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AG won't retry Tankleff -- or any other suspects

BY LUIS PEREZ | luis.perez@newsday.com

3:29 PM EDT, June 30, 2008

Marty Tankleff's court saga appears to have come to an end.

At a long awaited hearing in state Supreme Court in Riverhead Monday, prosecutors for the state attorney general's office announced that they would not seek to prosecute Tankleff again, saying that although there is evidence of Tankleff's guilt, it is not enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

"The issue in this case is not whether there is evidence . . . but whether there is sufficient evidence," said Benjamin Rosenberg, lead counsel for the attorney general. "The people move to dismiss the indictment."

In the same motion, prosecutors said they would not proceed against suspects identified by Tankleff's defense team, saying that "on balance, the defense theory does not appear to be supported by clear evidence."

State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle set the next court date for July 22, when he is to issue a written decision on the motion to dismiss.

"We waited a long time for this," said Tankleff's aunt Marcella Falbee. "And he did, too."

Outside court, Tankleff himself spoke: "I really look forward to getting on with my life. I thank a lot of you for helping get the truth out," he said to the throng of media.

"Everyone has come to the same decision: Marty Tankleff did not killhis parents," said his attorney, Bruce Barket of Garden City.

Salpeter said he had a message for Tankleff's parents: "I think it's time now that you can rest in peace. Your son is home and he's here to stay."

Although the decision makes Tankleff free from criminal investigation for the first time since his parents were killed in September 1988, it falls short of the clear exoneration he and his legal team had hoped for.

The first person to arrive for Martin Tankleff's moment of truth at the Riverhead courthouse Monday was the private investigator who made his release from prison possible.

"I hope it will happen and I know it should happen," said Jay Salpeter, referring to the possibility that Tankleff could finally be exonerated for the murder of his parents. "Marty should be released today."

The tension at the courthouse began building hours before a scheduled 2 p.m. hearing, where prosecutors from the state attorney general's office are expected to unveil the results of their months-long investigation into the killing of Tankleff's parents.

There have always been large crowds for Tankleff's appearances. But for what seemed like the first time, the large, third-floor courtroom of state Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle was packed to capacity. A court officer announced, "Folks, whatever the outcome, the judge does not want any outbursts."

"Enough. Enough. It's been enough time," said Ruth Tankleff, Martin Tankleff's aunt, as she was led into the courthouse alongside a group of supporters. "He's a wonderful human being."

Tankleff, however, said nothing as he walked into the courthouse with his legal team. Looking calm, he stood in line behind two cameramen as he made his way through metal detectors.

Tankleff, 36, was tried and found guilty of murdering his parents, Arlene and Seymour Tankleff, by a Suffolk jury in 1990. The couple were found bludgeoned and slashed in their Belle Terre mansion overlooking the Long Island Sound.

In a dramatic turnabout 17 years later, an appellate court vacated Tankleff's conviction, ruling that a lower court failed to properly consider new evidence in the 1988 case. Tankleff had been serving a 50-year-to-life prison sentence in an upstate prison.

The December ruling by the appellate court also revived long-held suspicions by Tankleff's defenders that Seymour Tankleff's business partner, Gerard Steuerman, and three other men may have been involved in the killings. The ruling also ordered Suffolk prosecutors to turn over DNA evidence -- fingernail clippings and scrapings taken from Arlene Tankleff -- to Tankleff's defense lawyers.

All along, Tankleff's defenders have maintained his innocence. They argued that he was a 17-year-old who was strong-armed into a confession by detectives. They said Steuerman owed Seymour Tankleff $500,000 and that Steuerman recruited others to carry out the killings. Steuerman has denied being involved in the killings.

"My arrest and conviction was a nightmare," Tankleff said after making $1 million bail at the end of last year. "This is a dream come true. . . . I hope I can continue to count on everybody's support as I defend myself once again."

Days after his conviction was overturned, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said his office would no longer prosecute Tankleff's 1988 indictment, which was left intact by the appellate court ruling. Spota stopped short of saying Tankleff was innocent.

But amid that victory, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced he would take over the case as a special prosecutor and present evidence to a grand jury. Cuomo's office has since said that a grand jury has been shown new evidence and several witnesses have been interviewed. "We have no agenda," Cuomo has said.

Tankleff's attorney, Bruce Barket of Garden City, has pointed out that Cuomo can only use a grand jury to present new evidence, and not to re-try Tankleff. Barket has also said that the Suffolk district attorney's office should be among the targets of the attorney general's probe because of what Barket called its mishandling of the case.

Tankleff is also awaiting the outcome of a probe by the State Investigation Commission into the handling of the his case.

In 1989, the commission published a damning 200-page report criticizing the Suffolk police and district attorney as using aggressive tactics to close cases, including assaulting and intimidating suspects to get confessions, conducting illegal wiretaps, and falsifying evidence.

Among the report's findings was that the lead investigator in the Tankleff murders, Det. K. James McCready, lied as a witness in another murder trial.

Since being freed on bail, Tankleff has been pursuing a bachelor's degree at Hofstra University, and has voiced an interest to work as a lawyer for the wrongfully convicted.