Lack of physical evidence continues to be an issue at the Fairbanks Four hearing.
Three pieces of possible evidence were raised Wednesday during an ongoing hearing into whether George Frese, Kevin Pease, Marvin Roberts and Eugene Vent were wrongly convicted of the 1997 beating death of John Hartman.
Marvin Robert’s uncle discredited a claim he disposed of a pair of blood stained shoes from the Hartman attack.
Kenny Mayo was responding to an allegation earlier in the hearing made by a former girlfriend that he threw bloody shoes from his nephew in a dumpster hours after Hartman was found with mortal injuries attributed to being kicked and stomped.
Mayo told the court he doesn’t remember any such shoes.
“If something like that happened that’s memorable, such as that, I would remember it,” Mayo said. “That did not occur; that did not happen.”
Also Wednesday, a state investigator testified that the hood of Marvin Roberts long impounded car was shipped to a Lower 48 forensics lab for testing. The 1992 sedan is alleged to be the vehicle that transported Roberts, George Frese, Kevin Pease and Eugene Vent to and from the Hartman attack scene.
State Trooper investigator Lantz Dahlke testified that when reviewing case evidence last year he decided to see if apparent dirt stains on Hartman’s corduroy pants matched a smudge on the car’s hood.
“I felt there was nothing to lose at this point, and so I personally took the hood off the car, went and got a hood box, and packaged the hood up,” Dahlke said.
Dahlke says he shipped the hood and pants to an Illinois based laboratory for analysis.
The state did not share test results, indicating they came back negative. Fairbanks Four legal team attorney Rick Allen read a portion of the lab report undermining the existence of dirt on the pants.
Allen: “Closer examination of these regions show that the color was due to wear, rather than heavy deposits of dust. You see that?
Dahlke: “Yes sir, I do.”
Allen: “So, what you initially thought was dirt on the pants was not actually dirt, but wear on the pants.”
The only other new evidence noted by Dahlke was a crumpled ten dollar bill he says he found in the crack between the passenger seat and door edge of Robert’s car.
The state presented the money as cash possibly taken from Hartman.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
