Victims' Rights in Suffolk County

When Suffolk County law enforcement wants to talk to you, they work fast.  When they don't want to talk to you, not so much. 

You literally couldn't keep detectives away from Marty in the hours after they arrived at the murder scene, as they had Marty recount his story--what time he woke up, how he discovered his parents, what he did then--no less than nine times:

"McCready introduced Doyle to Tankleff and told Tankleff, "Tell the sergeant what you had just been telling me."  --DA's "final argument" brief (p. 28-29)

"After Rein spoke with Doyle, Doyle asked Tankleff to tell Rein what Tankleff had told Doyle."  (p. 30)

Throughout these two hours of questioning at the crime scene, Detective James McCready would not allow his intense focus on Marty to be distracted by family members trying to telephone Marty from Seymour Tankleff's emergency-room bedside, nor by the appearance at the house of the Tankleff's family lawyer, Mike Fox.  (Fox says police told him Marty had been taken to the hospital to visit his father; police say Fox and Marty exchanged greetings and Fox simply left after he saw that Marty was okay.) 

Police were absolutely right to interview Marty, if they were going by "the book," the "Investigation - Homicide Guide" for Suffolk County Detectives, which states:

"The family of the victim is usually able to provide the most background information about the victim. The lead detective should form a close relationship to the victim's family."

But if McCready had been interviewing Marty in a good-faith attempt to gather evidence to determine who had committed the attacks, he would have paid more attention to something Marty stated ten times throughout his nine tellings of his story: that Jerry Steuerman was the one who should be investigated.  (You can do the math in the DA's Final Argument Brief.) 

In contrast to the full-court press on Marty, police displayed no such eagerness to talk to Jerry Steuerman, despite having just heard from Marty that Steuerman owed Seymour a lot of money and the two had been having problems. 

"At about [9:30 a.m.] Steuerman, who had heard from his accountant of an occurrence at the Tankleff house, called Bove. According to Bove, 'Well, I don't know what's happened but you're being accused of murdering Seymour and Arlene.'  Steuerman testified that in response he asked, 'Vinny, what the hell are you talking about?'  Bove handed the telephone to a detective, who made an appointment to interview Steuerman that afternoon."  [p. 36 DA's final argument brief, emphasis added]

So according to the DA's brief, detectives talked to Steuerman late in the game (making him tell his story just once, as far as we know) but fortuitously for them, not too late, ruling Steuerman out as a suspect at "about the same time" Marty "confessed."

A few weeks later, when Steuerman turned up in California after faking his death, changing his appearance, using one of his five aliases and fleeing while Seymour lay in a coma, McCready and his colleagues, despite having ruled out Steuerman as a suspect, apparently wanted to talk to him so badly that they flew out to California to bring him back themselves.  Even after this objectively bizarre behavior by Steuerman, police still did not consider him a suspect.  McCready told "48 Hours" last year that when he got to California, he told Steuerman he was annoyed with him for "messing up" his case. 

So the detectives wanted to talk to Marty, and they did, early and often.  The detectives had to talk to Steuerman, so they did, but no more than they had to.  In their "investigation" into the recently uncovered new evidence, Suffolk County investigators apparently didn't want to talk to two important witnesses, Billy Ram and Bruce Demps.  Ram was mentioned in the first line of Glenn Harris's affidavit and has been on lifetime parole, so he would be easy to find.  The DA's investigators, Walter Warkenthien and Curt Flood, could not locate Demps, according to the DA's brief in opposition to a new hearing; but anyone with an Internet connection could find Demps' prison location by typing his name in the "Google" of prisoner search Web sites.   

From the moment they were notified of Arlene's death, the sisters of the murder victim--Marcella Alt Falbee and Marianne McClure, along with Marcella's son Ron and Marianne's husband Mike--tried to talk to the detectives, to tell them the same thing Marty had been telling them: that they should investigate Seymour's business partner, Jerry Steuerman.  Specifically, they wanted to tell detectives what Arlene had told them just weeks before: that during an argument over money earlier that summer, Steuerman had pulled Seymour across the table and threatened to cut his throat.  And Ron would not have allowed McCready to ignore the blood-splattered copy of the letter from Seymour to Steuerman calling in the loan, sitting right on the desk beside which Seymour was stabbed and bludgeoned. 

But the family, as the saying goes, couldn't get arrested in Suffolk County.  The only communication they had from Detective McCready took place while Arlene's sisters were in the Tankleff home picking out clothing in which to bury Arlene, when McCready stopped by to tell them tersely that the investigation was over and their nephew was guilty.  McCready would later tell "48 Hours" that he had everything he needed "within 24 hours" of the crime. 

And for the next 15 years, despite reaching out numerous times, that was the first and only conversation the family had with Suffolk County law enforcement, even throughout the DA's "reinvestigation" into the recently revealed new evidence.  (During that time the authorities did communicate with Marty's half-sister Shari, who went from supporting Marty's innocence to stating he was guilty, and whose husband opened a bar with Detective McCready two years after Marty's conviction.)

It's not as if the family didn't try over the years. On April 22, 2001, Marianne, Marcella and Norman Tankleff, Seymour's brother, wrote a two-page letter to James Catterson, then DA of Suffolk County, referencing the Karlene Kovacs affidavit:

"We are the sisters and brother of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff; the victims of a tragic crime for which you charged, prosecuted and convicted our nephew, Marty.  We state now, as we always have, that Marty is innocent of these crimes and you have wrongfully prosecuted and incarcerated an innocent man....

"Members of your office and the Suffolk County Police Department have neither conducted an in-depth investigation, nor even a cursory one at that.  Your staff centered their persecution on Marty and left it at that.  None of your staff have ever interviewed any of us.  Furthermore, none of your staff have had the decency and professional courtesy to invite us to your office to discuss this case....

"As you may know, in 1994, Mark Pomerantz and Robert Gottlieb and an investigator met with members of your staff.  They presented exculpatory information to your staff and in turn, members of your office agreed to look into the matter.  However, we recently learned this never took place."

As we saw at the hearing last year, the DA now claims to have investigated Kovacs' claims by interviewing Joey "Guns" Creedon and others mentioned in the affidavit.  But a serious investigation would have connected obvious dots, specifically that in 1990 Creedon, who wasTodd Steuerman's drug enforcer, had signed an affidavit stating that Todd had shot him for refusing to cut out Marty's tongue on behalf of Todd's father, Jerry Steuerman.  In light of the relationship between Todd Steuerman and Creedon, the fact that Creedon admitted that he was involved in the Tankleff murders with someone named Steuerman was extraordinary new evidence. 

The family's letter to Catterson continues:

"You may say, 'Well, Marty confessed...'  We submit to you that Marty is innocent and what you considered a confession was patently false, unreliable and conflicting with the forensic evidence....

"We are the family of the defendant in this case and of murder victims.  Our voices should be heard and recognized and not ignored as they have been for over 12 years.  Hear our pleas and recognize what we are asking of you is fair and within your power.  To allow Marty to remain incarcerated for crimes he didn't commit brings disgrace and embarrassment to your office and to the people you represent.  Your office has made mistakes in the past, so take the time to save Marty's life.  He desires it as do Seymour and Arlene.  Their memory doesn't deserve to have Marty labeled as their killer."

DA Catterson responded in a two-page letter dated April 30, 2001:

"This is in response to your letter dated April 2, 2001 received April 23, 2001 voicing your anguish and anger over the 1990 conviction of your nephew Martin Tankleff for the 1989 (sic) murder of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff.  Doubtless, the tragedy and family disgrace of this murder has created a nightmare for all of you.  But I must respectfully disagree that the tragedy and disgrace was visited upon your family by this Office.  Martin is in prison because 23 citizens of Suffolk County acting as a Grand Jury found sufficient evidence to charge him and 12 citizens sitting a petit jury and a County Court Judge believed a case for two counts of guilty of Murder in the Second Degree was proved beyond a reasonable doubt. 

"Your letter contains a litany of complaints emanating in large part from the utter hopelessness and frustration of the matter.  And you are correct when you write that my job as a prosecutor is to uphold justice and search for the truth.  Let me state, however, that you are wrong in believing that in this case justice was not done, either by me or by my staff....

"In the 12 years I've served as District Attorney we have had a strong factual basis to reinvestigate three convictions in which I concluded that the wrong person was incarcerated and immediate steps were taken to ask the court to vacate judgments of conviction and dismiss the indictments.  In all of these cases it was clear and convincing newly discovered evidence that compelled us to act in the interests of justice.  No similar situation is presented here....  [note: empahsis in original; this was before the newly discovered evidence in the Tankleff case began coming out in 2003.]

"If compelling and probative extrinsic evidence were to be produced in the future I am duty bound to revisit the issues presented in the Tankleff case.  While the memory of Seymour and Arlene should not prescribe that Martin be labeled their killer, the events of the trial and subsequent appeal have written that very epitaph--one which I cannot alter solely because you request it."

On June 1st, 2001, Marianne McClure replied:

"First of all, I think it is sinful that you do not even have the courtesy to state the correct year of my sister's and Seymour's deaths.  If this is as good as your investigative and research procedures generate, no wonder Martin was convicted.  Not to mention as laughable the reference of "your staff," which we all know included the unscrupulous, unprofessional, unethical retired detective James McCready.  That should be an embarrassment to you in and of itself!...

"[U]nder your 'newly discovered evidence' guise, I understand from Robbert Gottlieb's office that on August 30, 1994, new exculpatory evidence (an affidavit) was presented to your office.  The representatives of your office promised to look into the matter, but we never heard anything back." 

In the summer of 2003, Marty's lawyers provided the current Suffolk County DA, Thomas Spota, with Glenn Harris's affidavit, in which he stated he was the unwitting getaway drive for Joey "Guns" Creedon and Peter Kent.  Having received no response from the DA's office, Marty's lawyers filed a 440 motion for a hearing on October 2nd.  On November 18th, Marty's cousin Ron Falbee sent the following letter to DA Spota, cc-ing Marcella, Marianne and Norman:

"I am writing to you on behalf of relatives of Seymour and Arlene Tankleff who were brutally murdered in their home on September 7th, 1988.

"We are concerned and interested in what is being done in regards to the new developments in the case.  We have not heard anything from your office and would like to get an understanding of what action is being taken to investigate the new evidence presented to you months ago.  You are undoubtedly aware that we believe, and always have, that the wrong man is incarcerated for this crime.

We would appreciate a chance to meet with you to discuss the developments in this case and to hear your views on it...."

On November 24th, DA Spota wrote back:

"Dear Mr. Falbee:

"I write in response to your letter of November 18, 2003, in which you request that I meet with two members of the Tankleff family and two members of the Falbee family 'to discuss the developments in this case and to hear [my] views on it.'  I decline to grant your request.

"The attorneys for Martin Tankleff, who stands convicted of the murders of Arlene and Seymour Tankleff, have filed a motion to vacate his convictions. The attorneys have also informed the Court and me that they may make a motion to disqualify my office from responding to the new-trial motion and from investigating the matters presented in their motion.  The attorneys contend that I have a conflict of interest arising from my representation, when I was in private practice, of one of the detectives in the Tankleff case.  To assuage their concerns and to insure that the investigation is independent, the investigation is being directed by ADA Leonard Lato, a former federal prosecutor with no prior ties to the district attorney's office.  Because the assignment of Mr. Lato thus far appears to be acceptable to the attorneys, I deem it unwise to jeopardize Mr. Lato's independence by meeting with you. 

"I have forwarded your letter to Mr. Lato.  Please contact him if you would like to meet with him." 

Of course, the question of whether DA Spota should be disqualified became an even bigger issue at the hearing last year based on new disclosures about his small firm's representation of both Jerry Steuerman and Todd Steuerman.  However, Suffolk County Judge Stephen Braslow ruled against the disqualification motion, and along the way stated that a DA can't otherwise wall himself off from a case--he's either responsible for a case or he's disqualified, nothing in between.  In any case, DA Spota didn't stay far away, as he was in the courtroom and conferred with ADA Lato prior to Lato's refusing to grant immunity to Glenn Harris.

So Falbee wrote to Lato, as Spota had suggested.  And so it happened that, for the first time in 15 years, the family--Marcella Alt Falbee, Ron and Carol Falbee, Autumn Tankleff Asness and Howard Asness--met with Suffolk County law enforcement, in the persons of ADA Leonard Lato and the DA's investigator assigned to the Tankleff case, Walter Warkenthien.  At the meeting, Lato introduced Warkenthien as a retired New York City detective, not as a retired Suffolk County detective who was a colleague of Detective McCready's, and who reports directly to DA Thomas Spota to this day, and who was appointed to the Tankleff case by Spota before Spota assigned Lato, the man whose independence Spota claimed to preserve by not talking to the sisters and brother of the murder victims. 

Victims' Rights in Suffolk County
Sufffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota on victims' rights, from his Web site message:

"We will use every tool at our disposal, including actively working with victim’s support groups to ensure that those who suffer abuse are not further abused by an uncaring system."