State Will Not Retry Long Island Man in Murder Case

GARDEN CITY — A man who spent 17 years in prison before a court said he might be innocent in the 1988 murder of his parents was told yesterday that he will not have to face a second trial.Martin Tankleff, 36, was convicted in 1990, but defense attorneys have long contended that his disputed confession given to detectives on the day of the killings was coerced, and argued that a family business associate was the real culprit.Last December, an appellate court ruled that key evidence in the case had been overlooked, saying Mr. Tankleff was entitled to a new trial. When Suffolk County prosecutors opted against a second trial, citing the passage of time and changes in the law, the New York attorney general’s office was called in to review the case.That six-month review ended yesterday, when state prosecutors said they too would not prosecute Mr. Tankleff a second time.Benjamin Rosenberg, who was appointed by Attorney General Cuomo to conduct the review, said that while there was “some evidence” that Mr. Tankleff committed the crimes, “after 20 years the evidence is insufficient to conclude or would prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did so.”Mr. Tankleff, who was supported by several dozen relatives throughout his ordeal, told reporters the decision was “20 years overdue. … I really just look forward to getting on with my life.”Mr. Tankleff’s attorney, Bruce Barket, said no decision has been made on whether to file a lawsuit, but clearly hinted it was a possibility. “Marty spent 171/2 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. You can’t imagine the horror of what he was going through day in and day out,” Mr. Barket said. “So if there is a civil suit it seems he certainly deserves some compensation.”The exoneration ends an extraordinary legal odyssey that included a coerced confession, a drawn-out appeal bankrolled by a team of high-powered lawyers who took the case pro bono, and conspiracy theories about the identity of the real killers.Seymour Tankleff and his wife, Arlene, were found slain in their waterfront home in Belle Terre, Long Island, on September 7, 1988.Arlene Tankleff was found bludgeoned in her bedroom; Seymour was stabbed in his study and died about a month later.Detectives questioned Martin at the home after he called 911 to report the attack. Later, they took him to police headquarters where they used an interrogation tactic in which they falsely told him that his father had awakened from a coma and named him as the killer.At that point, Mr. Tankleff wondered aloud if he might have “blacked out” and committed the crimes, adding: “It’s starting to come to me.” The motive, he told police, was anger over a variety of slights, including being made to drive a “crummy old Lincoln.”He immediately recanted the confession, refusing to sign what the officers had written.From the day of his arrest through his trial, Tankleff pointed to a business partner of his father who ran a string of Long Island bagel shops. Tankleff claimed the businessman, Jerry Steuerman, owed his father thousands and enlisted local street thugs to commit the murders.Mr. Steuerman has always insisted he was not involved. Prosecutors and police never gave serious consideration to Mr. Steuerman as a suspect, despite his own bizarre behavior: Just days after the Tankleff killings he faked his own suicide and fled to California in a disguise.Mr. Tankleff’s defense team filed numerous appeals, to no avail. Finally, in 2003, his attorneys were granted a new hearing in Suffolk County, claiming they had a witness who would say he drove two men to and from the Tankleff house on the night of the slayings.But that witness never testified, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Other witnesses testified that they heard one of the men allegedly in the car that night — Joey “Guns” Creedon — confess he was involved.Creedon, a career criminal who testified at the hearing that he had committed rape and assaults, has denied any involvement.When a Suffolk County judge rejected Mr. Tankleff’s claim in 2006, he took his case to the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court. The judges ruled in December it was “probable” that a new jury would render a different verdict.“With the ruling today, it seems like a lot of people agree that we have it right, that we’ve had it right for a long time,” a retired New York City police officer who worked as an investigator for Mr. Tankleff, Jay Salpeter, said.

State Will Not Retry Long Island Man in Murder Case

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