Posted on 01/03/2006 4:31:06 AM PST by Pharmboy
Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Martin H. Tankleff, photographed
in 2004, was convicted in 1990 of
killing his parents. He turned 34 in
August 2005 and has expressed
hope that he will not spend
another birthday in prison.
Martin H. Tankleff was supposed to start his senior year of high school on Sept. 7, 1988. But before dawn, his parents were bludgeoned and stabbed during a rampage in their home on a cliff overlooking Long Island Sound.
Within hours he was arrested, based on a confession that was handwritten by a detective, which Mr. Tankleff promptly repudiated and never signed. Still, it sealed his fate. In 1990 a jury convicted him of double murder, and he began serving two consecutive terms of 25 years to life in prison. He appealed, in vain, all the way to the United States Supreme Court.
snip
Besides disputing the validity of the confession, his lawyers called 21 witnesses in a presentation of a new body of evidence, including an alternative theory of what happened that September night. Mr. Tankleff's lawyers accused his father's business partner and three former convicts of being the real killers. One admitted in an affidavit to being the getaway driver. Several witnesses said two others privately admitted their involvement, including one who told his son, "Yes, I did it."
snip
Criminal law experts have also focused on the case, citing it as a classic miscarriage of justice. They say it has the earmarks of wrongful conviction, with a false confession, dubious police work and a prosecutor's conflicts of interest.
"I never saw a similar case where a defendant was so obviously innocent," said Herbert A. Posner, a retired State Supreme Court justice who is following the case.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Thought you might be interested in this incredible story...
Every once in awhile something crops up in the news about it. A weird case, but really has not resonance for me.
It is like I have told my children, respect the police, but always remember, they are not your friends...
It is like I have told my children, respect the police, but always remember, they are not your friends...
depends on what bars you drink in.
Sorry about the ping, then...
Yes, it robbed a valuable nine seconds out of my normally hectic day.
It shan't happen again...
The interesting thing about crime is that there is always less there than meets the eye.
For instance, serial killers aren't "evil" beyond being guys with heads filled with bad wiring. They're basically busted radios.
Crime and criminals tend to be small, banal and unpleasant.
The focus for me here were the bad cops and prosecutors...
Long Island.
No the saddest thing is the support the prosecutors give the cops. American lawyers are committed to the adversary system leading too many prosecutors to turning a deaf ear to logic and evidence. Even prosecutors of those horrible false memory child abuse cases insist to this day that the crimes occurred and the defendants were guilty.
Of course the other side does the same thing. See, for example, anything ever said by Simpson's attorneys following his acquittal.
As if the evidence couldn't have proved OJ did it, watch that clip of the reading of the verdict the msm shows every once in a while. The short guy (whatshisname and ex-friend) on the bottom left of the tv screen shows it all in his expression. He's totally crushed. You actually see his body language screaming out, "OMG, what have we done, the guy is guilty as hell." It played out after the trial too since he doesn't speak to OJ now.
hasn't had any print space to devote to its treasonous NSA leak story...
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