New Trial Ordered For L.I. Man Accused Of Killing Parents

WNBC-TV

NEW YORK - A New York appeals court Friday overturned the conviction of Martin Tankleff, the man who was 17 years old when he was arrested and charged with killing his parents in their Belle Terre, Long Island, home. The court ordered a new trial. Tankleff Gets New Trial Under intense questioning by detectives, Tankleff had confessed to the crime but then immediately recanted. In ordering the new trial, the appeals court pointed to new evidence, including sworn statements from witnesses who raised questions about whether another suspect or suspects are really to blame. The court also pointed to the questionable confession that Tankleff quickly recanted as more dubious in light of the new theories possibly linking others to the crime.

• PDF: Read The Decision Tankleff was convicted in 1990, although he had said a former business partner of his father was to blame for the killings. Tankleff has served 17 years in prison. In a unanimous ruling, the Second Judicial Department judges wrote that they, based on "newly-discovered evidence, vacate the judgments and the sentences imposed thereon and remit the matter to the County Court, Suffolk County." A spokeswoman for the Suffolk County district attorney said her office had not yet reviewed the decision and had no comment. A lawyer associated with the appeal said prosecutors will have to decide whether they have any basis to try to appeal the reversal to a higher court or to seek a new trial. Tankleff's attorney has claimed the former business partner hired two men to carry out the killings. In the decision, the court points to new evidence and conflicting statements from numerous separate witnesses.

One claim, for example, comes from a man named Glenn Harris who allegedly admits to driving to the Tankleff house with two other men the night of the killings. A priest, Father Richard Lemmert, said Harris also authorized him to disclose his admissions.

"Harris revealed to him that the two other men returned to the car some time later in a visibly agitated state and with blood on them. ... (Harris) realized they had been in the Tankleff home but feared telling the police because he was on parole," the court papers said. The court pointed out that these numerous separate witnesses provided alternate theories of the crime which cannot be overlooked, including that a business partner and two men who went to the home might be to blame. The court did not say if it accepted Tankleff's claim of innocence. But it did say how Tankleff's confession "was obtained, and the fact that the defendant almost immediately recanted the confession, the newly discovered evidence is 'of such character as to create a probability that had such evidence been received at trial the verdict would have been more favorable to the defendant.'"

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