Experts: Tough road for Nassau DA to reopen Tinyes case

Reopening a 20-year-old murder case is not so difficult; compiling enough evidence to convict someone of the crime probably will be.

That's what lawyers and experts said of Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice's announcement Tuesday that she is reopening the investigation into the 1989 murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes, a 13-year-old Valley Stream girl whose mutilated body was found in her neighbor's basement.

Rice said there is no doubt that Robert Golub, the man serving 25 years to life for the crime, is guilty. But she said she is looking into whether he had an accomplice.

Tinyes' parents say they have long suspected that Golub's younger brother John played a part in their daughter's slaying.

Rice convened an investigative grand jury in the case last year, but no new charges have come out of it, said John R. Lewis of Farmingdale, who represents John Golub, who was asked to testify before the panel. Now Rice is asking anyone who knows anything about what happened on March 3, 1989 in the Golubs' home to come forward. But experts say unless there is strong new physical evidence in the case, such as DNA, it will likely be difficult to prove to a jury that a second person was guilty of the murder.

"If there are new witnesses, the jury is going to wonder why didn't they come forward until now, and how they can remember what was said," said Rachel Barkow, a criminal law professor at New York University Law School.

In the Tinyes case, there may even be a steeper hurdle, said Lewis. That's because the original detectives and prosecutors investigating the case looked into John Golub's involvement in the murder, and determined that there was not enough evidence to charge him with a crime.

"I think they would have to admit on direct examination that they looked into it and there was no credible evidence that John was involved," Lewis said.

Salvatore Marinello of Mineola, who represented Robert Golub in the 1990 trial, said John Golub was with two friends in an upstairs room at the time of the killing, and stepped away from them for only moments at a time. He said DNA evidence, including samples of Robert Golub's blood mixed with Tinyes's blood, pointed squarely at his client and no one else.

Mitchell Benson, who heads Rice's Major Case Bureau, would not speak specifically about the investigation into the Tinyes case. In general though, he said old cases are a mixed bag. Witnesses die or disappear, police officers retire, evidence is lost. But time also gives people a chance to reveal secrets they've been keeping.

"A person may let down their guard and tell someone the story of what they did a long time ago," he said.