Today Newsday followed up on the New York State Investigation Commission's inquiry into the Marty Tankleff case in an article headlined "Probe of Spota's Handling of Tankleff Intensifies." [Note: Newsday has since revised the article's online headline.]
"The State Commission of Investigation is ratcheting up a probe into whether Suffolk County authorities, including District Attorney Thomas Spota, mishandled the Martin Tankleff case, the commission's chairman said yesterday," the story leads. "The commission will issue subpoenas in the next few weeks as investigators take a 'broad look' at the Suffolk police investigation that led to Tankleff's 1990 conviction for killing his parents, Seymour and Arlene Tankleff, and how Spota's office dealt with the surfacing of new witnesses in 2003 who supported Tankleff's claims of innocence, said Alfred Lerner, chairman of the commission."
Lerner told Newsday that in the investigation, to be led by Joseph Kunzeman, a former judge and Nassau County attorney,"we're going to look at the whole thing." Lerner said the commission would issue a report in the next five to six months.
Newsday writes that the probe will "scrutinize the actions of Spota, who wasn't district attorney for Tankleff's prosecution and trial but came under fire for not recusing himself when Tankleff sought a new trial in 2003. Both as a private attorney and as a lawyer for the police union, Spota represented McCready. Spota's former law partners also represented Steuerman's family."
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