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The Alaska Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Eugene Vent, one of the four men convicted of killing a 15-year-old Fairbanks boy in 1997, should get a new hearing for post-conviction relief before a different judge.
In a 12-page ruling, the court said that Judge Ben Esch conducted independent research that “created an appearance of partiality that warrants his disqualification from this case,” and used that research to deny an appeal by Vent. Vent claimed that his trial attorney was ineffective and was incompetent in offering testimony from an expert on coercive police interrogations and false confessions.
Vent, Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts and George Frese were convicted in 1999 of killing John Hartman and are serving sentences of 33 to 79 years in prisons in Colorado and Alaska.
Activists in the Alaska Native community, along with the Alaska Innocence Project, have argued the men were wrongfully convicted to due to the lack of physical evidence.
The appeals court said in its ruling that “We conclude that vacating the judgment in this case will promote justice in future cases: it will clarify the proper scope of judicial notice and encourage judges to avoid ex parte investigations that may create an appearance of partiality.”
To read the entire ruling, click here.
To watch KTUU’s special report on the Fairbanks Four, click here.
Contact Neil Torquiano