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Defense claims
unknown truck
killed Ireland
The defense gets a break when
By Rod Thompson
an expert on sex crimes is barred
from testifying
Star-BulletinHILO -- A witness tied a purple Volkswagen "bug" to murder suspect Albert Ian Schweitzer, but the defense continued to suggest the car was not used in the 1991 attack on victim Dana Ireland.
Schweitzer, 28, is accused of kidnapping, sexual assault and murder for allegedly running over Ireland, assaulting her and leaving her to die on Christmas Eve 1991.
Testimony about tire marks showed that Ireland, 23, and her bicycle were run over by a vehicle. The prosecution says it was Schweitzer's Volkswagen. The defense says it was an unknown truck.
Auto body specialist Lynn Matthews yesterday testified that he rebuilt a reddish purple 1956 Volkswagen in 1991. His business partner sold the car, and the new owner traded it to Schweitzer, Matthews testified.
Several years later police showed the car --srepainted yellow -- to Matthews when Schweitzer became a suspect.
Many of the car's parts were removed, but it still had its front "apron," a piece of sheet metal between the wheels, Matthews said. The apron was 6 to 8 inches off the ground and apparently undamaged, Matthews said.
Defense attorney James Biven is expected to argue that a part that was so low to the ground could not have driven over Ireland and her bicycle without being damaged.
Also testifying yesterday was Louise Furtado, grandmother of the young woman who was Frank Pauline's girlfriend in 1991. Pauline was convicted of Ireland's murder in a previous trial, and testimony in this case is expected to link him to Schweitzer.
Furtado testified that she saw Pauline return home after dark on Christmas Eve, holding his head and sobbing. He arrived in a white or pink Volkswagen, she said.
Biven asked Furtado if the car could have been purple. She answered emphatically, "No!"
The defense got another break when Judge Riki May Amano ruled that a South Carolina expert on sexual crimes could not testify for the prosecution.
The prosecution must deal with the fact that DNA from sperm in Ireland's body does not match Schweitzer or any other known person.
In testimony with the jury absent, expert Michael Prodan said he would testify that Ireland's attacker could have used a condom or halted sexual contact before ejaculating. Amano ruled that was common sense, not requiring an expert.
The trial is set to resume Wednesday.
Dana Ireland Archive
