A local man who kept his innocence during the assassination of a white teenager in 1997, agreed with the city of Fairbanks after the police complaint, after the allegations complained that the police worked on a racial prejudice where he and three other indigenous men spent nearly two decades.
Marvin Roberts is the so -called end Fairbanks four To reach an agreement with the city after being convicted of their assassination in the 21st. The US District Court Judge Sharon Glisson dismissed his long -standing civic case against cities and police officers on Thursday at the request of parties involved.
“I don’t think that the amount of money I have to endure as a prisoner will be enough to be justified,” Roberts said in a recently published statement between the law agencies represented by him. “But this settlement gives me freedom with my life and most importantly, more time with my daughter and my parents who supported me throughout this nightmare.”
Mark Thessen / AP
Fairbanks City Attorney Tom Chard confirmed that the city and its insurance carriers agreed to settle $ 11.5 million. The terms of the contract determine the schedule of paying a payment, the latest outline by October 1, 2026. The agreement states that the disposal “will not be regarded as admission of responsibility or responsibility by the defendants”.
The settlement is “complete proof of Marvin Roberts’ innocence, which he has maintained with extraordinary dignity for almost three decades,” New York-based Civil Rights Farm said in a statement published by Newfeld Skake Brestin Hoffman and Fredenberger Nick Brestin, Robertin.
The deal came about 1/2 years later about 1/2 years later that George Fres, Eugene Vent and Kevin PG agreed to receive $ 1.59 million from the city insurer about 1/2 years later. The city said that disposal is “responsibility or a recognition of any kind of fault.”
KTU said Roberts chose not to settle in 2021, instead decided to move forward with appeal.
According to the station, Roberts’ Attorney Mike Kramer says, “They were all given, you know, $ 1.6 million or each. Three of the four took the deal.” “It is hard to get away from a million bucks, especially when the city is still saying ‘You are guilty and we’re going to apply for everything in this case and we will pull it up until you are older men.”
Local leaders of Alaska have long suggested the release of men, which was convicted racially inspired by ethnicity. Pizz local American; Fresch, Vent and Roberts are Athavascan Alaska Native. Of these four, Roberts was the only one who was on parole.
The guilty that was convicted in a civic case of 20, followed by a week -long hearing that re -examined the case and others increased the chances of killing John Hartman of 15 years old. Although these four people maintained their innocence, the Alaska Law Department said that the settlement was not expelled.
Men argued that they led to their liberation – so that they agreed to suit – they were not legally compulsory because they were forced. An appeal court panel ruled in their favor.
Fairbanks police spokesman Til Soden said the agency still listed as an “open/active” case for Hartman’s murder.
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