City of Fairbanks appealing court decision allowing ‘Fairbanks Four’ to sue the city

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - The City of Fairbanks has decided to appeal to the U.S. Supreme court to reverse a ruling allowing the ‘Fairbanks Four’ to sue the City.

George Frese, Marvin Roberts, Eugene Vent and Kevin Pease filed a lawsuit against the city to allow them to sue for wrongful conviction. The four men were convicted of murder, but the State vacated the conviction in 2015 after new evidence came to light. As part of the deal to drop the charges, the state stipulated that the four could not sue for wrongful conviction.

In January of 2020, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the men, ruling that they could sue the City. The City filed a petition to have the case heard by the full 9th Circuit. On June 26, the court denied the City’s petition in a split ruling. The City of Fairbanks has today, Friday November 20th, petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

A decision from the Supreme Court on whether to grant the petition is expected in January. According to the statement, because the case is currently in litigation, the City of Fairbanks has no further comments.

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