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Schweitzer
minimum term
expected soon
His attorney tells the parole
board he is being punished
for refusing a plea bargain
By Debra Barayuga
Star-BulletinA decision on the minimum term Albert Ian Schweitzer must spend in prison for the 1991 rape, beating and murder of Dana Ireland could be released as early as next week.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority met yesterday to hear oral arguments by Schweitzer's attorney, James Biven, and Hawaii County Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida. Schweitzer, incarcerated at Halawa Prison, did not attend the hearing.
Ashida asked that Schweitzer be ordered to serve 130 years -- 90 years for the life term he received and 20 years each for kidnapping and rape.
Ireland was run down while riding a bicycle in Kapoho, beaten, raped and left to die in an isolated area on Christmas Eve 1991. She died the next day.
Besides Schweitzer, his younger brother Shawn and Frank Pauline Jr. also were convicted in connection with Ireland's death.
She was a stranger to the men and what they did to her was "horrific -- no remorse," Ashida told parole board members Al Beaver and Mary Tiwanak. "There was absolutely no reason for any of this to happen."
Pauline Jr. was sentenced to two life terms and received a 180-year prison term from the parole board.
Shawn Schweitzer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping under a plea agreement with prosecutors and received a year in jail and five years' probation.While he was present during the attack, he maintained that he did not assault Ireland but did not stop his older brother and Pauline, and failed to report it.
Biven argued that his client was offered a plea bargain a year ago and now the state is punishing him for going to trial by asking for 130 years.
Schweitzer had the opportunity to acknowledge responsibility a year ago and failed to do so even until today, Ashida said.
Schweitzer and Pauline belong in prison, he said. "Where they are is where they deserve to be."
Dana Ireland Archive