Linen overlooked,
detective says
Dana Ireland's gurney sheet
the focus of murder trial testimonyJudge wants less clutter in the court
By Dana Williams
Star-BulletinHILO -- Scientists from the FBI failed to examine a crucial piece of evidence in the Dana Ireland murder case, a Hawaii County police detective says.
Detective Steven Guillermo, testifying in the murder trial of Frank Pauline Jr., said a gurney sheet on which Ireland lay dying in 1991 was overlooked by the FBI.
Years later, scientists at a private laboratory found sperm on the sheet, but the DNA didn't match any of the three suspects charged in the case.
During a second day of cross-examination by defense attorney Clifford Hunt, Guillermo answered questions about police work in the murder investigation.
In 1998, evidence in the case was sent to Edward Blake of Forensic Science Associates in Richmond, Calif. The lab received samples of hair, clothing and swabs collected by police. The gurney sheet, on which Ireland lay as the ambulance took her from Waawaa to Hilo Hospital, also was sent to the lab.
Guillermo said he assumed the FBI already had examined the sheet but later found out no tests had been done.
"It had been, for lack of better words, overlooked, correct?" Hunt asked.
"Yes,"Guillermo answered.
After Blake found evidence of sperm, prosecutors and defense attorneys in the case agreed to send the sheet to an independent lab in Hayward, Calif.Scientists at that lab said Pauline, as well as brothers Shawn and Albert Ian Schweitzer, also charged in the case, were ruled out as sources of the sperm.
Ireland was hit by a car on Christmas Eve 1991 as she rode her bicycle in Puna. She was abducted, beaten, raped and dumped near a fishing trail in Waawaa. Pauline is on trial for murder, sexual assault and kidnapping in the case.
Albert Ian Schweitzer is scheduled to go on trial in November, and Shawn Schweitzer is scheduled to go on trial in March 2000.
Hunt suggested police were under pressure from the Ireland family and concerned residents to make an arrest in the murder.
In 1994, Pauline confessed to being involved in the killing, but he later recanted that confession.
"For the three years after Frank Pauline comes forward and says he's involved, what you essentially try to do in the police department is substantiate the information, or corroborate his story with the physical evidence, correct?" Hunt asked.
"And also (conduct) an interview of other possible witnesses, yes," Guillermo said.
Guillermo is scheduled to return to the stand today, when prosecutors expect to conclude their case against Pauline.
Judge wants less
Star-Bulletin staff
clutter in the courtHILO -- By late morning yesterday, Judge Riki May Amano's courtroom was beginning to look like a storage locker.
The rusty left front fender of a Volkswagen Beetle rested on a platform in front of the witness stand. A right front fender, also coated with rust, lay overturned on the carpet next to the witness stand.
The front bumper of a Volkswagen was on the floor in front of the jury box. Next to the bumper, a large cardboard bicycle box contained pieces of the bike ridden by Dana Ireland on the day she was killed.
The mangled bicycle frame, with a collapsed rear wheel, was on the floor in front of the cardboard box.
An intact bicycle, the same model as the one ridden by Ireland, but with a larger frame, was wedged between the jury box and a lectern used by attorneys.
Amano, concerned about the courtroom clutter, asked attorneys to bring only the pieces of evidence needed for trial each day.
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