Judge declines to jail Fairbanks Four defendant in new case

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – One of the men known as the Fairbanks Four will be free on bail as he awaits the outcome of a new criminal case.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports 40-year-old Kevin Pease was ordered to follow a curfew and wear an ankle monitor as he awaits disposition of an assault case.

Pease is one of four Fairbanks men convicted of fatally beating a teenager, John Hartman, to death on a Fairbanks street corner in 1997. He spent nearly two decades in prison.

After a hearing in 2015, Pease and others were released under terms of a settlement. Their convictions were vacated.

Pease in December was charged with felony assault and criminal mischief.

A warrant for his arrest for failure to appear for court hearings was quashed Wednesday.