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Marty Tankleff Speaks on the Wrongful Conviction of Matt Zimmerman and the Justice System — Transcript

by The Societal · 2,411 words · 438 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00my name is stephen metcalfe vet care for
0:02medicare for a manhattan-based law firm
0:05on park avenue
0:07and
0:08the two biggest pleasures of my career
0:11and being an attorney
0:13are working on wrongful convictions with
0:16marty tanklin
0:18and
0:19when a case such as matthew zimmerman
0:23came across or presented itself
0:26at my office
0:28and i saw the similarities between
0:30matthew and marty i knew that we
0:33absolutely not only had to work on this
0:35case but we had to keep working on this
0:37case for however long it took until we
0:41ultimately achieved the goal of walking
0:43this man out of jail and that's the
0:45reason why we're all here
0:49[Applause]
0:51so
0:53i thank everyone especially michelle
0:55richard for even getting us involved
0:59in this matthew zimmerman case because
1:02everybody who's sitting here tonight is
1:04going to look back on this day
1:06and say wow they called it
1:09they called
1:10it and i don't i can't say what it is
1:13what that linchpin is gonna be that
1:15turns that turns this case completely
1:18around but it's gonna happen very soon
1:27and that's what tonight is about tonight
1:29is about
1:31explaining how
1:32it doesn't matter how long it's taken
1:35to get to this point
1:36it what matters is the people who truly
1:39care and truly support
1:42one particular individual and how
1:44they're going to keep fighting and how
1:46they're not going to stop for however
1:47long it takes
1:49and the true the true testament to that
1:52story is not only true family it's also
1:55the man standing next to me as well
1:57because this is what gets a team
2:00involved and it takes a team it takes an
2:02army not only to raise a child but to
2:04actually get a wrongful conviction and
2:07that's what we're looking for
2:09specifically in matthew zimmerman so
2:10without further ado the case that really
2:14drew parallels to marty's case that
2:17really got our interest in why we're
2:18standing here tonight and why we're
2:19never going to give up
2:21is matthew zimmerman in that case that
2:23drew with that those parallels
2:26is marty's case
2:27and he's working on this case as well
2:34thank you so
2:35in 1990 i was not known as marty
2:38tankleff i was known as 90t 3844.
2:42and that was because i was convicted
2:45woefully convicted of the murder of my
2:46parents
2:47and i was sentenced to 50 years to life
2:50um
2:51thankfully after
2:53and it says thankfully after almost 18
2:55years in prison
2:57i was finally freed
3:00i was exonerated
3:01i went on to get my law degree
3:04and i'm a lawyer in new york i'm also an
3:07adjunct professor at georgetown and toro
3:10law school
3:11i represent individuals in ohio
3:14a death penalty case in texas
3:16matthew zimmerman
3:18and a number of other individuals
3:21and the reason why i do this is that
3:23there should be no other marty tanklefs
3:26there should be no other eric riddick's
3:30role for convictions is an epidemic that
3:32this country has to address
3:40if anybody thinks that the system can
3:44convict one particular race one
3:47particular religion
3:49one particular individual you're dead
3:51wrong
3:52we convict white black purple spanish
3:56african indian mexican
3:59with no discrimination whatsoever
4:01because
4:03the most powerful law firm in every
4:05single jurisdiction is what yes
4:10correct
4:11that is because they have subpoena power
4:13arrest power
4:15wirecap power they can kidnap your ass
4:18throw you in german basically throw the
4:20key away
4:22and i say that in every wrongful
4:23conviction case
4:25really what we're doing is we're
4:27kidnapping innocent people
4:29at the hands of the government
4:32what takes is really an army because by
4:36the time my case came to light
4:38i had five major law firms and i had
4:40private investigators i have public
4:43relations people working on my case i
4:45have family i have friends
4:47and if anybody thinks it's a small task
4:51go home go to sleep wake up and realize
4:55you're dead wrong
4:57okay
4:58it really is an army of people
5:01you know
5:02if you didn't think that you need to
5:04bring other people on why did you reach
5:06out to steve me ed
5:09okay and guess what you saw who is here
5:12tonight eric riddick eric riddick is on
5:13board now
5:15okay
5:16the team from matthew zimmerman will
5:17continue to grow
5:21[Applause]
5:24what you saw tonight was i showed you
5:26two documentaries that i've done by my
5:28students at georgetown yeah okay and
5:30through what i do at georgetown i've
5:32developed a network of experts around
5:35the country who get involved in these
5:37cases
5:38i will start reaching out to them to see
5:40how they can get involved in matthew's
5:42case because
5:43each one of these cases
5:46is really made
5:48by the experts okay listen
5:51steve and i and ed
5:52we could be the best lawyers in america
5:56if there's no evidence if there's no new
5:58witnesses there's nothing we can really
6:01do right
6:02what these cases really start to become
6:04about is finding new witnesses new
6:07evidence and sometimes it's going back
6:09to the original case
6:11and really uncovering what was without
6:14because in so many wrongful conviction
6:15cases and you can go to the national
6:17registry of exonerations and look this
6:19up for yourself
6:20brady violations
6:22brady violations are where the
6:24government withholds
6:26not just exculpatory information it's
6:29information favorable to the accused
6:32that can mean documentary evidence it
6:33can be witnesses
6:35it can mean oral statements
6:37a witness could come into the da's
6:39office and said i sourced something the
6:42dna's office may not memorialize it but
6:44they have to turn over to the defense
6:46right
6:47and that's what can make or break some
6:49of these cases
6:50as we know
6:52larry crasher's office has recently
6:53indicted
6:55cert detectives
6:57okay
6:58this is a start
7:00to the system i'm working on another
7:03case where we recently got somebody out
7:06and the main witness in that case was
7:08just indicted for the perjury in that
7:11case
7:13that is because the times are changing
7:15we as a society are starting to wake up
7:18and realize that the road to solving
7:23solving cases
7:25was really false confessions yeah
7:28inducing witnesses to testify favorably
7:31giving deals to witnesses
7:34bad forensics
7:36bad prosecutors and bad cops
7:40okay
7:41and if you look at wrongful conviction
7:42cases there's a consistent pattern every
7:46one of them right either ineffective
7:48assistance of counsel okay and in
7:50matthew's case we had a double homicide
7:53case
7:54okay that stephen i spoke about this
7:57that we said i can't fathom any double
8:00homicide case where you wouldn't try it
8:03before a jury where you at least argue
8:05reasonable doubt i'm working on another
8:08pennsylvania innocence case
8:10where the individual's murder trial was
8:13two days long
8:16okay i asked a number of new york
8:18attorneys and they know they told me
8:20they said we couldn't get through our
8:21introductions in two days let alone jury
8:23selection
8:24how did they try this entire case two
8:27verdict in two days
8:30okay
8:31and what we need to do is start draining
8:33a grassroots movement among the media
8:36because what ends up happening is every
8:38time there's an article that comes out
8:40in wrongful conviction cases
8:42and every time quite often
8:44okay a new witness comes forward
8:47or a witness will come forward and said
8:49i have some information are you aware of
8:51this right there's a book written many
8:54years ago i think it's called quote 302
8:57about a chicago police department that
8:59had two files one was the public file
9:01one was the secret file
9:03just so happens in this one case an
9:05officer retired
9:07and he couldn't understand why a certain
9:09individual was still going to trial he
9:11went to court one day he goes up to the
9:13defense lawyer because how come you're
9:14not using this information because what
9:15are you talking about he goes i
9:17generated all this information
9:19lo and behold they found out that there
9:21was a secret file
9:22when you have a changing regime in
9:24prosecutors offices a lot of times you
9:27gain access to documents and information
9:30that was withheld for years
9:33right
9:34it happens time and time and happened in
9:36my case it's happened in almost every
9:38case i've been involved with where all
9:40of a sudden 5 10 15 20 years later we
9:43submit a foil request or freedom of
9:45information and also we start getting
9:47access to documents we start learning
9:49that documents don't exist anymore when
9:51the documents don't exist anymore you
9:54start to question why don't they exist
9:56right
9:57i'm working in another pennsylvania case
9:59where the prosecutor is opposing dna
10:02testing right there's a real simple
10:04philosophy if you're not afraid of the
10:06truth don't oppose dna testing
10:09really it's really that simple right
10:11and in matthew's case when we reach out
10:14to the district attorney we request a
10:15meeting which i have done already okay
10:18we expect to have a meeting
10:20okay and have a free flowing exchange
10:22information and hopefully they'll be
10:24open-minded
10:26but there's a way to make sure
10:28there's a continued interest and that is
10:31continued public awareness of these
10:33cases all right
10:35uh a friend of mine lonnie sorry
10:38uh who's worked on the west memphis
10:39three case
10:40uh family looks at the west memphis
10:42three case the dixie chicks johnny depp
10:45and he better all involved in that case
10:47and lonnie was brought on to kind of do
10:50the public relations but really he was
10:51brought up to educate the public
10:54when the issue became about possibly
10:56retrying the three individuals the
10:58prosecutor ended up coming up to him and
11:00saying we can never try this case
11:02because you tampered with the jury pool
11:05now think about that you can't live with
11:07the jury wolf no what lonnie did was he
11:09educated the public
11:11that's what we have to do
11:13so much of the public does not really
11:16understand the criminal justice system
11:18doesn't understand the faults with it
11:20doesn't have some problems with it
11:22and when you start studying wrongful
11:24convictions you understand those
11:26problems right you know we've also
11:29learned how technology has saved some of
11:32our youth okay
11:34for years okay and i can say this
11:36because i was in prison with a lot of
11:38people
11:39right
11:40that a lot of black hispanic and other
11:43minorities would say the cops rolled up
11:45on me they beat me up they set me up
11:48right
11:49i know it existed because it happened to
11:50me but i was also in prison with them
11:52right
11:53technology's our friend nowadays right
11:55because we're starting to expose
11:58so much of what goes on right
12:00i worked on a case in nassar county
12:02where african american defender comes
12:04into the law firm says i was getting
12:06pulled over these detectives jumped in
12:08my car and beat me up
12:10everybody said come on come on how
12:12ridiculous is that what do you think
12:14saved him
12:16there was a video the cops didn't know
12:17about
12:18okay when the video came out
12:21basically it established exactly what he
12:23said
12:24but there's a bigger problem
12:26the defendant or the accused was never
12:28charged the cops were charged but guess
12:31what
12:31they were found not guilty
12:33which really brings this kind of
12:35distrust in the system but what we have
12:38to accept is that
12:41even when something like that happens
12:44the more we get it out to the public the
12:46more we're educating the public of what
12:49can happen
12:50in the criminal justice system
12:52and if anybody thinks the criminal
12:54justice system is just it's wrong
12:57okay
12:58it really is more about an injustice
13:00system
13:01and we're learning about this
13:03uh
13:03just a few final things how many
13:06exonerations do you think
13:08take place on an average year across
13:10america anybody 40 30 12 more than that
13:16100 let's say 150
13:18160. what does that translate into
13:22that translates into somebody being
13:24exonerated
13:26every about three days
13:28and why that should scare you is what
13:30does that tell you
13:32what that says is that the guilty
13:34parties have remained free
13:36in your community to commit additional
13:38crimes
13:40because the prosecutors and the police
13:41didn't do their jobs
13:44so when you hear that a murder has been
13:46committed in your neighborhood
13:48on a saturday and all of a sudden monday
13:50the police said oh we've arrested the
13:51person who committed the murder
13:53what's going to be your first question
13:56how do we know
13:59what evidence do you have
14:01we need to start demanding
14:03accountability
14:04because so often we're complacent
14:07we accept what law enforcement and
14:09prosecutors tell us because they're
14:11prosecutors they're law enforcement
14:13we're supposed to trust them they're
14:14supposed to believe in them right
14:17thankfully there's a movement there are
14:19some progressive prosecutors across
14:21america
14:22uh ken thompson when he was alive was
14:24one of them
14:25uh eric gonzalez is another one
14:29larry krasner is another one where we're
14:31starting to see
14:33that the new regime hold no allegiance
14:36to the former administration tim cindy
14:39and suffolk county the same way
14:41no allegiance to tom spoda who was just
14:43sentenced to five years is on his way to
14:45prison himself
14:47okay
14:48but what we have to do is continue
14:50educating people go to the website
14:53understand why these cases happen so we
14:56can tell our friends we can tell our
14:58associates right
14:59uh there's a great website making
15:01exoneree.com which wasn't working
15:03tonight but there's a technical glitch
15:05where you can actually watch some short
15:07videos that my students have done about
15:09other lawful conviction cases you can go
15:12to the national registry of exonerations
15:14which has documented every wrongful
15:17conviction i think since 1989
15:20um and they're over like i think it's
15:22over a thousand wrongful convictions
15:24you go to the innocence project
15:26um
15:27what you need to do is understand why
15:30this happens
15:32to make sure it doesn't happen again
15:34and the one last thing
15:36do your civil duty become a juror if you
15:39can
15:40and demand accountability during that
15:42process
15:44you know so often we talk about how do
15:45we get out of jury duty
15:48but in most cases innocent people don't
15:51go to prison
15:52okay without jurors
15:55because most people have jury trials
15:57and if jurors are more educated and have
16:00a better understanding of the criminal
16:02justice system and demand more evidence
16:05more accountability
16:07not have an automatic trust in law
16:09enforcement
16:11i think we'll have a lot less wrongful
16:12convictions thank you
16:14thank you everybody

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