Current Cases - Updated 8/26/09
The Alaska Innocence Project filed it s first court case seeking to establish innocence on April 20, 2009. Gregory Marino was convicted of murder and attempted murder in 1994 and has spent the last 16 years incarcerated on those charges. At the time of his trial, Marino was excluded as the source of all useable prints collected at the crime and could not be positively identified through the then available DNA testing as the source of any biological or forensic evidence found at the crime scene.
As a result of the Alaska Innocence Project’s filing in this case, the State of Alaska has agreed to make evidence available for testing. The State will compare the finger and palm prints from the crime scene to updated data bases to determine if the source of those prints can be identified. Following those results, the State will make biological evidence available for more effective and discerning testing then was available at the time of Marino’s trial, to try and determine the source of that evidence. The Alaska Innocence Project is currently attempting to raise funds to pay for this testing which will likely cost at least $20,000.00. Mr. Marino will have to wait for this testing to support his innocence claim until the funds can be raised.
The Alaska Innocence Project has agreed to represent these two individuals in their actions to establish their innocence. Roberts and Frese were two of four individuals convicted of murder, assault and sexual assault in a controversial case in Fairbanks in 1999. They have been in prison for the last 11 years. The case against the four individuals was circumstantial and the verdict was immediately challenged both within and outside of the legal system. One of the defendants, Eugene Vent, still has a case in court attacking his conviction. The case was the subject of a seven part series in the Fairbanks News Miner questioning the validity of the convictions of the four men.
The Alaska Innocence Project has begun its search for evidence which will support a claim of actual innocence in court.
The Alaska Innocence Project has received requests from 125 other individuals that we review their case to determine if they meet our criteria for assistance. Some have been declined as not meeting those criteria. Others have been informed their request is premature, as they are in some stage of the legal system already. The remaining cases are being investigated by the Alaska Innocence Project to determine if an innocence claim is viable.