The Long Island man who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing his parents has exchanged his prison jumpsuit for a graduation robe.
Martin Tankleff, 42, was handed his Touro Law Center degree yesterday in Brookville — and was personally congratulated by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The lawman, on hand to be given an honorary degree, shook Tankleff’s hand after the ceremony.
“I look forward to being able to work with people who have been wrongfully convicted,” Tankleff said, noting that he still has to pass the state bar exam. “I think I understand the system better than anyone else, any lawyer, any judge.”
Tankleff was convicted largely on the strength of a confession that his lawyers argued was the product of shameful Suffolk County police coercion.
After years of appeals and setbacks, Tankleff’s legal team finally secured his exoneration and release in 2008.
“It’s an amazing day to be here with all the people who helped me get out of prison like my lawyers, witnesses who came forward and my friend Lonny,” he said, referring to his representative Lonny Soury.
His parents, Arlene and Seymour Tankleff, were slain in their tony Belle Terre home in 1988.
Tankleff and his legal team have long blamed the killings on one of Tankleff’s former business partners — but no other arrests have been made in the case.
“I’m hoping someone in law enforcement takes the courageous step forward to prosecute those responsible for my parents murder.”