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Ireland death re-examined
By Rod Thompson
in trial of 2nd defendant
Star-BulletinHILO -- Murder victim Dana Ireland died of massive blood loss, the doctor who did an autopsy on her testified yesterday.
Ireland's numerous injuries included an area of bruises on her right hip, Dr. Charles Reinhold said as the trial of Albert Ian Schweitzer continued.
Schweitzer's attorney James Biven is expected to argue that those injuries could not have been produced by a Volkswagen "bug" owned by Schweitzer.
Biven has tried to show that Ireland was probably hit by a truck, not linked to Schweitzer, with a high fender.
Schweitzer, 28, is accused of kidnapping, rape, and murder in the case.
Reinhold said Ireland had so many injuries all over her body that they could not have come from a single episode of being harmed.
"Almost all of the injuries on her body were blunt force injuries," he said. But they also included a six-inch gash on her head that exposed her skull, and broken collar and pelvic bones, he said.
Biven showed Reinhold a photo of Ireland's right hip which the doctor took during his autopsy. He asked Reinhold if he could see fabric markings pressed into Ireland's skin.
Reinhold said he saw very small abrasions there, but didn't refer to any fabric. One of Biven's witnesses is expected to testify that the impact of a vehicle bumper imprinted fabric marks from Ireland's shorts onto her hip.
Other testimony involved medical help for Ireland.
Nurse Geri Gallagher, living at the time in the backwoods area where Ireland was found, was called to the scene. "She was obviously in deep shock at that point," Gallagher said.
County paramedic Johnson Kahili said he found Ireland "severely traumatized."
"She wasn't making much sense," he said.
But under questioning by Biven, he agreed he had filled in a form rating Ireland 12 points on a 15-point coherency scale. Biven is expected to use that to assert Ireland knew what she was talking about when she allegedly identified her attacker as "a friend, a friend of a friend."
Dana Ireland Archive
