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Juror says he hopes Tankleff cashes in

BY PATRICK WHITTLE AND MICHAEL AMON

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6:39 PM EST, January 3, 2008
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A juror who helped convict Martin Tankleff of murdering his parents said he hopes Tankleff finds a way to cash in on his newfound freedom.

"I hope he gets a movie made and he gets a ton of money from these guys because you can't replace the pain that this did to him," said Victor Muglia, 72, a Deland, Fla., resident who once lived in Lindenhurst.

Muglia this week lamented that the judicial system "took all these years from this poor kid's life."

Tankleff's attorneys, who held a news conference Thursday, said Tankleff has received inquiries about book and movie deals.

Attorney Bruce Barket said it is premature to say if Tankleff will accept any deals but he will start considering them in two weeks, when charges are formally dismissed.

"It's a story for another day. He's literally been out of jail for seven days," Barket said.

Muglia said he still believed the jury reached the right verdict based on the evidence available in the 1990 trial. But he also said the jury obviously was "not able to get all the information that was available" and that resulted in "a great miscarriage of justice."

Other jurors either could not be reached or declined to comment.

Muglia said he has mixed feelings about serving on a jury that found Tankleff guilty, only to have that conviction set aside 17 years later.

"That truly bothers me. He's getting on with his life. Thank God for that and I hope he brings some kind of lawsuit against Suffolk County," Muglia said.

Tankleff was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison and served 17 years. An appeals court overturned the conviction Dec. 21, saying newly discovered evidence should not have been dismissed by Suffolk County Court Judge Stephen Braslow, who denied a motion for a new trial in March 2006.