ighteen years after the grisly double Will The Frame-up Hold Up? Attention Increases Emurder and sixteen years after one of the most controversial convictions in The Martin Tankleff Story The case became politicized when Long Island history, the case of wrongly Tankleff’s family hired as his imprisoned Martin (Marty) Tankleff has By Scott Christianson lawyer Robert Gottlieb, a Democrat who gone through more twists and turns than was running for district attorney against a long-running TV soap opera. the incumbent Republican. Gottlieb soon Emergency responders found Seymour Tan- began to note that the police had no physical Not even the lawyers presently involved are kleff, aged 62, barely breathing and his wife, whatsoever to support their sup- capable of recounting all of the legal mach- Arlene, horribly stabbed to death and nearly posed “.” There was no bloody inations that have occurred to date, and decapitated. Seymour, a wealthy insurance murder weapon, bloody gloves or clothes, or in-depth news reporters find themselves broker and entrepreneur, never came out of other corroborating evidence. without sufficient time or space to recount his coma and would die a few weeks later. even a bare-bones version of one of New Tabloids reported the DA’s line that Tankleff York suburbia’s juiciest crime stories. In- Although the slightly built youth had no was a spoiled rich kid who had tried to elimi- stead of winding down, the saga keeps criminal history, record of mental illness, or nate his adoptive parents because he resented growing in size and intensity, with no clear known strife with his parents, as their clos- having to drive a “crummy Lincoln.” Defend- end in sight. The stakes are high – not just est relative and lone survivor in the house at ers focused on the “coerced” or “tricked” con- for Marty Tankleff. the time, the boy was quickly taken away to fession, which prompted law-and-order types the police station for questioning without a to support the police. Greed, jealousy, mystery Connoisseurs of mistaken conviction rate lawyer present. Why would any killer have – reporters already saw a good crime story. Tankleff as one of the most memorable left behind a possible witness? cases of false confession and police and Another Suspect they have encoun- Despite Marty’s claim that Jerard Steuer- tered, notable for its incredibly complex man, his father’s estranged business partner But when reports circulated that Seymour webs of sordid intrigue and political corrup- in bagel stores and horseracing, owed the Tankleff still hadn’t died, and might recov- tion. Tankleffs hundreds of thousands of dollars er, Jerry Steuerman, his business partner, and had been the last one to leave a high- suddenly turned up missing. It quickly Chances are, if you have followed some of stakes card game at the house earlier that emerged that Steuerman had faked his own the many reports in the major news media morning, the cops immediately targeted the death, shaved off his beard, and fled across or come across the dynamite blog at kid as the prime suspect. the country using a false identity. He was http://martytankleff.org maintained by . later found in California, where he had many of Tankleff’s relatives and friends, Tricked into “Confessing” changed his hair weave and acted dis- you may have already heard about it. traught, yet Detective McCready assured The youth denied he had done anything the public that he “wouldn’t hurt a fly” and 1988 Murders wrong, but the police detectives persisted. continued to insist that the boy had done it. When the teenager didn’t confess, one of the It all started on the morning of Sept. 7, 1988, detectives, K. James McCready, remained Steuerman and his son, Todd, were never when Suffolk County police responded to a within earshot and pretended to receive a seriously interrogated even after Suffolk law frantic emergency call from an upscale telephone call telling him that Seymour Tan- enforcement authorities secretly learned that house in Belle Terre, on Long Island’s kleff had revived under adrenaline to blame they had been involved in cocaine trafficking North Shore. Marty Tankleff, aged seven- his son for the attack. McCready also said, from their bagel store and that a notorious teen, who was scheduled that day to begin “We also have your hair in your mother’s drug enforcer, Joey “Guns” Creedon, told his senior year in high school, blurted he had hand, Marty, we know you did it, just tell us police Todd had shot him after he refused to just awakened to find his father brutally you did it.” agree to “cut out Marty Tankleff’s tongue” bludgeoned and covered in blood. With in- for Jerry Steuerman. Todd Steuerman was structions from 911, the boy helped keep his Tankleff said, “Absolutely not. I’d be will- quietly arrested, offered a lenient plea deal, father alive until help arrived. ing to take a polygraph, I’ll do anything I and whisked off to prison, and the allegations can. I have nothing to do with this.” against the Steuermans were kept away from the Tankleff defense and the news media. Lyons cont. from page 7 But McCready countered, “Marty, then why was not only a well respected community would your father identify you?” Tankleff Convicted activist and businessman with no criminal record – but that he was actually innocent. Tankleff replied, “Maybe because I helped Instead, Marty Tankleff was tried for dou- him that morning, giving him first aid.” ble murder in a high-profile that was Endnotes and sources: televised live—a trial that attracted so much 1 Lyons a free man with clean record, by Kimberly C. Moore, Florida Today, October 1, 2004. After that, the questioning just became more media attention it helped lead some enter- 2 The Criminal Injustice System – The Nino Lyons Story, hostile and more aggressive, and within min- prising businessmen to start Court TV. freenino.org. 3 Federal judges blast trial’s prosecution, by Henry Pierson utes young Tankleff broke down and Curtis, Orlando Sentinel, January 17, 2004 “confessed” to the experienced detectives, The only member of his extended family 4 Id. 5 Id. without signing any statement or giving a who didn’t support him was his half-sister 6 Id. videotaped admission. Although the teen Shari, and his brother-in-law, who gained 7 Id. 8 U.S. vs. Lyons, Case No. 6:01-cr-134-Orl-31DAB (D.C. quickly recanted his statement and proclaimed more inheritance upon his conviction, and M.D.F.), Order, September 30, 2004. his innocence, the police arrested him and the 9 Federal Judges Blast Trial’s Prosecution, supra. district attorney charged him with murder. 10 Lyons a free man with clean record, supra. Tankleff cont. on p. 9

JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 8 ISSUE 33 - SUMMER 2006 Tankleff cont. from p. 8 Tankleff’s lawyers, Bruce Barket and Barry crime partners, who described his activities Pollack, confronted the new Suffolk County at the time of the murders, and Creedon’s were later found to have secretly gone into district attorney, Thomas J. Spota, with the own son, who testified that his father had business with Detective McCready. evidence. Spota, the first Democrat to be admitted to him that he had participated in elected in decades, initially supported their the Tankleff murders. Professor Richard The Steuermans’ alleged criminal back- motion for an evidentiary hearing in county Ofshe, a leading authority on false confes- ground was kept out of the trial. court, thereby setting the stage for a public sions, explained how police convinced review of the controversial case. However, young Tankleff to admit to something he Despite a lack of any physical evidence Spota also assigned as his investigator Walter had not done – a phenomenon that has been against Tankleff, in 1990 he was convicted Warkenthien, a former homicide detective revealed in many cases involving a false and sentenced to fifty years to life, based who had been another detective named with confession by a person proven innocent by almost exclusively on his questioned con- McCready in the state probe back DNA evidence. Witnesses from all walks of fession. in the 1980s. Spota also hired a new assistant, life (including a priest, businessmen, and a Leonard Lato, a flamboyant former federal housewife, as well as career criminals) came Fruitless Appeals prosecutor, to handle the case, claiming that forward to relate incriminating statements Lato would conduct an independent probe. made by Jerry Steuerman, Harris, Kent and The case might have ended there, except other figures in the case. Investigator Salpe- that young Tankleff also attracted some pro Harris Denied Immunity ter disclosed how he had gone to the scene bono legal assistance from several top- where Harris claimed the murder weapon flight lawyers from a number of the nation’s Harris told his story on national TV, and had been discarded – and found embedded leading firms and law schools. (One of the The New York Times and other major media in the earth a pipe matching the object. law offices was Baker Botts, the Washing- began to devote detailed coverage to the (DNA tests have thus far failed to link it to ton-based powerhouse headed by former new evidence. the murders or the alleged murderers.) Secretary of State James Baker.) Then the courtroom showdown began in July Focus on Spota For more than ten years his lawyers brought 2004. Some observers hoped that the pro- potent appeals in the state and federal ceedings would result in Tankleff’s immedi- Some of the most potent evidence presented at courts, but narrowly lost each time. ate release, but when the district attorney and the hearings involved Suffolk’s new DA, Spo- County Judge Stephen Braslow (a different ta, who otherwise had seemed to earn himself Some of their claims pointed out that Suffolk judge from the same court that had presided a reputation as a corruption fighter – the nem- County law enforcement was notorious for over the original conviction) refused to grant esis of the crooked old political machine. compiling the nation’s highest conviction Harris immunity from prosecution for testify- rate based on “confessions”, and its police ing about his alleged inside knowledge of the Through the Tankleff case, it came out that and prosecutors were under federal and state murders, Harris – now represented by coun- before being elected in 2001, largely with investigation for drug corruption and other sel – invoked his right against self-incrimina- key support from police unions, Spota had misconduct. Detective McCready himself tion and refused to testify. headed up the DA’s homicide bureau. In the had been targeted for in a state cor- era of the murders, as a private lawyer he ruption probe and acquitted of felony as- Despite the setback, Tankleff’s team re- had represented McCready, when the detec- sault. Cops and prosecutors were in cahoots fused to give up. They called witness after tive was under investigation for perjury, with the bad guys. In short, the county was a witness, unleashing a cascade of new evi- corruption and assault. In those days Spota law enforcement sewer. dence, none of it effectively rebutted or also represented police officers who were discredited by the prosecution, which pro- involved in drug corruption, some of whom Private Eye Strikes Gold vided more corroborating details about the ended up taking a fall to the feds. He knew alleged murder plot and suggested a cover- where the bones are buried, all right. All of these appeals and entreaties failed to up by the Suffolk authorities. turn the tide for Marty Tankleff, however. As the hearings unfolded, Spota belatedly Tankleff’s side acted like a prosecutor, disclosed that in 1983 his law firm had de- Then, in 2003, a miracle happened. Jay Sal- identifying the killers, establishing a mo- fended Todd Steuerman when he was peter, a retired New York Police Department tive, finding the murder weapon and laying charged with dealing drugs out of his homicide detective turned private investiga- out the crime and its aftermath in graphic father’s bagel store. Spota also acknowl- tor, entered the case in 2001. Two years later detail, whereas Lato responded like a de- edged that shortly after the murders, his he obtained an affidavit from a career crimi- fense attorney, by attacking defense wit- former longtime law partner had defended nal who claimed to have served as the get- nesses and trying to raise reasonable doubt. Jerry Steuerman in unspecified matters, and away driver of a hit team. He detailed how he defended Todd Steuerman in another drug- transported two other known thugs to and Witnesses Depict Murder for Hire dealing case. (Tankleff relatives say the from the scene of the Tankleff murders, and slain couple’s dispute with Jerry Steuerman he stated that they had committed the mur- Those who covered the hearings agreed that over his son’s stake in one of their bagel ders for hire, at the behest of Jerry Steuerman. Tankleff’s defense team marshaled much stores was a major factor in their murders.) more evidence against the three career crim- The purported getaway driver, Glenn Harris, inals – Joe Creedon, Peter Kent and Glenn Yet Spota refused to recuse himself in the and Marty Tankleff, passed polygraph exam- Harris – in the murders, than the prosecu- case or to yield to a special prosecutor, and inations for the defense. Witnesses who sub- tion has ever presented against Tankleff. his assistant, Lato continued to fight Tankleff stantiated their accounts began to come out every step of the way. of the woodwork. (They are still popping up.) Among the two dozen witnesses called by the defense were Creedon’s former wife and Tankleff cont. on p. 10

JUSTICE DENIED: THE MAGAZINE FOR THE WRONGLY CONVICTED PAGE 9 ISSUE 33 - SUMMER 2006 Tankleff cont. from p. 9 had been bludgeoned to death with a Jeffrey Scott Hornoff 17-pound fire extinguisher. Suffolk Judge Backs DA Settles Lawsuits Initial suspicion that Hornoff might Judge Braslow the ruled in favor of the DA Over Wrongful 1996 be Cushman’s killer was fueled when on every motion, refused to require a spe- he denied to Warwick police detec- cial prosecutor, and denied Tankleff’s bid to Murder Conviction tives that they had been anything conduct advanced DNA tests on pieces of other than friends. The detectives human skin scraped from Arlene Tankleff’s By Hans Sherrer knew otherwise, and within an hour fingernails after the attack. Hornoff changed his story and ac- effrey Scott Hornoff was a married 27- knowledged their two sexual encounters. Braslow ultimately refused to overturn Jyear-old Warwick, Rhode Island police of- Tankleff’s conviction, simply concluding ficer when in the summer of 1989 he had two Hornoff’s was that he was at a party that he didn’t find the evidence presented by sexual encounters with 29-year-old Victoria with his wife and friends the night of the defense to have been credible, thus forc- Cushman. On August 11, 1989, Cushman was ing the defense to appeal in state court. found dead in her Warwick apartment. She Hornoff cont. on p. 11

Although it was scarcely reported in the news media, Braslow also exhibited con- Tankleff Wins Leave to Appeal in South Carolina. And Tom Spota does his flicts of interest, which should have led him best to protect them all, and himself, trying to recuse himself from handling the case. He In May 2006, Justice Reinaldo Rivera of the to ensure that what they all did back in the and Lato worked as a team. Stories abound Appellate Division, Second Department, old days doesn’t come back to haunt them. that Braslow’s father, a local Democratic granted leave to appeal on the main motion to boss, helped make Spota DA and figured in vacate the conviction. Appeal was also grant- Although the old Republican political ma- Lato getting hand-picked as Spota’s assis- ed on the depraved indifference motion. The chine no longer rules Suffolk County with a tant in the case. Judge Braslow showed ob- DNA motion will be heard by the appellate steel grip, and many of the mobsters vious favoritism toward the prosecution, court, because there is an automatic right to (including John Gotti) and political scoun- and his final opinion in the case was also appeal on DNA issues. Appeal was denied on drels who haunted the scene in the 1980s are poorly reasoned and extraordinarily weak. the disqualification motion. The decision can either dead or retired, and coke’s boom era be found at www.courts.state.ny.us/re...5- has tapered off a bit, innocent victims of the Support for Tankleff Grows 2006.htm. Judge Rivera’s actions mean that old corrupt law enforcement system a panel of judges will review the case. (including Marty Tankleff) remain locked up Numerous legal organizations, such as the for crimes they didn’t commit, all these years National Association of Criminal Defense Motions, rebuttals and oral arguments are later. The feds and the state do nothing to Lawyers, and several high-profile legal ex- likely to continue until February 2007 at the intervene; they just let nature take its course. perts supported the appeal. Said Barry earliest. The Appellate Division may not Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Proj- rule until early summer 2007. Even then it’s “Chinatown” Syndrome ect, “We’ve taken the unusual step of writ- possible that the case may end up in the ing a letter along with our motion because State Court of Appeals. By the time the Like an East Coast, present-day version of the facts of this case are so strong, and issues are resolved in state court, even if just “Chinatown,” Suffolk’s a place that con- because the lower-court ruling that denied in this latest bout, twenty years may have tains some awfully dark secrets. As Noah Martin Tankleff a new trial was so misguid- elapsed since the Tankleff murders. Cross says in the movie, “Politicians, ugly ed and troubling.” buildings and whores all get respectable if Tankleff Still Imprisoned they last long enough.” Meanwhile, members of the news media also weighed in. The CBS program, “48 Hours” Thus far, Marty Tankleff remains wrongly This is a drama that is still unfolding, and devoted three prime-time shows to the case, convicted and imprisoned. Now in his mid- the final unscripted scenes haven’t yet been and an array of newspapers, magazines and thirties, he is bulkier and has less hair than he acted out. broadcast media supported Tankleff’s cause. did when he first left the courthouse in hand- cuffs. He has served most of his sentence in Stay tuned. His family and friends, aided by Soury Com- rock-hard Clinton Correctional Facility near munications in New York City, widened their the Canadian border, but in 2005 was moved In the end, Marty Tankleff may go free – campaign over the Internet and held fund- to Great Meadow C.F. Over the years he has and others may take his place. raisers in a SoHo art gallery and other loca- become one of the sharpest jailhouse lawyers tions. Twenty-seven relatives said in one in New York, and unlike many other wrong- Scott Christianson, Ph.D., a longtime inves- statement, issued in 2004 on the sixteenth fully convicted prisoners, his spirit remains tigative reporter and former New York state anniversary of the murders: “From the begin- strong and he is still confident he will be criminal justice official, has written about ning, any impartial observer familiar with the exonerated. Over the years, he has managed the Tankleff case for The New York Times facts of this case—and with the sordid histo- to make and keep an amazing number of and Newsday. One of his books, Innocent: ry of the Suffolk County criminal justice friends and supporters. But he still locked up. Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases (NYU system to which it will be forever linked— Press, 2004), is scheduled to be reissued in has come to the same conclusion: Marty Jerry Steuerman lives the good life in a paperback in November 2006. Innocent: didn’t do it. That’s where we find ourselves, gated community in Florida. Joey Creedon Inside Wrongful Conviction Cases is avail- 16 years later: Marty didn’t do it, and every- continues to roam the streets of Long Is- able from Justice:Denied’s Bookshop at, body knows it. Yet, Marty remains in prison.” land. McCready is enjoying his retirement http://justicedenied.org/books.html

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