The state, with legislative approval, is set to pay out more than $1.5 million in settlement money for two high-profile cases on the Big Island.
A $750,000 settlement was reached between the state Department of Human Services and Sherri-Ann Garett and Juben Garcia for the 2017 death of their son, Fabian Garett-Garcia, who was in foster care at the time.
Police in August 2018 arrested Chasity Alcosiba-McKenzie of Waimea, who was the 3-year-old boy’s caregiver, on suspicion of attempted second-degree murder and later released her.
Charges were not formally filed until an October 2019 indictment, which stated Alcosiba-McKenzie intentionally or knowingly caused the death of Garett-Garcia including voluntarily omitting to obtain reasonable necessary and available medical service. The indictment was handed down after a Honolulu medical examiner ruled the manor of death homicide a year after Garett-Garcia’s death.
Alcosiba-McKenzie pleaded not guilty to the single charge of second-degree murder.
Alcosiba-McKenzie had reported the toddler fell from an 18-inch bench while wearing virtual reality glasses on July 25, 2017, and did not exhibit symptoms other than vomiting until she found him unresponsive hours later. She contended his sister had a flu previously, exhibiting the same symptoms, so she thought he was coming down with the same thing.
In October, 2021, Circuit Court Judge Wendy DeWeese found Alcosiba-McKenzie not guilty in a bench trial, which means there is no jury.
At the time, DeWeese said the law is not about suspicion or speculation, and the state must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
“No parent should have to lose a child, and it may be easy to place blame, but the state has failed to provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” she said.
She also said there was reasonable doubt as to when the injury actually occurred and that while very rare, an accidental fall could have caused Garett-Garcia’s death.
The judge also noted that while there was no reasonable doubt as to the cause of Garett-Garcia’s death (head trauma), there was a reasonable doubt that the manner of death was murder or manslaughter.
A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in April 2019 by Garett-Garcia’s parents against the Department of Human Services, Catholic Charities and others.
A settlement was reached with the state and Catholic Charities. However, the details of the good-faith settlement with the nonprofit remain confidential.
“The family of Fabian Garett-Garcia is forever grateful for the support and aloha received from their family and the Hawaii Island community following Fabian’s tragic death,” said Jeffrey Foster, the parent’s attorney.
“For nearly six years, Fabian’s family fought for justice and to raise awareness of serious safety issues within the foster care system in Hawaii. Their fight took them to the Hawaii Supreme Court, where they successfully overturned a gag order and established important freedom of speech protections for others in family court cases,” he said.
Foster said the settlement with the state represents five years of litigation that exposed significant issues with the state’s oversight and administration of foster care in Hawaii.
“This case will hopefully be the first step toward making long-overdue changes to a system in desperate need of improvement. Our hope is that the state uses the failures exposed by this case — as well as the other horrific cases from around the state — to evaluate its shortcomings and identify solutions to promote the long-term safety of children in foster care,” said Foster.
The state also is on the hook for an $800,000 settlement reached with Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who was exonerated in January 2023 after serving 26 years behind bars for the 1991 murder of Dana Ireland.
Schweitzer, along with his brother, Shawn, and Frank Pauline Jr. were charged with the brutal rape and murder of the 23-year-old on Christmas Eve in lower Puna.
The case garnered national attention and went unsolved for years. Through a series of false confessions and jailhouse informants, the trio were eventually charged with the crime.
Ian Schweitzer was convicted in 2000 of second-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault and sentenced to 130 years in prison. He appealed his conviction,but the Hawaii Supreme Court upheld it in 2004.
The Innocence Project took up Schweitzer’s case in 2015, and on Jan. 24, 2023, Hilo Circuit Court Judge Peter Kubota vacated the conviction based on, among other things, the revelation that the DNA evidence was from one unknown perpetrator and did not match any of the three convicted of the crime.
Schweitzer’s brother, Shawn, who was a minor at the time of Ireland’s murder, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping in 2000 and was sentenced to one year with credit for time served and was released.
He later recanted his confession and had his conviction vacated.
Pauline was murdered by another inmate in a New Mexico prison in 2015 while serving a life sentence.
Attempts to reach Schweitzer’s attorneys were unsuccessful as of press time Tuesday.
The identity of the individual whose DNA was identified still remains a mystery, and the case is still unsolved.
