacked out and killed his mother. He provided a possible, though inaccurate narrative of how it
happened and was asked to sign the statement. Tankleff, however, refused
to sign it and disavowed any involvement in the crime."
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Read National Registry of Exonerations entry by Maurice Possley at the link below: About 6 a.m., on September 7, 1988, 17-year-old high school senior Martin Tankleff awoke to discover his parents had been attacked in their bed in their home on Long Island, New York. His mother, Arlene, was stabbed to death, but his father, Seymour, though severely beaten, was still alive.
Tankleff called police and after the ambulance had departed, police
took him in for questioning because, with blood on his hands, they
suspected he was involved.
The interrogation went on for hours, although Tankleff told the
police that his father’s partner in a bagel store owed his father
$500,000, had threatened his parents with violence and was the last
person to leave the home the night before.
At one point, detective K. James McCready told Tankleff that his
father had awakened at the hospital and identified him as his mother’s
attacker. At that point, Tankleff said his father never lied and that
perhaps he had blacked out and killed his mother.
He provided a possible, though inaccurate narrative of how it
happened and was asked to sign the statement. Tankleff, however, refused
to sign it and disavowed any involvement in the crime.
He was charged with killing his mother and attempting to kill his
father—a charge that was changed to murder after his father died on
October 6, 1988 without ever regaining consciousness.
By then, Seymour Tankleff’s business partner, Jerry Steuerman, had vanished.
In late spring 1990, Tankleff went on trial in Suffolk County
District Court. Among the witnesses was Steuerman, who had been in the
Tankleff home for a poker game and was the last to leave. After the
crime, Steuerman withdrew money from a joint bank account with Tankleff,
fled to California, adopted an alias and shaved his beard.
Eventually, Steuerman resurfaced and was called as a witness at the
trial. He said that he had fled out of fear that he would be blamed. He
testified, “I did not do this.”
The cornerstone of the prosecution case was Tankleff’s unsigned
confession. On June 28, 1990, after a 13-week trial, Tankleff was
convicted of both murders.
On October 23, 1990, he was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison.
The conviction was upheld by the Appellate Division New York State
Supreme Court in December 1993 by a vote of 3 to 2. The dissenting
judges said there was insufficient evidence to convict him.
Over the next 10 years, Tankleff obtained pro bono legal assistance
and numerous appeals were filed in state and federal courts. Although
he continued to lose, attorneys and investigators began assembling what
they hoped would be a critical mass of evidence of his innocence.
In 2003, a private investigator tracked down Glenn Harris, who gave
a sworn statement that he had driven two hit men, Joe Creedon and Peter
Kent, to and from the Tankleff residence on the night of the crime.
Harris said he did so at the behest of Steuerman. At a hearing in July
2004, Suffolk County Judge Stephen Braslow declined to grant Harris
immunity from prosecution and so Harris invoked his Fifth Amendment
right against self-incrimination and his testimony was not heard.
Over the next two years, more evidence was unearthed that began to corroborate Harris’s account.
Another witness, Karlene Kovacs, said Creedon told her that he was
involved. She said Creedon told her that he and another man hid in the
bushes behind the Tankleff house, ran to avoid being caught and had to
get rid of their bloody clothes.
Meanwhile, evidence surfaced that McCready, the detective who
obtained the alleged confession from Tankleff, had come under
investigation for perjury. Further, the lead prosecutor in the case
against Tankleff had a business relationship with Steuerman prior to the
murders.
Eventually, the defense assembled more than 20 witnesses to paint a picture of that Steuerman orchestrated the murders.
One piece of new evidence was a bloody imprint on a sheet in Arlene
Tankleff’s bedroom that appeared to be from a knife. No matching knife
was found, suggesting that someone other than Martin Tankleff had taken
it.
In addition, two witnesses came forward to say that McCready had
been seen together with Steuerman prior to the murders. Other evidence
showed that McCready, had violated police department rules by showing
crime-scene photographs to unauthorized persons.
But on March 17, 2006, another petition for a new trial was denied following a hearing.
On December 18, 2007, the Appellate Division of the New York
Supreme Court in Brooklyn unanimously overturned the convictions, ruling
that if a jury heard the new evidence, it would probably acquit
Tankleff.
Tankleff was released on December 27, 2007. The charges were dismissed on July 22, 2008.
In March 2009, Tankleff filed a federal civil wrongful conviction
lawsuit against the State of New York and the Suffolk County police
department and several officers, including McCready. In January 2014,
the State of New York settled for $3.375 million. in 2018, Suffolk
County settled for $10 million.
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PUBLISHER'S
NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles
Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous
employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable
effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his
protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric
pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on
recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
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FINAL
WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever
there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal
system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent
future injustices.""
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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