Associated Press
On the witness stand yesterday, defendant Frank
Pauline Jr. told the court that he never owned a
shirt like the one found at the crime scene.
Defense rests
in Ireland case
The murder trial moves to
By Dana Williams
closing arguments after defendant
Frank Pauline Jr. admits he was a liar
Star-BulletinHILO -- Closing arguments were scheduled for today in the trial of Frank Pauline Jr., after the defense rested its case yesterday.
Pauline, 26, is charged with murder, sexual assault and kidnapping in the Christmas Eve 1991 abduction, rape and slaying of Big Island newcomer Dana Ireland.
Pauline was cross-examined by Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida yesterday, after the defendant said he concocted a false confession to get police favors for himself and relatives.
Pauline admitted that he was a liar, and he accused prosecution witnesses of lying.
"Isn't it true the bottom line is that you need this jury to believe that you're just a liar, so that they don't know that you are a murderer?" Ashida said.
"I don't care if anybody believes me," Pauline said. "I don't care if anybody believes me, the main thing is I'm speaking the truth. That's all I care about."
Pauline said he told police he had details about the Ireland murder so he could be moved from Halawa prison and his brother could strike a deal with prosecutors on a drug charge.
He said after he began talking to investigators, he got what he wanted.
Pauline also spoke of a key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case, a blue JimmyZ-brand T-shirt covered with Ireland's blood. The shirt was found near Ireland as she lay injured near a remote fishing trail in Waawaa.
Defense attorney Clifford Hunt asked Pauline if he had ever owned a shirt like that. Pauline said he had not, and he said he wore a double extra-large shirt size in 1991. The shirt recovered at the scene was a large size.
Prosecution witnesses linked the shirt to Pauline.
Earlier in the trial, law enforcement officials testified that Pauline claimed to be sexually excited as he watched Albert Ian Schweitzer rape Ireland. But Pauline didn't want to have sex with Ireland himself because her injuries were extensive, the officers said.
Hunt asked Pauline if he really said that, and Pauline said he didn't.
"I told them something like this, I told them if you had one girl like that, I told them would you be able for have sex with them?" Pauline said. "I wouldn't be able for f--- something like that. That's sick, that's what I told them. They turned my words around, these people."
Also yesterday, jurors viewed the Volkswagen Beetle allegedly used to run Ireland down. The vehicle's interior had been stripped, and it had no fenders, running boards, steering wheel, front seats or engine. Purple paint showed through under yellow. Witnesses have testified the car was repainted after Christmas Eve 1991.
Forensic expert says
By Dana Williams
tire iron not used
Star-BulletinHILO -- A forensic scientist said yesterday he doesn't think Dana Ireland was hit with a tire iron.
Dr. Werner Spitz, a former Detroit coroner, testified in a videotaped deposition for the defense in the Frank Pauline Jr. murder trial.
Spitz said although Ireland was cut and bleeding from her head, she had no skull fractures and no significant injuries within her skull.
"It is in my view unlikely, and more so actually improbable that someone striking somebody with a tire iron on the head would strike them in such a fashion that it did not cause a severe, devastating-type injury," Spitz said.
In a formal statement to police in 1994, Pauline said he swung a tire iron "all the way back and wen' hit her on the head. Somewhere on the head. I'm not sure where."
Prosecutors have said a glancing blow from the tire iron could have caused the head injuries suffered by Ireland.
During the videotaped cross-examination of Spitz, deputy prosecutor Lincoln Ashida pointed out that in a 1996 opinion, Spitz said "it would seem unlikely, but not impossible, that Miss Ireland sustained a glancing blow with a tire iron, and also other, unrelated trauma to the same part of the body."
Dana Ireland Archive
