More than two decades being convicted for a murder he didn’t commit, Shawn Schweitzer walked out of a courtroom Monday with a smile and a clean record.
Schweitzer was the third of three Hawaiian men convicted in 2000 of the 1991 abduction, rape and murder of 23-year-old Dana Ireland in Puna to have his conviction overturned, after his older brother Albert “Ian” Schweitzer was released in January after spending 26 years in prison.
Judge Peter Kubota granted on Monday the younger Schweitzer’s petition to have his conviction and sentence vacated, and his record expunged, to tears of relief from family members present in the courtroom.
That quest began in 1994, when Frank Pauline told police that the Schweitzers were responsible for Ireland’s murder. He later recanted, saying he made the accusation to help reduce his own brother’s sentence. But the damage had been done: The Schweitzer brothers were charged in 1997 with the murder, along with Pauline — who was killed in prison in 2015.
“The charges against Ian and Shawn devastated the Schweitzer family, but they remained steadfast,” said Shawn Schweitzer’s attorney, Keith Shigetomi, Monday. “They had faith in a legal system, where decisions regarding guilt and innocence must be based on evidence. … Anyone can claim to see a UFO or bigfoot, but where is the evidence?”
In 1998, that evidence came in the form of DNA samples taken from the crime scene and Ireland’s body. The samples did not match any of the three men, and so their charges were dropped — only for them to be refiled seven months later, following a claim by Michael Ortiz, an associate of Pauline’s brother, that Ian Schweitzer had confessed the murder to him.
“DNA, schmeNA — it didn’t matter,” Shigetomi said. “In almost every other case, if the DNA did not match, you got out of jail. In this case, if the DNA did not match, you still went to jail. … Down was up, up was down. So much for their faith in the legal system.”
Shigetomi said Ian Schweitzer told his younger brother to lie and take a plea deal for a reduced sentence, so that their family would not lose two sons to a lifetime in prison.
But even Shawn Schweitzer’s false confession should have been evidence of his innocence, Shigetomi said: Schweitzer was required to pass a polygraph test, which he failed. Nonetheless, his confession was accepted, and as part of the plea deal he was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to five years of probation, with 18 months of credit for time served.
“Shawn was told ‘if you keep saying you’re not guilty, then you stay in jail and you may stay in jail for the rest of your life,’” Shigetomi said. “‘If you say you’re guilty, then you get out of jail and you go home to your family, including your two babies.’ What would anyone else in this courtroom have done?”
There the story could have ended but for the efforts of the California Innocence Project. Through advances in DNA testing, new evidence was discovered that confirmed DNA from an unknown male suspect, and not any of the three convicted of Ireland’s murder.
On the basis of this discovery, the elder Schweitzer had his conviction overturned in January and was freed, leading Shawn Schweitzer and the California Innocence Project to also lobby for the younger brother’s innocence.
Kubota called the Schweitzers’ experience “manifest injustice,” and ruled that DNA testing in the 1990s was not as well understood as it is now.
Both Shigetomi and Kubota said the Ireland case spurred a media frenzy that made people latch onto the first convenient suspects available, regardless of evidence. Kubota called the case “the most significant murder trial in the state” since the 1932 Massie Trial, a Honolulu trial over the murder of Joseph Kahahawai by Grace Fortescue, the mother of a woman who had accused Kahahawai of raping her.
“A modern jury with the newly discovered evidence would be likely to reach a different verdict, and that verdict would be one of an acquittal,” Kubota said.
After Kubota’s decision, an emotional Schweitzer thanked his family and attorneys for sticking with him despite such trying times.
“I didn’t expect to walk out of there without any charges on me anymore,” Schweitzer said. “It’s a long fight sometimes, and you’ve got to be patient.”
Even with his record clear, Schweitzer said he is still left reckoning with the aftermath of his family’s struggle.
“Going through this, it definitely changed me from the person I used to be,” Schweitzer said. “It’s something that will never be taken away from me, and it definitely left a scar. … I’m sure I’ll always have that habit of looking at people around and seeing if they’re looking at me or judging me. Hopefully, this day will change people’s minds.”
Schweitzer added that he has learned to take with a grain of salt “everything that I hear out of the justice (system).”
But with both brothers exonerated at last, Shawn Schweitzer said he is cherishing being able to spend time with his brother again after more 20 years of separation.
“It’s awesome to have my brother here with me,” Schweitzer said, his voice choked with emotion. “I had to basically take him out of my brain for a long time. To have him around now, it’s a godsend. I really enjoy having him around. I’m happy every day I get to wake up and see him.
“It’s something I never thought would happen.”
Meanwhile, Ian Schweitzer said the California Innocence Project are still searching for the true killer of Dana Ireland, and is hopeful that with better DNA evidence, and the false convictions expunged, justice for the Ireland family can still be found.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.