[Fredslist] Bruce Barket Seminar with Marty Tankleff

[Dana Charlton]

If my report seems delayed, it’s because it took time to digest all that I
heard at Bruce Barket’s seminar with Marty Tankleff yesterday.  The subject
was “Wrongful Convictions”.  Though many of those present were familiar
with the story, it was my first time hearing it:  20 years ago, a young man
of 17 slept in his bed while his father was beaten nearly to death (and
died later), and his mother slaughtered in her bed.  Blood was everywhere
and smeared on the teen’s bedroom light switch.  Marty described how he
woke in the morning to find these horrific scenes, and tried without
success to bring his father back to consciousness.  Emergency workers
arrived for his father, but it took 10 hours for a medical examiner to
reach the scene.  The lead detective chose one target as the murderer:
Marty.   Marty was grilled instead of comforted, and, after many hours and
anxious for a confession, the detective lied to him that his father had
come out of his coma just long enough to say that Marty was the killer.
Here is where the “confession” came in.

Mr. Barket explained that young Marty “agreed” it must be so if his father
and the policeman said so and must have had a blackout not to remember it.
The detective wrote out a confession but Marty refused to sign it.
Nonetheless, he was taken away in handcuffs, put on trial, found guilty of
murdering his parents, and sentenced to 50 years to life.  The prosecutors
presented no physical evidence.  (It was before the science of DNA
testing.)  The rest of the seminar dealt with how in prison, Marty learned
enough to become a “jailhouse attorney,” sought the best lawyers and
private investigators, and finally, after another 17 years, was exonerated
with the conviction vacated, all charges dismissed, and released from
prison.  Though there are powerful theories of who was behind the murders,
there have been no arrests, and security measures are in place for Marty
Tankleff and those who worked arduously on his behalf.

It was painful to hear, but here was Mr. Tankleff now a free man with years
of help of Gotham member Bruce Barket and many others, all gratis.  The
entire saga is amazing, and it is not over.  Mr. Tankleff has filed suit
against Suffolk County for his wrongful conviction, works as a paralegal at
Mr. Barket’s law firm and is studying towards earning his own law degree.


Dana Charlton
Klein Zelman Rothermel LLP
485 Madison Avenue - 15th Floor
New York, NY  10022
Tel:  212-935-6020, ext. 212
Fax:  212-753-8101
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