Dana Ireland
Felon charged in
Dana Ireland murder
The grand jury indicts a convict
By Rod Thompson
who had accused others
of the 1991 attack
Star-BulletinHILO -- A convicted robber and sex offender -- who once claimed he was present when others attacked Dana Ireland -- has been indicted on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and murder in her 1991 death. The Hawaii County grand jury brought the charges against Frank Pauline Jr. yesterday.
No corresponding charges were filed against two brothers, who Pauline said were the main perpetrators.
Hawaii County deputy prosecutors Charlene Iboshi and Lincoln Ashida, bound by legal rules, declined to provide an explanation following the grand jury action.
Ireland's father, John Ireland, contacted at his Virginia home, said he expected indictments of the other two suspects to come later.
"They're taking this one step at a time," he said. "They're still moving on this. They're not stopping."
After waiting six years for an indictment, both John Ireland and his wife, Louise, said the action yesterday brought little relief.
"We're numb," said Louise Ireland.
"I don't feel anything different," John Ireland added.
Ashida confirmed that a bench warrant was issued for Pauline's arrest, although he is already in state prison. Pauline is being held in lieu of $70,000 bail.
Ireland was 23 when she went for a bicycle ride in the rural Kapoho area on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1991.
Her broken bicycle, a shoe, and some of her hair were found just blocks from her home in Vacationland subdivision about 5:30 p.m. that day.
Ireland, severely injured, was found about 4:50 p.m. by a resident six miles away at Waawaa, an area that had no telephones.
The lack of communications, compounded by police and fire department confusion, resulted in medical help not reaching her until after dark. She died that night at Hilo Hospital.
Three years later, Pauline, then 21, gave a telephone interview to the Hawaii Tribune-Herald from the Maui Community Correctional Center in which he detailed Ireland's slaying.
Pauline reportedly said he had gone joyriding with two brothers, later identified as Albert Ian Makela Schweitzer, then 20, and Shawn Schweitzer, then 16. Pauline said he provided them with crack cocaine.
They drove past Ireland. Then the brother who was driving turned the Volkswagen bug around, deliberately struck her, and backed up over her again, Pauline reportedly said.
The three young men threw Ireland in the front-end trunk of the car, drove around while smoking more crack, then stopped and removed Ireland from the trunk, he said.
One of the brothers raped Ireland, hit her with a tire iron, and threatened Pauline, who said he was so sickened that he threw up.
Pauline said he later told police where to find the tire iron and a bag of clothes that were bloodied in the attack.
But two years later, while sitting outside a Hilo courtroom following a hearing on an unrelated charge of molesting a girl younger than 14, Pauline denied he was present during the attack.
Last month, reports surfaced that the prosecutor's office was attempting to have Shawn Schweitzer removed from the jurisdiction of the Family Court so he can be tried as an adult in the case.
Schweitzer's attorney Ira Leitel, bound by secrecy in Family Court matters, explained in general terms that a suspect remains under the jurisdiction of that court if he was a juvenile when a crime was committed, even if he is an adult now.
Leitel said Schweitzer had not been charged with any offense and is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Hilo attorney Brian De Lima said he represents Pauline in the pending unrelated sexual assault case, but doesn't know if he will represent Pauline on the Ireland charges.
John and Louise Ireland, both 73, said they knew action was coming because their daughter Sandy and her husband had been called to testify before the grand jury.
Police and prosecutors have been very thorough, John said. "They worked very hard in the last 21/2 years," Louise Ireland said.
"In my opinion, (deputy prosecutor) Charlene Iboshi would never go for an indictment if she wasn't sure of a conviction," John Ireland said.
The couple has no immediate plans to return to Hawaii. "I want to see how things are going," John Ireland said.
"It's the first step. It's going to take a lot of patience until this thing is settled. I know it's going to be difficult to get a jury empaneled," he said.
John predicted that the defense attorney will seek many delays in the case.
The Irelands are still attending a support group for parents whose children have been killed, they said.
"It never goes away," said Louise Ireland. "I would like to face (the killers)," she said.
"Maybe that would help."
She remembered the time of Dana's death, Christmas Eve.
"I can't imagine anyone doing that, especially at that time of year," she said.
