A federal judge has ordered that the attorney representing former Fairbanks Police Department Officers can withdraw from Fairbanks Four member Marvin Roberts’ lawsuit against the officers and the city.
Washington state-based lawyer Joseph Evans filed the motion to withdraw last month, requesting to exit the case due to a conflict of interest.
Though the nature of the conflict was not described, Evans cited professional rules that say a conflict of interest arises if the representation of one client could be detrimental to another client.
His motion says the four officers – James Geier, Clifford Aaron Ring, Chris Nolan and Dave Kendrick – each need separate counsel. Roberts’ attorneys opposed the change, saying it would further delay an already prolonged case.
After a hearing with Evans on March 12, Alaska District Court Judge Timothy Burgess ruled that Evans’ decision to withdraw was justified. And court filings indicate each of the four officers have already obtained new attorneys.
Roberts’ suit is the final piece of the decades-old Fairbanks Four case, in which he and three other Indigenous men were accused of and later convicted for the murder of teenager John Hartman in 1997.
All of the men served at least 15 years in prison, but always maintained their innocence. Their sentences were vacated in 2015 after California inmate William Holmes confessed that he and three others were responsible for Hartman’s death.
The four men sued the city in 2017. And in 2023, all of the Fairbanks Four members except for Roberts settled with the city’s insurer for $1.6 million apiece.
Until this month, Evans had been representing the four officers since the lawsuit began.