MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — A career criminal and escape artist with a penchant for using fake noses and toy weapons to commit a string of robberies, and who left court officers red-faced when he slipped out of custody during a past court appearance was sentenced to up to life in prison on Thursday.
Ronald Tackman couldn't smooth talk his way out of a 28-year to life prison sentence from Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Richard Carruthers, who took into account Tackman's six robbery convictions. He faced a minimum sentence of 20 years to life on the top count alone.
Tackman, 57, was also sentenced to three to six years stemming from his Sept. 30, 2009 escape stunt in which he walked out of custody on the Manhattan Supreme Court's 12th floor after corrections and court officers mistook him for an attorney. He snuck by officers while wearing a suit, not jail garb.
The courthouse was placed on lockdown as authorities searched for Tackman. They found him two days later on the Upper East Side, where he had been staying on and off with his mother.
"Please sentence me to the minimum," Tackman asked the judge Thursday, after a speech about a challenge he filed to his charges, for which he argued a state official should have to "certify" the constitutionality of the laws he violated.
"If I bought a painting from Sotheby’s, it would be certified authentic by three experts. If you buy a Ford, it’s certified. If you buy a diamond ring, it’s certified," Tackman began. "The laws of America must be certified ... I would like to move for this court for a mistrial for insufficient counsel."
He appeared in court for his sentencing Thursday in shackles and a bright orange jumpsuit. They did not remove his handcuffs.
Tackman is now a major security concern for the Department of Corrections, and has a history of eluding confinement.
In the 1980s, while serving a 22-year prison sentence, Tackman had twice hijacked corrections vans using phony weapons — one carved out of a bar of soap and the other constructed out of soda cans and packed with homemade gun powder, his lawyer said.
Prosecutors said Tackman's antics may have been phony, but they had real consequences for the people who believed they were being held up by gunpoint.
"In each case Mr. Tackman dressed up an outlandish costume — a fake nose, cowboy hats. In each case he always presented a gun and in many instances, the people that he robbed did not know whether the gun was real or fake," Assistant District Attorney Charles Whitt said.
"He fashioned himself as wannabe gangster or cowboy," the ADA added.
Tackman was convicted at trial of robbing several Manhattan establishments including Sedutto's ice cream shop, a Bolton's clothing store, a Domino's pizza, a Dunkin Donuts and a deli.
Judge Carruthers told Tackman he deserved the sentence that was coming to him.
"It's clear, Mr. Tackman, you have amassed a record of having committed several felonies including violent felonies and now you must pay a severe but justifiable penalty for the crimes in which you were found guilty," Carruthers said.
Tackman's attorney, Joseph Heinzmann, said he doesn't believe his client will escape prison alive again, because he is ailed by hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver and diabetes.
Despite his criminal inclinations, Heinzmann said, Tackman never physically hurt anyone he robbed and is an otherwise very charismatic and likable.
"He is charming. He's reasonably intelligent, engaging and perceptive. He has a fantastic sense of humor," Heinzmann said.
Tackman had been convicted on felony robbery charges in 1985 and 1986, before he extended his length of stay by trying to escape prison.
In his 22 years in state prison, Tackman never received schooling or vocational training and has little formal education, Heinzmann said.
