{"id":37590,"date":"2025-01-23T02:53:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T08:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=37590"},"modified":"2025-01-23T03:17:49","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T09:17:49","slug":"native-hawaiian-brothers-say-police-framed-them-for-a-tourists-murder-in-1991","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=37590","title":{"rendered":"Native Hawaiian brothers say police framed them for a tourist’s murder in 1991"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HONOLULU — Two Native Hawaiian brothers who were convicted in the 1991 killing of a woman visiting Hawaii allege in a federal lawsuit that local police framed them<\/a> \u201cunder immense pressure to solve the high-profile murder\u201d then botched an investigation last year that would have revealed the real killer using advancements in DNA technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Albert \u201cIan\u201d Schweitzer, who had been incarcerated for more than two decades for the killing of Dan Ireland, was released in 2023<\/a> based on new evidence. Ireland, 23, a tourist from Virginia, was visiting a remote part of the Big Island when she was found along a fishing trail, raped and beaten and barely alive. She died at a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schweitzer was one of three men who spent time behind bars over her killing, but he always maintained his innocence. His brother Shawn Schweitzer took a deal to plead guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping \u2014 and receive credit for about a year served and five years of probation \u2014 after a jury convicted his brother in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brothers’ lawsuit insists they \u201chad nothing to do with the crime\u201d and that investigators never found physical evidence linking them to Ireland\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu. It names as defendants Hawaii County, the county police chief, as well as former detectives and a prosecutor who handled the case. Both the county and the police chief say they won’t comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit alleges the misconduct continued into last year, when advancements in DNA technology led to the identification of a new possible suspect<\/a> who killed himself after police took a DNA swab from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police took no steps to arrest 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr., who lived less than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from where Ireland\u2019s body was found, even when they knew DNA connected him to the crime scene evidence, lawyers for the Schweitzers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead, Defendants released Mr. Lauro, allowing a man who had been hiding a secret for more than two decades to return home free to do whatever he wanted to do,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for claims including denying the brothers their constitutional right to due process, conspiracy and malicious prosecution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Harrison, one of the Honolulu attorneys for the brothers, said Wednesday a separate effort is ongoing to seek compensation from the state for their wrongful convictions. Ian Schweitzer is entitled to $50,000 for every year spent in prison as a result of his wrongful conviction, Harrison said, noting Shawn Schweitzer spent a year in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

abcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HONOLULU — Two Native Hawaiian brothers who were convicted in the 1991 killing of a woman visiting Hawaii allege in a federal lawsuit that local police framed them \u201cunder immense pressure to solve the high-profile murder\u201d then botched an investigation last year that would have revealed the real killer using advancements in DNA technology. Albert \u201cIan\u201d Schweitzer, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37591,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1154],"tags":[1180],"class_list":["post-37590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-residents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37592,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37590\/revisions\/37592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}