Ireland murder trial
delayed anew for
‘personal reasons’
The father of the woman
By Rod Thompson
killed in 1991 rips the court's
secrecy over the defense
attorney's request
Big Island correspondent
Star-BulletinHILO -- A judge postponed the trial of Dana Ireland murder suspect Frank Pauline Jr. because of "personal reasons" connected to defense attorney Clifford Hunt, says Ireland's father, John.
Judge Riki May Amano ordered Hunt's written statement of the reasons for his request for delay locked up, adding to the secrecy surrounding the seven-year-old case.
Most of the discussion of the action yesterday was in a "bench conference" with the judge, a conversation at the judge's podium that court spectators were not allowed to hear.
Hunt was not present in the courtroom. His substitute, attorney Thomas Bush, made a reference to a "treating physician," but the relevance of the phrase wasn't clear.
Lead Prosecutor Charlene Iboshi objected to Hunt's request. Amano, though, granted the delay, resetting continued jury selection for July 19, with the trial to follow.
Jury selection had been set to conclude this week. The trial was to have started June 14.
The unexplained delay was the latest mystery in a case that has been marked by twists and turns from its outset.
Ireland was deliberately hit by a car believed to contain three or possibly four men on Christmas Eve 1991.
She was taken to a remote area 25 miles by road south of Hilo, raped, beaten and left to die.
Pauline became a suspect in 1994 when he told police he was involved. He was indicted in 1997.
Two other men, brothers Shawn and Albert Ian Schweitzer, were indicted in 1997. Charges against them were dropped last year, then reinstated last week.
The reason for dropping the charges in 1998 was given only as "new and unforeseen developments."
The phrase was later understood to refer to DNA evidence --semen found on a sheet where Ireland lay appeared to clear the Schweitzers but also prompted the theory of a fourth attacker.
John Ireland said the phrase "personal reasons" was told to him last week.
The prosecution advised Ireland at his home in Virginia about the possible delay, apparently after a telephone conference last week in which Hunt raised the matter with the judge.
The phone call was referred to during yesterday's hearing.
Speaking to the Star-Bulletin yesterday, Ireland criticized the judge's decision to maintain secrecy around Hunt's "personal reasons."
"This is what causes problems between the courts and the law and ordinary citizens, is hiding things," he said.
Ireland and his wife, Louise, have made plans to come to Hilo for the trial several times, only to see it postponed.
This is the third time they have had to change rental dates for an apartment.
