Prosecutor won't budge in the Martin Tankleff Case

Although the appellate court has granted Martin Tankleff a new trial, the stubborn prosecutor has failed to acknowledge that they convicted an innocent man.

The Suffolk County district attorney’s office says it may appeal the ruling, but will retry Mr. Tankleff if the ruling stands. Despite his demands for a new inquiry, the prosecutors said they would not reopen the case to investigate Mr. Steuerman and the ex-convicts.

“That’s not going to happen,” Leonard Lato, an assistant district attorney, said this weekend. Referring the appellate ruling, he said: “Has this changed our theory of the murderer to someone other than Tankleff? No. The Appellate Division didn’t say these other guys did it. All it said was: If the jury had all this other evidence, Tankleff probably would have been acquitted.”

It is ashame that the innocent have to suffer because the prosecutor wants to save face.