Martin Tankleff: Thanked supporters for “Making his fight, their fight”

[XanaDUer]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/11889/

As horrid as some murder cases go in which the public screams for the death penalty to be applied, there are cases which prove that an innocent man/woman could have been sent to their death. If one innocent person can be put to death by any means, the system itself is flawed.

For close to two decades a Long Island man sat in prison fighting his conviction for murdering his parents. His name is Martin Tankleff. His parents were Arlene and Seymour Tankleff. We must not forget them. Not once did I believe in his guilt but believed others were. Fighting this murder conviction was an uphill battle for Mr. Tankleff along with his defense team, volunteers and supporters who as Tankleff thanked upon release as “making his fight, their fight”

Following the myriad of appeals over the years, one felt as if they were a yo-yo. But, those of us who sat outside those prison walls did not face what Martin Tankleff faced and that was a sentence of fifty-years to life. One has to wonder had New York State had the death penalty upon his conviction and had it been applied to his case, Tankleff may not be free as he is today. The murder of his parents was so brutal that I do feel at the time of their murder, some prosecutor would have asked for the death penalty.

Three days after Christmas upon looking at the cover of Newsday, I read where an appellate court overturned his 1990 conviction. Upon his release from custody and as reported by Newsday, Tankleff had this to say, "My arrest and conviction was a nightmare, and this is a dream come true. ... I always had faith this day would come," At the time of his release from custody it was unclear whether or not the Suffolk County, DA Tom Spota would retry the case with the new evidence found by Tankleff’s legal team especially the private investigator who Tankleff reached out to and had taken on his case pro-bono. In handling his case pro-bono it renews my faith that there are still good people to come to the aid of any one of us.