NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — A Long Island man who was exonerated after serving 17 years in prison for the murder of his parents – a crime he did not commit – was sworn in as an attorney on Wednesday.
Martin Tankleff was admitted to the New York State bar in the morning, making him one of a few exonerated prisoners practicing law in the state. He passed the bar exam in 2017, but went through an extensive approval process before being sworn in.
In an interview with WCBS 880’s Steve Scott, Tankleff said it was difficult to put into words the emotions he felt as he was being sworn in.
“It's really hard to describe when you consider the almost 18 years in prison that I spent and then I've been free almost 13 years,” he said. “Since I’ve been free, I’ve gotten my bachelor’s degree, law degree, married, adopted my daughter and today I’m getting sworn in as a lawyer. It’s a huge day for me.”
He adds that while the day is significant to him, it’s also a huge day for the Innocence Project – who he credits for helping him have his conviction thrown out.
Tankleff was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 1990 for beating and stabbing his parents, Arlene and Seymour Tankleff, to death in their Long Island home. He was 17-years-old at the time of their deaths in 1988.
His conviction was thrown out after new evidence suggested that his father’s business partner, Jerry Steuerman, hired two hit men to kill the couple.
According to a Newsday report, Steuerman owed Seymour Tankleff $500,000 and fled to California under an assumed identity after faking his own death.
Tankleff was awarded a $10 million settlement from Suffolk County, after he filed a lawsuit claiming detectives fabricated evidence and a false confession. He also received $3.375 million from the state under the Unjust Imprisonment and Conviction Act.
Now, the 49-year-old credits his experiences in the criminal justice system for inspiring him to become a lawyer.
“I can remember probably 1992, ’93, ’94 – I was at Clinton Correctional Facility talking with my friend Eric, and we both said, ‘There’s going to come a point in our future where we’re not going to be in prison.’ I said, ‘I’m going to become a lawyer’ and he’s going to be teaching art,” Tankleff said. “And guess what? He taught art and I’m being sworn in.”
Prior to being sworn in as a lawyer, Tankleff had been working at the Metcalf & Metcalf, P.C. law firm in Manhattan, focusing on exonerating wrongly accused people.
He tells Scott that he plans to stay with the firm and continue to expand his practice to criminal and civil rights law to help others like him.
He says he just wants to spread one message: “You can overcome anything in life when you put your heart, mind and soul into it as long as you have friends, family and others to support you.”