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State attorney general's office gets extension in Martin Tankleff case

BY RICHARD WEIR

DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, February 26th 2008, 4:00 AM

Martin Tankleff will have to wait another four months to learn if he will have to fight for his freedom again.

At a hearing Monday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, prosecutors for the state attorney general's office were granted an extension until June 16 to decide whether to drop the murder charge against Tankleff and possibly pursue other suspects, or retry him.

In another development, defense lawyers disclosed in court that the attorney general's office has empaneled a grand jury to review evidence in the Tankleff case and that it has already begun subpoenaing witnesses.

Tankleff served 17 years in prison after being convicted in 1990 of murdering his parents, Arlene and Seymour Tankleff, in their Belle Terre home. He was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison but was released in late December when an appeals court ruled new evidence pointing to other suspects could have prompted a jury to possibly acquit him.

Earlier this year, Gov. Spitzer appointed Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as a special prosecutor in the case after Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said his office would not retry Tankleff.

Bruce Barket, one of the attorneys who have fought to gain Tankleff's release from prison, called the delay in Cuomo's decision "reasonable" given what he said was the hefty amount of material - 7,000 pages of court documents, including transcripts from his trial, and testimony of new evidence accumulated by the defense team - that must be reviewed.

"Assuming they have an answer on June 16, we are fine with the four months," Barket said. But the lawyer raised concerns both in and out of court about the probe by the grand jury convened by the attorney general.

"They are not permitted under the law to subpoena witnesses or use a grand jury in any way to enhance any possible case against Marty. What they are permitted to do is use the grand jury to go after other individuals. And we presume the attorney general recognizes that distinction and that's what they're doing," Barket explained to reporters after the hearing.

Responding to Barket's concerns in court, Benjamin Rosenberg, chief trial counsel for Cuomo's office, told Suffolk Judge Robert Doyle that there are rules governing the use and scope of a grand jury investigation.

"And we will abide by those rules," he said.

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