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New DNA tests
requested in Ireland
rape-murder case
Earlier results indicated
By Rod Thompson
that a fourth person might
have attacked the victim
Big Island correspondent
HILO -- Hawaii County prosecutors want scientists to re-examine DNA evidence, which seemed to show a fourth person was involved in the Christmas Eve 1991 murder of Big Island newcomer Dana Ireland.
Suspect Shawn Schweitzer told police March 23 that only his brother Albert Ian Schweitzer and Frank Pauline Jr. attacked Ireland, 23, Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida said in court yesterday.
"Shawn Schweitzer, while present during these crimes, did not have any physical contact with Ms. Ireland," Ashida said later in a statement.
Schweitzer, 24, previously charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and kidnapping. He is to be sentenced May 9.
His plea agreement calls for five years' probation, which may be served on the mainland.
Pauline, 26, was tried earlier and is serving a 180-year sentence. Albert Ian Schweitzer, 28, is to be sentenced next Monday.
Schweitzer's truthfulness in his statement to police was confirmed by a lie detector test, Ashida's statement said.
"Shawn Schweitzer identified Pauline as the perpetrator of Ms. Ireland's sexual assault," the statement said.
Small amounts of semen were found on a hospital sheet where Ireland lay, seven years after her death, and small amounts of semen taken from her body were also discovered long after the attack.
Scientific testimony in Pauline's and Albert Ian Schweitzer's trials indicated it was not their semen, leading to a prosecution theory of a fourth attacker. "Given the small size of the semen sample, its age and degraded condition, the prosecution will ask forensic scientists to re-evaluate the integrity of the DNA test results," Ashida's statement said.
The statement revealed other details of the attack.
Albert Ian Schweitzer, who was driving a Volkswagen "bug," hit Ireland with it after Pauline said, "Run that f---in' bitch over," the statement said.
After pulling her into the car and taking her to remote Waawaa, Pauline raped her on the front passenger fender of the car. Shawn Schweitzer remained in the back seat of the car.
Pauline intended to throw Ireland in the ocean, but he dropped her in bushes and they all left in haste, according to Ashida's statement.
Dana Ireland Archive
