Marvin Roberts of Fairbanks Four Vindicated by Record-Breaking $11.5M Settlement

Roberts Spent Nearly 18 Years in Prison for a Murder He Didn’t Commit, Due to Corruption, Misconduct and Cover-Ups by Fairbanks Officials

(Fairbanks, AK) — Marvin Roberts, who is Alaska Native, spent nearly 18 years wrongly incarcerated for a crime he did not commit: the brutal 1997 murder of John Hartman, a white 15-year-old in Fairbanks, Alaska. With trial on Mr. Roberts’ civil rights claims against the Fairbanks Police Department officers who caused his wrongful conviction set for later this year, the City of Fairbanks today agreed to a record-breaking $11.5 million settlement—believed to be the biggest police misconduct settlement in Alaska history, according to Roberts’ attorneys at the national civil rights law firm Neufeld Scheck Brustin Hoffmann & Freudenberger, LLP (NSBHF.com).

The historic settlement brings a nearly three-decade ordeal to a close and comes on the heels of stunning admissions by the police officials as to their misconduct which ultimately forced their attorney to withdraw due to serious ethics concerns.

“This $11.5 million dollar settlement – far and away the largest in Fairbanks history – is a powerful statement on many fronts,” said Nick Brustin, a partner with NSBHF. “First, it is a complete vindication of Marvin Roberts’ innocence, which he has maintained with extraordinary dignity for almost three decades. Second, it is a vindication of the many extraordinary lawyers who worked tirelessly to free Marvin Roberts and the other innocent members of the Fairbanks Four. Finally, this settlement is proof of the unprecedented police, prosecutorial and government misconduct that permeated this case from 1997 through today – first to frame four innocent men and then to do everything possible to cover up their misconduct.”

Roberts’ case is a striking example of the lengths to which public officials will go to cover up misconduct and deny responsibility regardless of the evidence.  “Despite the settlement, it is clear the police and the others have learned nothing,” Brustin said. “There will be no public apology. Instead, Marvin and others will need to continue telling the important story of what happened to prevent it from happening to others.”

Mike Kramer, a partner with the Alaska law firm Kramer & Cosgrove, added: “Marvin Roberts proved himself to be incredibly resilient and strong in his 28 year quest for justice and when it became clear to the City that he wasn’t going to back down, they did what they should have done long ago, and finally made up for some of the harms they inflicted.”

In response to the settlement, Roberts issued the following statement: “I don’t think any amount of money will be enough to justify what I endured as an innocent man in prison. This settlement, however, gives me freedom with my life, and most importantly, more time with my daughter and my parents, who supported me throughout this nightmare. I thank God for helping me through that ordeal. Thank you also to my sweet mother Hazel Mayo, my humble dad Art Mayo, and my dear sister Sharon Roberts who all believed in me and did the most for me. I would also like to thank Bill Oberly, The Alaska Innocence Project, and my other lawyers without whom all this is not possible. Thank you also to April Henry, Shirley Lee, Brian O’Donoghue, my brother Marvin Mayo, my aunts Kathy Roberts and Lena McCarty, the late Shirley Demientieff, and all other family, friends and Fairbanks Four supporters who believed in me.”

Neither Mr. Roberts nor the three other innocent men wrongly prosecuted with him (Eugene Vent, George Frese and Kevin Pease, known collectively as the “Fairbanks Four”) had anything to do with Mr. Hartman’s murder. As an independent investigation by the Alaska State Troopers would later demonstrate, it is not just that the Four are innocent – there was never sufficient reliable evidence to identify them as suspects, much less pursue charges. Instead, Roberts, who at 19 had just graduated as a high school valedictorian, was wrongly convicted due to unconscionable and systematic misconduct by the investigating Fairbanks Police Department officers.

Roberts filed his civil rights lawsuit against the City of Fairbanks and former Fairbanks Police Department officers Aaron Ring, Dave Kendrick, Jim Geier, and Chris Nolan in 2017. The record developed during this protracted litigation paints a vivid picture of how the Defendant officers—all white men—jointly engaged in a concerted campaign to frame the Fairbanks Four—Alaska Native and Native American teenagers—through widespread, brazen misconduct. It also shows that when the officers were presented with multiple credible confessions from the real murderers they sought to bury this evidence and fought to delay and prevent Roberts’ exoneration.

Notably, officials attempted to conceal their misconduct by forcing the Fairbanks Four to sign an illegal and coercive agreement not to sue and then fought to defend that agreement in court in an effort to block Roberts’ civil rights suit. In January 2024, United States District Court Judge Sharon L. Gleason held that enforcement of the agreement would disserve the public interest.

Marvin Roberts’ legal team includes NSBHF partners Nick Brustin, Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann, and Emma Freudenberger, associates Christina Matthias and Sophia Villarreal, and paralegal Joanne Park; and Mike Kramer, Reilly Cosgrove and paralegal Arnell Tinajero of Kramer & Cosgrove in Alaska.

Read coverage of the settlement by the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner here. (note: content is behind a paywall)