The Accused
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The Accused |
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| GEORGE FRESE_____KEVIN PEASE_____MARVIN ROBERTS_____EUGENE VENT | ||
Did
he confess? (Police interview, 1997)
Kevin
Pease
Did
he confess? (Police interview, 1997) Marvin
Roberts
Did
he confess? (Police interview, 1997)
Eugene
Vent
Did
he confess? (Police interview, 1997)
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Frese, 20 at
the time of John Hartman's murder, had a juvenile record of domestic
violence and drinking-related offenses. He was so drunk the night
of Hartman's beating that he relied on accounts from his girlfriend
and others to understand what happened. When Frese checked into the
hospital the following day complaining of a hurt foot, an officer
and a nurse perceived similarities between his boot and the bruises
on Hartman’s face.
Pease’s
father had been gunned down earlier in the year in an unrelated incident.
Known around
town for getting into fights, and already wanted on a warrant, the
19-year-old fell under suspicion when his mother summoned police following
a 3 a.m. dispute. Pease made things worse for himself by lying to police
concerning his whereabouts that evening. Detectives soon established
that he had not been with his girlfriend, as he claimed, but spent
the night drinking at various parties, including a wedding reception.
Roberts,
who at the time of the crime was 19 and a former high school valedictorian,
had a clean
record until his conviction in 1999. Jurors found him guilty of driving
the getaway car during a spree of violence culminating in Hartman's
fatal assault. However, Roberts was observed dancing and mingling with
guests at a wedding reception at about the time of the beating.
Seventeen-year-old Vent ran
when he encountered police only blocks away from the murder scene.
He had been drinking all night, had a blood alcohol content of .159
and had just been kicked out of the Alaska Motor Inn. In the course
of three interviews stretching over an 11-hour period, Vent gave incriminating
statements that police took as a confession, implicating himself and
other players from the Howard Luke Academy basketball team in Hartman's
fatal assault.