Episode Transcript
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Hi everyone, I'm investigative journalist and
0:02
park enthusiast Julia Diambra. And every
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week on my podcast, Park Predators,
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I take you into the heart
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of our world's most stunning locations
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to uncover what sinister crimes have
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unfolded in these serene settings. From
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unsolved murders to chilling disappearances, each
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Tuesday we dive deep into the
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details of cases that will leave
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you knowing sometimes the most beautiful
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places, hide the darkest secrets. Listen
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to park predators now, wherever
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ladies and gentlemen, too!
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The year 1995 has come to an
1:32
end, and as far as the
1:34
Ireland's are concerned, they're
1:36
no closer to getting justice
1:39
for their daughter. After the
1:41
new year, John and Louise
1:43
come back to the island
1:45
with a petition containing thousands
1:47
of signatures. So, police
1:49
take action. In January 1996,
1:52
they send the case to
1:54
prosecutors. despite the fact that
1:56
test results for Frank and
1:58
the Schweitzer brothers and a
2:00
few other potential suspects have
2:03
failed to show any connection
2:05
to Dana's murder. Oh yeah, we
2:07
all said D&A on their side,
2:09
it didn't matter. And by now,
2:11
detectives are tired of
2:13
Frank's countless changing stories,
2:16
but they think he knows too
2:18
many details to have made the
2:20
whole thing up. But there's a
2:22
problem for Frank. Though he expected
2:24
to be treated as a
2:27
witness after implicating the Schweitzer
2:29
brothers, he eventually realizes that
2:32
he's in potentially just as
2:34
much trouble as they are. So, he
2:37
changes his tune. The reason why
2:39
I said that, like I said,
2:41
the detectives really wanted me to
2:43
say, what they wanted me for
2:45
say. And I kind of... I
2:47
feel hurt for the family and
2:49
stuff, but these people... I don't
2:51
know what is the detectives... Throughout
2:54
1996, the Schweitzer brothers are trying
2:56
their best to maintain a normal
2:58
life. Not only have they been
3:00
living the past year. Throughout
3:02
1996, the Schweitzer brothers are
3:04
trying their best to maintain
3:06
a normal life. Not only
3:08
have they been living the
3:10
past year under a police
3:12
microscope, but thanks to Frank's
3:14
confession and his media tour
3:17
frenzy, the public has their
3:19
eyes on them too. And to the
3:21
islanders, these men... were bad news.
3:23
We had wanted dead posters.
3:26
Yeah, put up in Poho
3:28
town. The media, any time
3:30
we went to any little
3:32
thing came up, they ran it
3:34
in the front page. They ran
3:36
it in the front page.
3:38
I bet you go count how
3:41
much time it was in the
3:43
front page. You get about at
3:46
least 100. While the brothers want
3:48
nothing to do with the
3:51
spotlight. Frank wants everyone to
3:53
know his name and his
3:55
story. But his story isn't
3:57
what people are coming to
3:59
believe. They think he's just as
4:01
guilty as the Schweitzer brothers.
4:04
So Frank decides to call
4:06
up the one resource that
4:08
always seems to listen. The
4:10
media. It's time for him to
4:12
clear some things up, but not
4:14
just about his own involvement.
4:16
You know what I mean? I was
4:19
there at the wrong time, and
4:21
I know I was involved. That's
4:23
what I really wanted. Everybody for
4:25
no. Because right now everybody stay
4:27
here, you know, in any bad
4:29
publicity about me. They're making them
4:31
seem like I was involved When
4:34
they're wrong Were you in the
4:36
Volkswagen though with the Schweitzers at
4:38
any point? I was you know
4:40
a Fort Cavalier station wagon and
4:42
the detectives know that too. They
4:45
got verification on that So
4:47
basically as far as your
4:49
Connection within Ireland, what what
4:51
did you see? You saw her on
4:53
the road? What did you see? I
4:55
said again, they made me say a
4:57
lot of things they wanted for here.
4:59
It was mostly all fabrication,
5:02
I would say. I'm Amanda
5:04
Knox, and this is three. Chapter
5:25
Four, The Prison Priest. Frank
5:27
goes on to tell the reporter
5:30
that it's true that he
5:32
was there on Capojo-Kai Drive
5:34
when Dana Ireland was murdered,
5:36
but he wasn't there with the
5:38
Schweitzer brothers. He was there by
5:41
himself smoking crack cocaine. I
5:43
just seen these guys, you know
5:45
what I mean, what they was doing
5:47
and stuff. I never really do nothing.
5:49
I never know who full tell or
5:51
whatful say. I was more afraid for
5:53
myself and for my kids, so I
5:56
never did say anything about it. But
5:58
the thing is where I was. when
6:00
they came in, you know what I mean?
6:02
They dropped, they took the girl out of
6:04
the car and they threw her on the
6:07
ground and they was doing what they did
6:09
to her, you know what I mean, but...
6:11
Who did that? I cannot say the names,
6:13
but not in this moment, but they were
6:16
the one they did it anyway. But you're
6:18
saying it was somebody else, not the
6:20
people that are targeted in the
6:23
grand jury? No. When
6:25
investigators meet with Frank
6:27
at Oahu Prison on July
6:30
6th, 1996, after his public
6:32
recantation, he gives investigators this
6:34
new story and a new
6:37
name. But here's the thing. I
6:39
can walk you through each specific
6:41
detail of each of Frank's
6:43
stories, but that's all they are.
6:46
Stories. Stories that, according
6:48
to Ken Lawson of
6:50
the Hawaii Innocence Project,
6:52
Frank hoped he'd benefit from.
6:54
Remember, you got Mr. Island writing
6:56
U.S. senators, U.S. senators writing over
6:58
here to the governor, you got
7:00
letters from the governor, and so
7:03
you got all these letters from
7:05
high-ranking people asking the big island
7:07
police, and they're probably like, what are
7:09
you guys doing when you're going to
7:11
solve this crime? So it's that type
7:13
of pressure along with the victim's family,
7:16
obviously, but it's that type of pressure.
7:18
It's like, like, you've got to do
7:20
something. Frank wants a benefit or some
7:23
type of money on his books or
7:25
some type of you know package being
7:27
delivered or Visiting with his girlfriend and
7:30
stuff like that. He has to give
7:32
them more information Hey Frank
7:34
you want something you got to tell
7:36
us a little bit more about this
7:39
case. He eventually Walks himself into
7:41
the murder charge right now. This
7:43
is a night. I'm just a
7:45
witness. I don't know what you're
7:47
talking about. I saw this I'm being a
7:49
good inmate Frank Pauline even
7:51
calls Dana's father, John Ireland,
7:53
from prison to tell him,
7:56
quote, I know who really
7:58
killed your daughter. And
8:01
John tells investigators that
8:03
this conversation ended with
8:05
John telling Frank, quote,
8:07
you son of a bitch, I hope you rot
8:09
in jail, as he slammed down the
8:12
phone. Around the same time, while
8:14
Frank is serving a prison
8:16
sentence for another crime, he
8:18
is indicted for first degree
8:20
sexual assault against a minor
8:22
under 14 years old, back
8:25
in 1993. And police are
8:27
still receiving compelling tips. that
8:29
contradict the forensic results. A
8:31
woman even tells them that
8:34
Frank had once bitten her
8:36
in the same location where
8:38
the supposed bite mark was
8:40
found on Dana. All in
8:42
all police are feeling pretty
8:45
good about their chances with
8:47
Frank, but the Ireland's not
8:49
so much. My only purpose here
8:51
is to find the people that
8:54
did this to my daughter and
8:56
have them indicted. It would be
8:58
very difficult to convince the jury
9:00
that this guy is a good
9:02
witness with his background. I would
9:05
like to put enough pressure on
9:07
him over here to get indictments
9:09
in short order. It isn't going
9:11
on too long. We should get
9:14
some kind of answer this time,
9:16
because that's what we're over here
9:18
for. I think the people in
9:20
the state of Hawaii are upset,
9:22
and we're upset, and I'd like
9:24
to see it come to a
9:26
conclusion. A little more than five
9:28
and a half years after the
9:30
murder of Dana Ireland, on
9:32
July 29th, 1997, Frank
9:35
Pauline is indicted and
9:37
charged with second-degree murder,
9:40
first-degree sexual assault,
9:42
and kidnapping. But he's
9:45
not the only one. A couple
9:47
months later, on October 9th,
9:49
1997, Albert Ian Schweitzer
9:51
and Sean Schweitzer are
9:53
indicted on the same
9:55
charges as Frank. All three
9:58
of the men plead not. guilty.
10:00
While Frank has to wait
10:02
it out in prison, Ian
10:04
and Sean's parents do all
10:06
they can to make bail,
10:08
and part of the bail
10:10
agreement is everyone is placed
10:12
under a very strict gag order.
10:15
That was part of our term,
10:17
to get bail the first time,
10:19
is they put a gag order,
10:21
so we couldn't talk to any
10:23
political... We couldn't say we were
10:25
innocent. My mom said that one
10:28
time on the news and they
10:30
tried to put her in jail.
10:32
I've never heard of a fucking
10:34
gang order. I was like, what?
10:36
Isn't that your first amendment, right?
10:38
Is you freedom of speech? Supposed
10:40
to be able to say what
10:43
you defend yourself? You know, you
10:45
got to watch all these newspapers come
10:47
out and you can't even say anything
10:49
to defend yourself. It's like
10:52
that's having a tape on your mouth.
10:54
So they keep their mouths shut. for
10:56
the next six months as they
10:58
prepare for their day in court.
11:00
Ian and Sean's date is set
11:03
for April 6th 1998, while Frank
11:05
is supposed to go on trial
11:07
in January, but that
11:09
gets delayed until July 1998.
11:11
You may be wondering, why the
11:13
separate trials? This happens
11:16
more often than you might
11:18
think, especially when the
11:20
evidence implicating the suspects
11:22
is thin. In my case, My
11:25
boyfriend Raphaeli and I were
11:27
arrested early on after the
11:29
police coerced me into signing
11:31
statements which implicated myself, Raphaeli,
11:33
and my boss. I recanted those
11:36
statements hours later, once the
11:38
brutal police pressure was off.
11:40
And when the forensic evidence
11:42
came back two weeks later, it
11:44
all pointed to a local burglar
11:46
named Rudy Gide. Not a trace
11:48
of me, Raphaeli, or my boss.
11:50
Gadeh even said at first that
11:52
we weren't present at the crime
11:54
scene. But instead of going after
11:57
Gade alone, as they should have,
11:59
the police... doubled down on
12:01
their initial mistake and charged
12:03
all three of us with
12:06
the crime. Gade then changed
12:08
his story and pointed the
12:10
blame at me and Raphaeli.
12:12
If they tried us all
12:15
together, it would have been
12:17
easy for my defense to
12:19
show how all the evidence
12:21
pointed to Gadei as the
12:24
sole killer. So instead, Gadei
12:26
was tried separately and was
12:28
convicted in a fast-track trial
12:30
with no opportunity for my
12:33
defense to cross-examine him. Raffale
12:35
and I were then tried
12:37
together, where prosecutors could take
12:39
Gide's role as a judicial
12:42
fact and build their case
12:44
against us from there. Something
12:46
similar happened with the Schweitzer
12:48
brothers. By trying them separately
12:51
from Frank, it would be
12:53
harder for the Schweitzer's defense
12:55
to cast doubt on Frank,
12:58
the sole witness against them,
13:00
and a potential failure to
13:02
convict Frank wouldn't necessarily tank
13:04
the prosecution's chances of convicting
13:07
them. So the trial dates
13:09
were set and the prosecution
13:11
began preparing its cases. Ian
13:13
and Sean would have to
13:16
prepare as well. So what
13:18
happened is when they first
13:20
brought the indictment, the court
13:22
appointed a set of lawyers
13:25
to represent Ian, Sean and
13:27
Frank Pauline. That's Keith Shigatomi.
13:29
who took over as Sean's
13:31
counsel in March of 1998.
13:34
The court went through great
13:36
legs to make sure that
13:38
the attorneys that were appointed
13:40
were quality attorneys and that
13:43
the court could trust that
13:45
they were going to provide
13:47
good, well not good. I
13:50
mean, superior representation to the
13:52
three of them, then what
13:54
happened was, was the attorneys.
13:56
were selected and then they
13:59
qualified Sean's lawyer who was
14:01
highly regarded. And then we
14:03
want to disqualify some of
14:05
these attorneys. So I think
14:08
they moved to disqualify Frank's
14:10
lawyer who was well regarded
14:12
and then they qualified Sean's
14:14
lawyer who was highly regarded.
14:17
You know, I was a
14:19
lawyer in private practice in
14:21
Honolulu. I've been practicing criminal
14:23
defense for a number of
14:26
years. I had a lot
14:28
of high profile cases and
14:30
the court called me and
14:32
asked me if I would
14:35
consider. But, you know, typically
14:37
when the court points someone,
14:39
they simply will call the
14:41
attorney, ask the attorney, hey,
14:44
are you available? Will you
14:46
accept the case? But in...
14:48
Sean's case before that even
14:51
happened, the court called and
14:53
well, the staff called and
14:55
said, you know, judge would
14:57
like to interview you and
15:00
talk to you before she
15:02
makes a decision on who
15:04
she's actually going to a
15:06
point. It's always better to
15:09
have good lawyers involved because
15:11
there's less mistakes made and
15:13
it saves time and money
15:15
in the future. So, I
15:18
mean, that's kind of how
15:20
that went and the court
15:22
called me in Honolulu and
15:24
asked me to represent Sean
15:27
and so you know that's
15:29
the kind of steps that
15:31
were taken in this case
15:33
which typically doesn't happen because
15:36
I you know the court
15:38
saw the significance and magnitude
15:40
of the case. Then in
15:42
March Sean and Ian's individual
15:45
legal teams receive some shocking
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new information from the Hawaii
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defense team learns that DNA tests
17:21
were done on the seamen found
17:23
on the vaginal swabs and on
17:25
the hospital gurney that brought Dana
17:28
Ireland into the ER. And neither
17:30
Frank, Ian, nor Sean, were a
17:32
match. And so we're talking to
17:34
them and I asked them, well,
17:37
what are you guys going to
17:39
do about this DNA result? And
17:41
they said, you know, there's all
17:44
this, my game's going on. It's
17:46
like, nothing. I said, what do
17:48
you mean nothing? And so I
17:51
told Oscar, well, I guess then
17:53
you won't mind that, uh, I
17:55
said in the most. to dismiss
17:57
and we have the DNA result
18:00
attached to it and all of
18:02
a sudden the prosecutor starts swearing
18:04
you know what the fuck did
18:07
you do that for you know
18:09
what a fuck you know it's
18:11
like well you told me you
18:14
don't care so what's the problem
18:16
I mean that's what I'm doing
18:18
I'm finding a motion to dismiss
18:20
and it's like but just calm
18:23
down you know I said I'm
18:25
willing to call the court and
18:27
say, hey, don't file this motion,
18:30
because there obviously at that point
18:32
nobody, there's no public knowledge of
18:34
it, and so now all of
18:37
a sudden everybody's going to find
18:39
out that the DNA doesn't match.
18:41
And so I said, but you
18:43
know, if you're willing to give
18:46
me something for it, I'll call
18:48
the court and say, don't file
18:50
the motion, just hold on to
18:53
it. What do you want? What
18:55
the case dismissed? It's
18:57
October of 1998 and Ian and
19:00
Sean's trials are about to start
19:02
when a dramatic ruling upends the
19:04
entire case against the Schweitzer brothers.
19:07
And a couple days later they
19:09
came back and they said, okay,
19:11
we'll dismiss. And so that added
19:14
another tremendous twist to the case
19:16
because we go to court, nobody's
19:18
expecting it and all of a
19:21
sudden the state follows this notice
19:23
of dismissal. And now the public's
19:26
even more like, well, the heck
19:28
is going on in this case.
19:30
It's to everyone's surprise that the
19:33
judge grants the request and the
19:35
charges against Ian and Sean are
19:37
dropped. The brothers are free now,
19:40
but in the court of public
19:42
opinion, they are anything but. I
19:44
mean, the public was in an
19:47
outrage at that point because without
19:49
notice, here they are dismissing the
19:51
case and everyone sent ahead, you
19:54
know, these... inept. Prosecutors or police
19:56
are screwing. up again. And so,
19:58
you know, that was a sacrifice
20:01
that or concession that we were
20:03
willing to make because, you know,
20:05
we were built under the impression
20:08
that they're not going to try
20:10
this case again with the DNA
20:12
doesn't match. Now in Frank's situation,
20:15
a little different story because Frank
20:17
says I did this, I did
20:19
that and so you want to
20:22
try Frank, go ahead. But Ian
20:24
and Sean, no way. But
20:27
the door is still open
20:29
for retrial if new evidence
20:32
emerges. And a merge, it
20:34
does. For example, the bite
20:36
mark analysts decides to change
20:38
his initial findings, saying he
20:40
can't exclude Frank Ian or
20:42
Sean as the source of
20:45
the bite mark. It's amazing.
20:47
Even the bite mark, I
20:49
mean, bite mark, isn't even
20:51
a bite mark. bite mark
20:53
evidence is just crazy crazy
20:55
but people believe it bite
20:58
mark evidence is now thoroughly
21:00
debunked as junk science but
21:02
back in 1998 it held
21:04
sway with experts with judges
21:06
and with juries this twist
21:08
with the bite mark evidence
21:11
is a bad sign for
21:13
Ian and Sean but even
21:15
so their defense is not
21:17
convinced that the prosecution can
21:19
make a case out of
21:22
it alone, given the clear
21:24
lack of DNA and physical
21:26
evidence tying the three to
21:28
the murder. But one thing
21:30
I've learned, in a high-profile
21:32
homicide investigation, it's not just
21:35
the freedom of the accused
21:37
on the line, but also
21:39
the reputations and egos of
21:41
prosecutors and law enforcement. Nobody
21:43
likes to be wrong. and
21:45
especially not with so many
21:48
people watching. And so, it's
21:50
no surprise that with egg
21:52
on their face after dropping
21:54
the charges against the Schweitzer
21:56
brothers... the prosecution was willing
21:58
to find whatever scrap of
22:01
evidence they could to prove
22:03
they had been right all
22:05
along. By May of 1999,
22:07
Ian and Sean Schweitzer face
22:09
a renewed indictment for kidnapping,
22:12
sexual assault, and murder. But
22:14
the legal language this time
22:16
includes the phrase with others,
22:18
hinting at the involvement of
22:20
Frank and a potential fourth
22:22
person who Frank alluded to
22:25
Frank alluded to in the
22:27
past. The inclusion of this
22:29
detail in the indictment gives
22:31
prosecutors flexibility when addressing the
22:33
DNA discrepancy before the jury.
22:35
Even though it doesn't match
22:38
any of the three men
22:40
on trial, they can claim
22:42
it belongs to this fourth
22:44
mystery accomplice and that the
22:46
lack of a match doesn't
22:48
prove the innocence of Frank,
22:51
Ian, or Sean. Again, this
22:53
is similar to what happened
22:55
with my case. Though all
22:57
the DNA evidence pointed to
22:59
Rudy Gide, he was convicted
23:02
in his own trial of
23:04
committing the crime with others.
23:06
And that was used to
23:08
implicate me and Raphaeli, and
23:10
excuse the obvious absurdity that
23:12
we'd somehow participated in a
23:15
violent murder without leaving any
23:17
traces of ourselves at the
23:19
scene. But the bite mark
23:21
isn't enough. The prosecution needs
23:23
more. And they find what
23:25
they're looking for. in a
23:28
man named Mike Ortees. Like
23:30
many people at the center
23:32
of this story, Jailhouse informant
23:34
Mike Ortees is only several
23:36
degrees of separation away from
23:38
Sean and Ian Schweitzer, even
23:41
though they've never met him.
23:43
And Mike has plenty to
23:45
gain from implicating the Schweitzer
23:47
brothers, just like John Gonzolves
23:49
and his family. Now keep
23:52
in mind, Gonzales once that
23:54
$25,000. reward money.
23:56
And so you can only get
23:58
if at least to a conviction.
24:00
So remember he gets Frank to
24:03
call in to say, hey man,
24:05
talk about the slices and get
24:07
mom and dad, get mom and
24:10
the family off the cocaine. So
24:12
Frank do it, they get indicted.
24:14
Then the indictment gets dismissed and
24:17
there goes, John's 25 G's. So
24:19
now John's calling her T's. They
24:21
say, hey man, right? So now
24:24
they get indicted again. And you'll
24:26
see the letters in there from
24:28
Gonzales talking about, you know, if
24:31
you can pay the money to
24:33
my aunt or something. Gonzales even
24:35
writes a letter to the Ireland's
24:38
about the reward money, sharing the
24:40
financial, physical, and mental struggles he
24:42
and his family have been through.
24:44
To avoid being accused of acting
24:47
in self-interest, he asks that the
24:49
check be made out to his
24:51
aunt. The Ireland's don't reply, but
24:54
forward the letter to the prosecutor's
24:56
office. But beyond the money, which
24:58
he doesn't get by the way.
25:01
Rumor inside the prison is that
25:03
deals are being handed out left
25:05
and right, and that this particular
25:08
deal is the best deal out
25:10
there. They already came to the
25:12
conclusion in their mind that we're
25:15
going to railroad the Switzer brothers,
25:17
and that's it. And we're going
25:19
to give John Gonzales his immunity
25:22
and his mother the immunity, and
25:24
that's it. And we're going to
25:26
let Mike Ortiz out of jail
25:28
again. So the prosecutors and the
25:31
detectives, they're all right sleeping at
25:33
night with an innocent man dying
25:35
in prison. They're all right with
25:38
that. I don't know why, you
25:40
know, so important for giving this
25:42
guy this deal, especially when they
25:45
came after me and Sean a
25:47
second time. This scenario isn't just
25:49
speculative. Incentivized informants, aka jailhouse snitches.
25:52
are one of the leading causes
25:54
of wrongful convictions. Advocates have repeatedly
25:56
warned against offering incentives to informants,
25:59
since it creates enormous motivation for
26:01
inmates. like Mike Ortiz to give
26:03
false testimony and evidence. Yet such
26:06
incentivized testimony is relied upon in
26:08
court to this day. He's like
26:10
the prison priest, but he just
26:12
happens to wear stripes instead of
26:15
the white collar. Net
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34:29
In a case fraught with
34:31
complexity and emotion, and with
34:34
local and international pressure for
34:36
a conviction, conflicting expert testimonies
34:38
further muddy the waters, leaving
34:40
the jury tasked with unraveling
34:42
the tangled web of evidence.
34:45
The defense opened its case
34:47
with testimony from forensic experts
34:49
from the FBI, who examined
34:51
Harris on a bloody t-shirt
34:54
that prosecutors say belonged to
34:56
Pauline. The FBI also examined
34:58
hairs found on some underwear
35:00
and Ireland socks, comparing them
35:02
with DNA from Ireland, Pauline,
35:05
and the Schweitzers. Therefore, Albert
35:07
Schweitzer, Sean Schweitzer, Louise Ireland,
35:09
including maternal relatives of Louise
35:11
Ireland, Dane Ireland, and Frank
35:13
Pauline Jr. can be eliminated
35:16
as the source of the
35:18
hairs from the Q2 underwear.
35:20
The hair from the Q-12
35:22
t-shirt and the hair from
35:24
the Q-1920 victim's socks. Now
35:27
the jury has yet another
35:29
week's worth of evidence to
35:31
help make a decision was
35:33
Frank Pauline Jr. on that
35:36
secluded trail with Dana Ireland.
35:38
Dana's family are called to
35:40
testify early in the trial,
35:42
offering emotional testimony about Dana
35:44
and the events that happened
35:47
back on Christmas Eve 1991.
35:49
As Sandy's voice chokes up,
35:51
one of the jurors wipes
35:53
away tears from her eyes.
35:55
Dana's mom Louise also takes
35:58
the stand. And I called
36:00
him and I said, a
36:02
watch, broken watch. And I
36:04
knew something really bad had
36:06
happened. I never saw her
36:09
again alive or dead. I
36:11
never saw her again. Dana's
36:13
mom Louise also takes the
36:15
stand. And I called him
36:17
and I said, Joan, you
36:20
better come, Dana, this is
36:22
like, right? came down and
36:24
she died right after that.
36:26
Ida Smith, who says she
36:29
found Dana at the fishing
36:31
trail, is also emotional in
36:33
her testimony. And it wouldn't
36:35
stop. Help me, help me,
36:37
help me, and I think,
36:40
well, the voice was very
36:42
faint, that's why I thought
36:44
it was a little girl.
36:46
I heard the cop crying,
36:48
so I said, I'm coming,
36:51
you know, just where are
36:53
you? I stopped looking. She
36:55
had nothing on her. The
36:57
lineup of witnesses includes three
36:59
different prison inmates. And her
37:02
shirt looked like it, someone
37:04
had grabbed it and tore
37:06
off her like that. So
37:08
I got hold of her
37:11
own, you know, and I
37:13
said, let me help her.
37:15
She said to scream. Okay.
37:17
And I thought, I thought,
37:19
because I didn't want to
37:22
hurt her. The lineup of
37:24
witnesses includes three different prison
37:26
inmates. all with a story
37:28
to tell about how Frank
37:30
had run his mouth in
37:33
prison telling them about his
37:35
involvement in Dana's murder. Shannon
37:37
Thumper Rodriguez was serving two
37:39
life sentences for a double
37:41
murder and Jeffrey Alfonso was
37:44
in on a drug conviction
37:46
and Shane Kobayashi on sexual
37:48
assault. Kobayashi's sentence of up
37:50
to 15 years was reduced
37:53
to three. The same day...
37:55
Members of the Pauline family
37:57
testify. Frank's girlfriend, the mother
37:59
of two of his children,
38:01
Carla Figueroa takes the stand
38:04
and shares that she and
38:06
her grandmother heard Frank confess
38:08
over a 1994 prison phone
38:10
call. And you had seen
38:12
him, had seen him wearing
38:15
that shirt before the Dana
38:17
Arlen. Yes. Did Frank Holly
38:19
tell you he didn't want
38:21
to tell you about the
38:23
Dana Arlen case? Yes. And
38:26
why did you tell you
38:28
that? She goes
38:30
on to recount the moment
38:32
she saw damning evidence on
38:34
television. A large shirt she
38:36
had washed that she knew
38:38
Frank war and was bloody
38:40
was now on the news
38:42
linked to Ireland's death. Multiple
38:44
witnesses would echo her realization.
38:47
To some, like Cliff Hunt,
38:49
the large shirt was obviously
38:51
too small for Frank's stocky
38:53
torso. Ken Lawson agrees. Remember,
38:55
the prosecutor in both trials
38:57
hung his hat on that
38:59
Jimmy Z.T.shirt. This is Frank
39:01
Pauline's T-shirts. You have a
39:03
witness to say that this
39:05
is his Jimmy Z.T.shirt. And
39:07
it's at the scene. It
39:09
has Dana's blood on it.
39:11
You get to see pictures
39:13
on the autopsy. They've got
39:15
to pay for this. And
39:17
so that passion, that anger,
39:19
right, can cloud a factual
39:21
analysis. That was like, I
39:23
think, either a medium. I
39:26
mean, Frank was a huge
39:28
dude, man. It should have
39:30
been like when I was
39:32
older. It was so much
39:34
blood on you. But it
39:36
should have just tried to
39:38
put it on. He probably
39:40
couldn't get it around his
39:42
head, you know what I
39:44
mean? If it don't fit,
39:46
right? But so it's physical
39:48
evidence, like, this guy doesn't
39:50
wear it. That size teacher,
39:52
I mean, a huge guy.
39:54
That wasn't enough. Under cross-examination,
39:56
Charlotte Figueroa says Pauline told
39:58
her he did it to
40:00
help his stepbrother, John Gonzolves.
40:02
Finally, Frank Pauline decides to
40:05
take the stand, still dressed
40:07
in a nice shirt, tie,
40:09
and glasses. My name is
40:11
Frank, Raymond, Pauline Jr. The
40:13
truth is I couldn't remember
40:15
because I was in there.
40:17
So when they came that
40:19
first time, you were really
40:21
ready for him. No, because
40:23
I only knew certain bits
40:25
and pieces from the news
40:27
from what I see on
40:29
TV and from what people
40:31
tell me. Frank admits, I
40:33
am a liar on the
40:35
stand. He says, I figured
40:37
I could at least do
40:39
that for my brother, after
40:41
all the stuff he done
40:44
for me. Love is powerful,
40:46
Cliff. That's all I can
40:48
say. Love is powerful, man.
40:50
In a passing shot furthering
40:52
the family drama of it
40:54
all. Frank Pauline also says
40:56
that he was planning to
40:58
implicate his half-brother, Wayne Gonzales,
41:00
as the fourth participant in
41:02
the killing, which of course
41:04
lined up perfectly with what
41:06
the police and prosecutors had
41:08
been floating to. Having done
41:10
so many not-so-great things already
41:12
in his young life, the
41:14
possibility of Frank convincing the
41:16
jury that this time he
41:18
was a liar was a
41:20
tall mountain to climb. He
41:23
says on the stand I
41:25
may be dumb, but I
41:27
didn't kill anybody. And yet,
41:29
jurors deliberate for roughly 14
41:31
hours, and despite DNA and
41:33
bite mark evidence failing to
41:35
tie Frank to the murder,
41:37
they find Frank Pauline guilty
41:39
of murder in the second
41:41
degree, kidnapping and sexual assault
41:43
in the first degree. Jurors
41:45
say his confession played a
41:47
crucial role in his conviction.
41:49
despite the fact Ian and
41:51
Sean did not confess ahead
41:53
of their trial. With Frank
41:55
now convicted, things aren't looking
41:57
too good for them. Ian's
41:59
trial is next, but he
42:02
and their families struggle to
42:04
find the right defense attorneys.
42:06
So his parents mortgaged your
42:08
house and stuff like that
42:10
and got him a very
42:12
good paid attorney. And so
42:14
what the prosecutor did was
42:16
they gave him the witness
42:18
list and used a lot
42:20
of the attorneys' former clients
42:22
and said they're going to
42:24
be witnesses. They never called
42:26
them, right? So now that
42:28
attorney has to recuse. Well,
42:30
by the time he recuses,
42:32
he's done enough work to
42:34
where he can't return, he's
42:36
not returning to feet. So
42:38
then he's gone to get
42:41
more money, higher, second attorney,
42:43
prosecuted, does it again. I
42:45
can tell you from experience
42:47
that a high-quality defense is
42:49
expensive. Members of my family
42:51
had to take out second
42:53
mortgages and cash out retirement
42:55
accounts to pay for my
42:57
defense. I was fortunate that
42:59
the lawyers my parents found
43:01
were able to stand by
43:03
me for eight years of
43:05
trials. Ian, by contrast, was
43:07
eventually left with no choice
43:09
but to rely on a
43:11
public defender. This was just
43:13
100% malicious, intentional. Intentional. They
43:15
intentionally made sure I ended
43:17
up with the worst attorney
43:20
in the state of Hawaii.
43:22
And how did they do
43:24
that? They put 480 witnesses
43:26
on the witness list. to
43:28
conflict every decent attorney out
43:30
of the state of Hawaii.
43:32
So I ended up with
43:34
an attorney who was sleeping
43:36
under the table during my
43:38
trial. You know, recess. We
43:40
go to the back room.
43:42
This guy goes under the
43:44
table. When they call him,
43:46
I kick him. Hey, let's
43:48
go. It's time. It was
43:50
bad. Yeah. He did nothing.
43:52
Yeah. When we, this first
43:54
started going down, they gave
43:56
me an awesome lawyer. I
43:59
relital. There was nobody on
44:01
that child court fucking a
44:03
term. Yeah, thanks the prosecution's
44:05
meddling, the Schweitzer's case was
44:07
hampered by one of the
44:09
other leading causes of wrongful
44:11
convictions, inadequate defense counsel. The
44:13
Innocence Project cites a 2022
44:15
study from the American Bar
44:17
Association, showing that funding for
44:19
public defenders, quote, would have
44:21
to increase threefold in order
44:23
to meet the standard of
44:25
effective counsel guaranteed by the
44:27
Sixth Amendment. Saddled with a
44:29
poor defense, any defendant is
44:31
more likely to take a
44:33
plea deal, and the prosecution
44:35
knows that. So just before
44:38
the trial, Ian is offered
44:40
a deal, one that is
44:42
tempting compared to a potential
44:44
sentence of life in prison,
44:46
especially after witnessing Frank's fate.
44:48
But Ian resists. Twenty years
44:50
probation. And then I rejected
44:52
it. And then became 10
44:54
years probation. And I told
44:56
him I didn't do it.
44:58
I think most lawyers would
45:00
have said, you know, take
45:02
it. Even the end. The
45:04
10 or 20 years, it's
45:06
like, well, I think I
45:08
can beat this. The problem
45:10
is, when we talk about
45:12
the system, it's just not
45:14
the prosecutors and the police
45:17
are at fault, right? It's
45:19
the lawyer that's supposed to
45:21
be, you know, making sure
45:23
that the police and prosecutors
45:25
are doing their job. And
45:27
if they haven't, then you
45:29
got to bring that the
45:31
light. Ian has no reason
45:33
to agree. He's innocent. I
45:35
would have done the same.
45:37
Of course, we were both
45:39
naive in trusting that the
45:41
justice system would deliver a
45:43
just outcome. In his opening
45:45
statement, prosecutors Lincoln Ashita and
45:47
Charlene Iboshi paint a gruesome
45:49
picture of the attack and
45:51
describe Dana's attempt to fight
45:53
back. While informant Mike Ortiz
45:56
corroborates this, stating that Ian
45:58
witnessed the struggle and said
46:00
that there was blood everywhere.
46:02
Ian's attorney James Bivin argues
46:04
it's improbable. Here's a voiceover
46:06
actor reading some of James
46:08
Bivin's arguments from the trial
46:10
transcripts. John Gonzales sees Frank
46:12
Pauline, Ian Schweitzer, and Sean,
46:14
and this fourth person at
46:16
his mom's house that Christmas
46:18
Eve. He's talking to them.
46:20
He's standing five to six
46:22
feet away from them. He
46:24
sees no blood on Frank
46:26
Pauline's hands, face, arms, body,
46:28
clothes. He sees no blood
46:30
on Ian, no blood on
46:32
Sean. If you believe Michael
46:35
Ortiz's story that Miss Ireland
46:37
bit Frank's hand or arm
46:39
and the blood from Frank
46:41
was going all over the
46:43
place, one would expect to
46:45
find some kind of blood
46:47
or injury on Frank's hand.
46:49
The testimony of the medical
46:51
people, all of the medical
46:53
people in this case, and
46:55
a view of the blood-stained
46:57
blue t-shirt, shows that Miss
46:59
Ireland was bleeding a lot.
47:01
With that much blood, one
47:03
would expect to see blood
47:05
on Frank Pauline's body, hands,
47:07
especially his pants. You would
47:09
also expect to see blood
47:11
in the Volkswagen. The prosecution
47:14
argues that it's obvious that
47:16
the VW Bug was the
47:18
vehicle that matched the treadmarks
47:20
found at the scene, and
47:22
that Ian, Sean and Frank
47:24
were together and using substances
47:26
that day before they decided
47:28
to kidnap, sexually assault, and
47:30
murder Dana Ireland. Ian's attorney
47:32
mentions that the date of
47:34
when Ian purchased the Volkswagen
47:36
is fuzzy. And again, even
47:38
today, Ian swears he didn't
47:40
get that vehicle until after
47:42
the incident. Ian's defense begs
47:44
the jury to look closely
47:46
at the evidence as DNA
47:48
still excludes the three men,
47:50
to think of John's motive
47:53
in his accusations. and he
47:55
calls out inconsistencies in the
47:57
state's claims about how the
47:59
VW supposedly hit the bike.
48:01
the intentional with the folks
48:03
lying, the malicious, like
48:05
so dirty, like they
48:07
knew it wasn't the
48:10
car, the detectives.
48:12
They knew it, like based
48:14
on the length with
48:16
tire tread, you know, of
48:19
the vehicle. But they
48:21
were willing to go along
48:23
with Charlie Naboshi
48:25
and Lincoln Ashita's.
48:29
We tried to connect with Lincoln
48:31
Ashita, but after the DNA
48:33
didn't match, and we'll find whose
48:35
DNA it is, you know what
48:37
I mean? Instead of just not
48:39
coming after us, after the DNA
48:41
didn't match, and we'll find whose
48:43
DNA it is before you come
48:46
after anybody. We tried to connect
48:48
with Lincoln Ashita, but after
48:50
going back and forth via
48:52
email with him, he decided
48:55
he didn't want to go
48:57
on the record. Charleney Bosci
48:59
also did not answer any
49:02
of our contact requests. So
49:04
despite attempts to discredit the
49:07
prosecution's narrative, Ian's attorney, James
49:09
Bivens, appears to be disengaged
49:12
throughout the trial, to say
49:14
the least. Bivens also does
49:17
not present key evidence or
49:19
cross-examined prosecution witnesses, not uncommon
49:22
with overworked public defenders. leaving
49:24
Ian vulnerable and undermined in
49:26
his defense strategy. It was
49:28
our lawyers that found the
49:31
DNA too. Absolutely. Yeah. There was our
49:33
lawyers that found the DNA. He wasn't
49:35
trying to solve it. He never did
49:37
a murder trial. No. But there was
49:39
nobody else because they conflict them all
49:42
out. And so when you look at
49:44
the ineffective assistance to counsel, like I
49:46
said, that that lawyer didn't present the
49:48
evidence, right? The evidence of the tire.
49:51
I mean, the police department took the
49:53
measurements. So right and they have to
49:55
admit these are the measurements we took
49:58
and if you match these measurements up
50:00
with a Volkswagen, there's no match.
50:02
There's no way it could be
50:04
a match, right? That was never
50:07
presented to the jury. Coming up
50:09
on three. They reindited us on
50:11
a jailhouse informant. Yeah. So back
50:14
then, rape, the sex crime had
50:16
a statute of limitations. And so
50:18
at the time that the DNA
50:20
came back and they had dismissed,
50:23
I think it was six months
50:25
left on the statute of limitations
50:27
for them to recharge at the
50:30
rate. So you go back to
50:32
those documents, you'll see that the
50:34
prosecutor is getting desperate. So now
50:37
the indictments are dismissed. Prosecutor is
50:39
calling Sean's lawyer, trying to come
50:41
to the grand jury and tell
50:43
on end. I mean, Sean's lawyer,
50:46
like, there's nothing to tell, right?
50:48
And so finally, Gonzales, John, contacts
50:50
Ortiz. One jailhouse informant is stronger
50:53
than DNA. Mike Ortiz had a
50:55
child who had John Gonzales wife
50:57
in high school. This guy is
50:59
a known jailhouse informant and that's
51:02
the prosecutor's number one man. That's
51:04
next in Chapter 5, which you
51:06
can listen to next week. My
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yours at samsung.com. Compatible with common video
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formats accessible and gallery helps minimize 6
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select sounds for results theory. Galaxy AI
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features Samsung free through 2025. This
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is Fresh Step's strongest litter ever, giving your litter box
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30 days of odor control. Step it up to Fresh
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Step with the new heavy duty litter. Three times claim
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based on fecal malater versus the leading regular
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clumping litter. Strongest litter ever is based on
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odor control. The breeze is used under license
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from the Procter and Gamble Company ords. affiliates.
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