State of Alaska v. Mrvin Roberts

Fairbanks, Alaska: Marvin L. Roberts was convicted of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and second-degree assault.



On Ocboer 11, 1997, 15-year-old John Hartman was beaten and sexually assaulted. He died on October 12, 1997.



Police arrested Engene Vent who allegedly confessed and identified Marvin Roberts, age 19, and others for assaulting Hartman.



George Frese, Eugene Vent, Marin Robert and Kevin Pease were charged with murder, robbery, and sexual assault.



The State called Arlo Olson who testified that he saw the Defendants attack Hartman.



Christ Stone, a friend of Hartman, testified that he has been with Hartman on the night that he was beaten but they had parted ways. He also told police that that he was afraid on the night of the crime and may have been present. This information was not given to defense counsel.



Misleading info about the likelihood that a boot worn by Frese caused some of Hartman's injuries and that tire tracks indicated that Roberts car was near the scene of the crime.

Roberts was convicted and sentenced to 33 years in prison.



The convictions were affirmed on appeal



Several years after the convictions, an individual named William Holmes confessed to his involvement in the murder and named Jason Wallace and three other men as the actual perpetrators of the crime. Partly based on this confession, Plaintiffs filed post-conviction relief ("PCR") petitions in Alaska Superior Court in September 2013. The court ruled that the petitions stated a prima facie case of actual innocence, allowing Plaintiffs to proceed with discovery, which lasted two years.



Gazewood, a former Fairbanks prosecutor, wrote that their convictions were likely to be vacated and that a retrial would be "virtually unwinnable." He noted that the lead investigator of the murder, Detective Clifford Aaron Ring, had "edit[ed] his recordings in such a way as to not record exculpatory information while using coercive techniques to obtain confessions," and that the Fairbanks Police Department ("FPD") was well aware of Detective Ring's "use of deceptive interviewing techniques."



In 2015, the following evidence was introduced about the commission of the crime:



• William Holmes testified that he, Jason Wallace, and three other men had murdered Hartman;



• Eleven witnesses corroborated Holmes' account;



• Four witnesses testified that Wallace had confessed to killing Hartman and provided consistent, interlocking accounts corroborating that fact;



• Arlo Olson, the sole witness who had identified Plaintiffs as assailants in an unrelated attack on Frank Dayton the night of the Hartman murder, testified that FPD officers coerced him into giving a false statement;



• Frank Dayton, the individual who had also been assaulted on the night of the murder, testified that his assailants had not been in Roberts' car, as had been asserted by the prosecution;



• An Alaska State Trooper testified that an investigation corroborated key elements of Holmes' confession and failed to find any evidence of Plaintiffs' guilt;



• Alibi witnesses provided accounts of the activities and whereabouts of Plaintiffs on the night of the murder, establishing that Plaintiffs were never together that night and could not have murdered Hartman or assaulted Dayton; and



• Forensic experts testified that the prosecution improperly advanced "evidence"



that Frese's boot print matched the injuries on Hartman's face, stating that there was no scientifically reliable way to make this determination.



Several weeks after the hearing and just before Christmas 2015, the prosecutors offered Plaintiffs a deal: the prosecution would consent to vacating the convictions and dismissing the charges, but only if all four plaintiffs agreed to release the State of Alaska and the City of Fairbanks (and their employees) from any liability related to the convictions. Plaintiffs agreed and entered into a settlement agreement with the State of Alaska and the City of Fairbanks (the "Settlement Agreement"). The Settlement Agreement was filed with the Alaska Superior Court, and the parties jointly stipulated that the court would be asked to vacate Plaintiffs' convictions. The Settlement Agreement also provided that "[t]he parties have not reached agreement as to [Plaintiffs'] actual guilt or innocence."



Roberts had already been released from prison and was on supervised parole, but the prosecution refused to release any of the other three plaintiffs from prison unless Roberts agreed to the same arrangement.



Nonetheless, Plaintiffs all signed the Settlement Agreement, which included the following key stipulations:



• The petitioners stipulate and agree that the original jury verdicts and judgments of conviction were properly and validly entered based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt.



• The parties stipulate and agree that there is sufficient new evidence of material facts that a new trial could be ordered under AS 12.72.010(4).



• The parties stipulate and agree that this Court may immediately enter Orders vacating the Judgments of Conviction ... and awarding each Petitioner the relief of a new trial for each of the charges for which Petitioners were convicted.



Under Alaska Statute § 12.72.010(4), a person convicted of a crime may institute a PCR proceeding if the person claims "that there exists evidence of material facts, not previously presented and heard by the court, that requires vacation of the conviction or sentence in the interest of justice."



On December 17, 2015, after a judicially supervised mediation, the Alaska Superior Court convened a settlement hearing with all parties present and heard from representatives of the victims and counsel for all parties. The court explained that its role was to "ministerially sign the orders necessary to [e]ffect the decision of the attorney general," and that, having determined that the settlement was procedurally proper, it "had no authority to ... review or to criticize" the attorney general's decision. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court vacated Plaintiffs' convictions, the prosecutors dismissed all indictments, and Vent, Frese, and Pease were released from prison. The parties inform us that no further prosecution of these men has ensued and no new trial was ever ordered following the 2015 hearing.



Despite a global release of all claims by Plaintiffs contained in the Settlement Agreement, this civil-rights lawsuit was later commenced.



Plaintiffs requested a declaratory judgment that the Settlement Agreement is unenforceable, an award of compensatory and punitive damages, and attorney's fees.



The Federal District Court in Anchorage dismissed the civil rights violation case.



The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reverse.



In November 2023, Frese, Pease and Vent settled for $1.59 million each. Roberts's case was still pending.