Ireland defendant's progress noted
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Shawn Schweitzer, who was convicted of manslaughter and kidnapping for his part in the Dec. 24, 1991, rape and murder of Dana Ireland, has been commended by a Hilo judge for continuing to make progress while on probation.
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But it also was revealed that Schweitzer had received threats and that his car windows had been broken. At a compliance hearing yesterday, Circuit Judge Riki May Amano said she was satisfied with his conduct and she suggested he move to the Mainland after first finding a job.
Shawn Schweitzer is on probation.
Amano ordered him to return in a year for another compliance hearing.
Schweitzer was 16 at the time his older brother Albert Ian Schweit-zer and Franklin Pauline Jr. ran down the 23-year-old Ireland as she was riding her bicycle in lower Puna. They beat and raped her, leaving her near death off an unpaved road. She died on Christmas Day 1991.
Shawn Schweitzer said he did not assault Ireland but did nothing to stop the other two men and did not report the crime. As part of a plea agreement, he provided a detailed confession that implicated his brother and Pauline. The younger Schweitzer was sentenced to a year in jail and five years of probation to include curfews, regular drug testing and monthly visits to the probation office.
Albert Ian Schweitzer is serving a 130-year minimum term and Pauline a 180-year minimum term.
Reach Hugh Clark at (808) 935-3916.
