In this episode we discuss the Fairbanks Four case in Alaska with our guest Brian O’Donoghue. Brian is a University of Alaska Fairbanks Journalism Professor.

John Hartman, a 15-year-old high school student, was murdered in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1997. Two young men, George Frese and Eugene Vent, allegedly confessed to the crime. They also implicated two other young men, Marvin Roberts and Kevin Pease. All four were convicted of Hartman’s murder.

The accused became known as the “Fairbanks Four.” In the years following their convictions, Frese and Vent recanted their statements and claimed their confessions were false.

The Alaska Innocence Project has presented new evidence in the form of an affidavit from a man named William Holmes, in which Holmes stating that he and another group of teens committed the crime.

Did controversial confessions, racism, and police misconduct send four innocent men to prison? We explore the facts of the case and let you draw your own conclusions.