DNA specialist
to testify in
Ireland trial
Edward Blake also was an expert
By Dana Williams
witness in the trial of O.J. Simpson
Star-BulletinHILO -- A pioneer in the use of DNA analysis in the courtroom will testify for the defense today in the murder trial of Frank Pauline Jr.
Edward T. Blake, who served as an expert witness in the trial of O.J. Simpson, made a significant discovery last year when he was asked to examine evidence from the murder of Dana Ireland.
He found sperm on a bedsheet where Ireland lay dying. Although the same sheet had been sent to the FBI lab in Washington, D.C., it was overlooked by examiners.
Blake testified yesterday that he was the first person to use the polymerase chain reaction technique of DNA analysis in a crime setting. Using the technique, scientists can replicate a small piece of DNA millions of times outside of a living system. Blake was brought into the Ireland case by Pauline's former defense attorney Brian DeLima.
Pauline, 26, is charged with the murder, sexual assault and kidnapping of Ireland. On Christmas Eve 1991, she was riding her bicycle along a Puna road when she was hit by a car, abducted, beaten, raped and abandoned. She died in Hilo Hospital just as Christmas Day was beginning.
Pauline is the first of three men to go on trial in the case. Albert Ian Schweitzer will go on trial in November, and his brother Shawn is scheduled to be tried in March.
Although all three men were originally indicted in 1997, charges against the Schweitzer brothers were dropped last year when examiners determined the sperm found by Blake did not match Pauline or the brothers.
The Schweitzers were reindicted in May when prosecutors said a fourth man might have been involved in the attack. The fourth man has not been named.
In his testimony yesterday, Blake said he had been paid more than $20,000 for his work in the case before taking the stand. While in Hawaii, he is earning about $1,200 a day, and he is scheduled to be here for five days. Because he is a defense witness, and the state is paying for Pauline's defense, the bills will be paid by the state.
Prosecutors rested their case against Pauline yesterday after playing audio recordings of two 1994 interviews with television reporters. In the interviews, Pauline confessed to being present when Ireland was killed.
In a KHON interview, Pauline said he was riding in a car driven by Ian Schweitzer when "he banged the girl. After he banged her, he ran over her several times," Pauline said.
On the tape, he also described how Ian Schweitzer bit Ireland and raped her. Pauline said the brothers would not allow him to leave the car during the attack.
Trial witnesses summary
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Shoe on other
By Dana Williams
foot for attorney
Star-Bulletin
HILO -- One of the first people to take the stand in the defense of Frank Pauline Jr. was an attorney for Pauline's brother.
When John Gonsalves testified for the prosecution, attorney Joy Hutson was in the courtroom representing him. Yesterday, Hutson's attorney was in the courtroom as she testified for the defense.
In 1994, Gonsalves told police his brother had information about the murder of Dana Ireland. At the time, Gonsalves was charged with conspiracy to promote a dangerous drug in the first degree. He was represented by Hutson, and eventually, he pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.
Although Gonsalves had testified that he went to police "to do what was right," defense attorney Clifford Hunt tried to show that prosecutors helped Gonsalves after he provided information in the murder case.
As Hunt questioned Hutson about deals that were made in the drug case, she frequently answered, "I don't remember," or "I don't know." Several times, her attorney stood up to silently signal the judge when objectionable questions were asked.
No questions were allowed that would jeopardize attorney-client privilege, and most of the questions focused on the documents that were passed between Hutson and prosecutors five years ago.
Dana Ireland Archive
