Martin Tankleff

Martin ("Marty") Tankleff (born August 29, 1971) is a Long Island, New York resident who was convicted of murdering his wealthy parents, Seymour and Arlene Tankleff, on September 7, 1988. After 20 years of imprisonment, his conviction was vacated, all charges were dropped, and he was released from prison.
Marty Tankleff was only a teenager when he was convicted of murdering his parents. He spent more than half his life in remote New York state prisons, a far cry from his privileged childhood on New York's Long Island.

Marty initially confessed, but quickly recanted. He has fought for years for his innocence, especially as new witnesses have surfaced that could potentially exonerate him.


Indictment and Conviction

Police said he caught their attention because he claimed to have slept through the attack and displayed what they considered to be insufficient emotion at the scene of the crime.

Tankleff has always professed his innocence, claiming he was pressured by detectives working the case to confess to the murders after extended questioning. The confession was admitted into evidence despite Tankleff's claims that it was improperly coerced. Specifically, the lead detective informed Tankleff during questioning that his father had come out of his coma and named Marty as his attacker. Shortly after hearing this admitted falsehood, Tankleff wondered whether he could have "blacked out" and, with the encouragement of the detective, confessed to the murders and was ultimately convicted, at age 19, in 1990 and sentenced to two terms of 25 years to life.

Tankleff recanted his confession almost immediately. His contention since the day of the murders (notwithstanding the confession, which he refused to sign, asserting it was false and coerced by lead detective McCready, who also hand wrote it) is that his parents were ordered murdered by his father's business partner, Jerry Steuerman, who owed the elder Tankleff several hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Steuerman was the last guest to leave the Tankleff home the night of the murders, and, while Seymour Tankleff was in a coma, changed his appearance, faked his death and fled to California.

Retrial Motion

In 2004, his lawyers petitioned the county court for a new trial. The motions were based upon new evidence that Tankleff claims shows that career criminals connected to Jerry Steuerman were the true murderers of his parents. Tankleff also presented evidence, unrefuted by the district attorney, that the lead detective and Jerry Steuerman were acquaintances and business associates prior to the Tankleff murders, in contradiction to the detective's testimony at Tankleff's original trial. According to a scathing report by the New York State Investigation Commission on corruption and misconduct in Suffolk County law enforcement, this same detective had perjured himself in a previous murder trial.

On March 17, 2006, Suffolk County Judge Steven L. Braslow denied Tankleff's motions for a new trial, to vacate his previous conviction, to disqualify Suffolk County, New York's District Attorney Thomas Spota from the case, and to grant access to DNA evidence that might support Tankleff's claim of innocence.

The case has been presented by 48 Hours Mystery, which was broadcast and updated on August 11, 2007.

Appellate Division vacates conviction

The case was reviewed by the New York State Appellate Division: Second Judicial Department in Brooklyn, New York. The Innocence Project assisted his defense. The New York Times reported on December 21 that the Appellate Division of the NY Supreme Court has vacated Tankleff's conviction and granted a new trial on December 21, 2007.

On December 27, 2007 Tankleff was released following a bail hearing.

DA Drops all Charges

On December 29, 2007 the New York Times reported that New York State has begun an official inquiry into Suffolk County law enforcement’s handling of the investigation into the 1988 murders of Arlene and Seymour Tankleff. The inquiry began more than a year ago when the State Investigation Commission started gathering legal documents in the long-disputed case. The inquiry is to be directed by a special counsel at the state commission, Joseph Kunzeman, a retired state appellate judge. The commission is taking special interest in the Tankleff case as a follow-up to its investigation of Suffolk County law enforcement in the 1980s, which found entrenched misconduct among the police and prosecutors. Though the commission has no enforcement powers, it can refer evidence of crimes to the authorities or propose a special prosecutor.

On January 2, 2008, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota announced that Martin Tankleff would not face a retrial.