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Schweitzer sentenced
to 130-year termBy Rod Thompson
Big Island correspondentConvicted in February for the 1991 murder of Dana Ireland, Albert Ian Schweitzer must spend 130 years in prison before he can be considered for parole, the Hawaii Paroling Authority has decided.
Schweitzer, 29, could ask for reconsideration of the minimum after serving one-third of it, but even that would mean he couldn't seek such a change until he is 72 years old.
The Hawaii Paroling Authority set the minimum and notified Schweitzer and attorneys in the case this week, following a hearing last Friday.
Schweitzer, then 20, was the driver of a Volkswagen "beetle" which ran over Ireland, 23, on a rural Big Island road on Christmas Eve, 1991.
A passenger, Frank Pauline Jr., then 18, pulled Ireland into the car, and the men took her to a remote beach where Pauline raped and beat her and left her to die.
Schweitzer's brother, then 16, also a passenger, did not participate but also did nothing to help the victim.
Deputy Prosecutor Lincoln Ashida noted that the paroling authority granted what he asked for: 90 years for murder, and 20 years each for kidnapping and sexual assault charges. Judge Riki May Amano previously ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.
Pauline is serving a minimum term of 180 years.
Schweitzer's attorney James Biven argued that his client should have received a lighter sentence because he was less involved than Pauline. "Frank was the heavy. Frank did everything," Biven told the Star-Bulletin.
Biven noted the trial testimony of Schweitzer jailmate Michael Ortiz, who said Schweitzer told him he drove at Ireland planning only to scare her, but the car skidded and he hit her accidentally.
Shawn Schweitzer, in a statement to police after his brother's trial, said the car hit Ireland after Pauline urged his brother to "bang" her.
Both Pauline's and Albert Ian Schweitzer's cases are being appealed.
Shawn Schweitzer pleaded guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping. He was sentenced to a year in jail, which he had already spent waiting for trial, and is now serving five years probation.
Dana Ireland Archive