--Jamie Floyd, 360 contributorWell the new year is here and I rang it in at a Marty Party.
As in, Martin Tankleff who has spent the last 17 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. In 1990, Tankleff, then just a teenager, was convicted of the brutal murder of his parents.
After hours of interrogation with no adults other than the investigating officers present and in response to lies told to him about his father's dying words, Marty made something of an admission, which he recanted immediately and the written version of which he never signed.
Now, nearly two decades later, owing to the relentless efforts of former NYPD detective Jay Salpeter and a team of pro bono lawyers headed up by Bruce Barkett, Marty is free.
Salpeter has uncovered evidence that implicates a business partner to the family. What's worse, the evidence indicates the complicity of police in framing Marty.
In a strongly worded opinion, issued just before Christmas, an appellate court ruled that Marty is entitled to a new trial and ordered that he be freed.
The fight for exoneration is not over for this young man, who told me during a prison visit last month that he has yet to grieve for his parents. But for Marty and his supporters, it was a very Happy New Year indeed.
