Alaska Natives call for the release of the Fairbanks Four. Photo from Facebook

An Alaska Native man is in a halfway house after being paroled in a homicide case that many consider to be a miscarriage of justice.

Marvin Roberts was released on June 17, having served nearly 18 years for the beating death of John Hartman in 1997. He was only 19 when he was accused of a crime he insists he didn't commit.

“We’re so glad to have Marvin home,” April Monroe-Frick, an advocate for the Fairbanks Four, told Indian Country Today. “We’re gathering to welcome him home and to stand by him, because he still has a long journey ahead of him.”

Three other men were also convicted of murder. George Frese and Eugene Vent, who are Alaska Native, and Kevin Pease, who is a member of the Crow Tribe of Montana, remain jailed but are heading to court in October to seek a new trial.

The Tanana Chiefs Conference and the Alaska Innocence Project contend the evidence against the four is weak. All were convicted during separate trials and each received different sentences.

An inmate in California has confessed to the crime. He said he and a second man went out looking for Alaska Natives to harass but ended up robbing and beating a "white boy" -- John Hartman.

Get the Story:
Inmate’s Confession Promises New Trials for Fairbanks Four, Roberts Paroled (Indian Country Today 6/29)
First of 'Fairbanks Four' leaves prison for halfway house (Alaska Dispatch News 6/17)

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Tanana Chiefs Conference increases reward for 1997 case (04/17)
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