By Post on July 4, 2014 Seventeen years after John Hartman’s fatal beating on a downtown street, arguments about a secret confession in the case continue behind closed doors. UAF Journalism’s Aaron Berner reports on legal maneuvers around convicted murderer Jason Wallace’s explosive statements to a public defender back in 2004. Details of that decade-old confidential conversation, filed under seal last fall in Alaska Superior Court, are portrayed by Alaska Innocent Project as new evidence supporting California inmate William Z. Holmes claims that he, Wallace and several other friends jumped Hartman while cruising for trouble one night back in high school. The claimed confessions, new and old, are the foundation for Alaska Innocence Project’s bid to free the Fairbanks Four. UPDATE: As of July 4, Judge Lyle had not ruled on the issues raised in the March 27 hearing documented in Berner’s report. uafjournalism/2014/07/04/doors-closed-on-hartman-murder-arguments/
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 20:41:54 +0000