Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Murder and Robbery |
Sentence: |
75 years with 15 yrs suspended |
Years Imprisoned: |
18 |
Year Crime: |
1997 |
Year Convicted: |
1999 |
Year Cleared: |
2015 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Alaska |
County or Region of Crime: |
Fairbanks North Star |
City of Crime: |
Fairbanks |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"George C. Frese, Kevin W. Pease, Marvin L. Roberts and Eugene G. Vent were codefendants wrongly convicted of the second-degree assault of Franklin Dayton, and the first-degree robbery and second-degree murder of 15-year-old John Hartman on October 11, 1997 in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska. The four were dubbed by the media as the Fairbanks Four. Vent was a juvenile at the time the crime was committed. The four were convicted in three separate trials: Pease and Roberts were tried together (July-Aug 1999), while Frese (Feb. 1999) and Vent (July 1999) were tried separately. The prosecution's key evidence was the eyewitness testimony Arlo Olson. Olson "that while he was smoking outside a Fairbanks reception hall at around one o'clock in the morning, when only streetlights lit the attack scene, he saw Pease, Frese, Roberts, and Vent attack Dayton." (Pease v. State, 54 P. 3d 316 (AK COA 2002) Roberts was released on parole in June 2015. The other three were released on December 17, 2015 after agreeing to drop their post-conviction appeal and agreeing not to sue any government agency or employee related to their prosecution, in exchange for the State agreeing for the judge to vacate their convictions." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
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Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
19 |
Age When Released: |
37 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Fairbanks Four freed as judge accepts deal to throw out indictments, convictions, By Sam Friedman, Fairbanks Daily News Miner, December 17, 2015" |
Information Location 1: |
http://www.newsminer.com/news/fairbanks-four-freed-as-judge-accepts-deal-to-throw-out/article_452d29e8-a512-11e5-86e5-dfd51ae41d35.html |
Information Source 2: |
"Kevin Pease v. State of Alaska, 4fa-13-02669ci (4th jud. dist, fairbanks sup. ct.) (Docket last viewed 12-23-2015)" |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org