October 27, 2008 5:41 PM

Cleared in Parents' Killing, Tankleff Aims to Exonerate Others

Posted by Daphne Eviatar

Clifford Chance has its share of renowned lawyers and clients, but it's rare to see someone with as high a profile in the popular culture as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter in the law firm's glassed-in midtown conference room. That's just where Carter--the former middleweight boxer wrongly imprisoned for 20 years and the subject of a Denzel Washington movie and a Bob Dylan song--was on Monday.

Dressed in a gray flannel suit and matching wide-brimmed hat, his long mustache curled into what looks like a permanent smile, Carter was on hand to lend his support to a new effort aimed at freeing others who have been wrongly convicted of crimes they didn't commit.

That effort is the brainchild of Martin Tankleff, the Long Island man exonerated recently of murdering his parents and released from prison in December after serving 17 years. With Carter looking on, Tankleff, former Manhattan prosecutor Robert Seiden, and retired NYPD detective Jay Salpeter, who re-investigated Tankleff's case and helped prove his innocence, announced the formation of a new investigative firm called Fortress Innocence. 

While other organizations--including the Innocence Project, overseen by lawyers Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld--seek to clear the names of the wrongly convicted, those efforts primarily focus on cases in which DNA evidence is available to prove their clients' claims. In Tankleff's case, as in many others, no such evidence exists. That, Tankleff believes, is when seasoned professional investigators can make a significant contribution.

"For 17 years I wrote over 50,000 letters," Tankleff said at Monday's press conference. "I don't ever want to hear another person say, 'I wrote 50,000 letters.' I'm hoping they can write one letter, to Fortress Innocence."

Clifford Chance partner Warren Feldman was among the lawyers who represented Tankleff in getting his conviction overturned; the firm donated the venue for today's announcement. Though Feldman wasn't able to attend the event, he later confirmed that he hopes to take on Fortress Innocence cases in the future.

"We have agreed to take a look at the cases that they're looking at and we'll decide whether we want to devote pro bono resources to any particular matter where there's reason to fear someone's been wrongfully convicted," says Feldman. "It's the preeminent calling of lawyers to prevent that sort of grave injustice."

Barry Pollack of Kelley Drye and Stephen Braga, now of Ropes & Gray, were the lead lawyers in Tankleff's decades-long quest to prove his innocence. Bruce Barket of Barket & Angeli also represented Tankleff in the evidentiary hearings that helped clear his name.

Robert Seiden, CEO of the investigative firm Fortress Global and a partner in the new venture, said he is in discussions with several large law firms in the hopes of getting both financial and legal support for pursuing future cases.

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