Episode 3

EP3: The Butterfly Effect with Martin Tankleff

Exoneree, lawyer, author, professor and invited lecturer - Marty Tankleff does it all. After his release in 2007, Marty hit the ground running advocating for prisoner rights and spreading awareness about the wrongful convicted. Join Kristine for this fascinating interview with one of the most dynamic advocates for reform in the criminal system.

About Marty…

Marty was wrongfully convicted in 1990, for the murder of his parents. At the time of his arrest, he was a 17-year-old high school student. In the blink of an eye, his whole life changed. After being sentenced to two consecutive terms of 25 years to life, Marty presented new evidence, and after nearly 18 years in prison, in 2007 his conviction was finally overturned. After his exoneration, Marty obtained his law degree and serves as Special Counsel at Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea & LoTurco, where his focus is on wrongful convictions, prisoner and civil rights. He is also the current Peter P. Mullen Distinguished Visiting Professor at Georgetown University where he teaches a class with his childhood friend, Professor Marc M. Howard, called Making and Exoneree - where students reinvestigate potential wrongful conviction cases. In the past five years, Marty, Marc and their students have walked three innocent men out of prison.

Full Bio: https://www.barketepstein.com/our-team/martin-h-tankleff/

Connect with Marty...

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/xoner8ed

Twitter: https://twitter.com/xoner8ed

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/xoner8ed/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-h-tankleff/

Credits:

Host: Kristine Bunch, Indiana exoneree and Outreach Coordinator for Interrogating Justice and How to Justice

Producer: Tammy Alexander, creator and co-host of the Snow Files Podcast

Announcer: Eric Brenner, actor and voice over artist

How to Justice is a non-profit group that seeks to raise up justice-impacted people. Its goal? Provide easy-to-read answers to your questions about your rights before, during and after prison.

Interrogating Justice is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Our team of attorneys, advocates and allies take on some of the biggest legal, social and ethical justice-reform issues today. Our goal is simple: help shed light on the obstacles preventing our justice system from being just.

Donate: We have the largest database of resources for justice impacted people in the United States. Your donation will help us continue to educate justice-impacted individuals about the law and how to protect the rights that they are entitled to under it. It will pay for writers, fact checkers, and Spanish translators as well as outreach efforts. Any amount will help.

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Justice Impacted with Kristine Bunch
Shedding a light on what happens in our system and ways to address it.

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Kristine Bunch

Kristine Bunch spent more than 17 years behind bars after she was arrested and charged with setting a fire that claimed the life of her three-year-old son, Anthony. Although a defense expert testified that the fire was accidental, two experts for the prosecution testified that an accelerant was used and therefore the fire was arson. Jurors believed the prosecution witnesses and found Kristine, then 22 and pregnant, guilty of murder and arson. She was sentenced to concurrent prison terms of 60 years for murder and 50 years for arson. Eleven years later, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the conviction, holding that Kristine was entitled to a new trial both because the evolving fire science met the legal criteria for new evidence and because undisclosed ATF evidence directly contradicted the prosecution expert testimony. The Indiana Supreme Court then unanimously affirmed the Court of Appeals decision. Kristine, who had earned undergraduate degrees in English and Anthropology from Ball State University in prison, was released on her own recognizance — 17 years, one month, and 16 days after her wrongful arrest. She walked out of the Decatur County Jail into the arms of her family, who had steadfastly supported her throughout her ordeal. Eight days before Christmas 2012, the prosecution dropped all charges.


Kristine is now the Outreach Coordinator for Interrogating Justice and How to Justice. This non for profit helps to provide vetted resources across the country and supports loved ones and the incarcerated as they navigate through the justice system. The goal is simple to shed light on the injustices within our system and to promote the people that are trying to make a difference.