The Prison Priest | Chapter 4

Transcript

Speaker 1 Hi, I'm Kylie Lowe, host of Dark Down East, a true crime podcast unlike any other. Why? Because every case I cover comes from the heart of my home, New England.

Speaker 1 From the rocky main coast to the historic streets of Boston to the quiet corners of Vermont and beyond, I investigate stories filled with untold twists, enduring questions, and voices that deserve to be heard.

Speaker 1 So if you're ready to explore the darker side of New England, join me every week for Dark Down East. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 2 The most wanted, odd parjam intense ten unarma magnetic momentum. Deliciously seductor with notas de Toffee y madera zambar.

Speaker 2 Forever wanted elixir, convinced notas de cuero y framuestas con elgancia intensidar. Es la confience embotellada.
Elixito favorito o regala te los twos. Descubre hazaro y esta temporada be wanted.

Speaker 3 Compraya.

Speaker 4 If you're a smoker or dipper ready to make a change, you really only need one good reason.

Speaker 6 But with Zen nicotine pouches, you'll discover many good reasons.

Speaker 8 Zen is America's number one nicotine pouch brand.

Speaker 10 Plus, Zen offers a robust rewards program.

Speaker 8 There are lots of options when it comes to nicotine satisfaction, but there's only one Zen.

Speaker 9 Check out zin.com slash find to find Zin at a store near you.

Speaker 5 Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

Speaker 11 The year 1995 has come to an end. And as far as the Irelands are concerned, they're no closer to getting justice for their daughter.

Speaker 11 After the new year, John and Louise come back to the island with a petition containing thousands of signatures. So, police take action.

Speaker 11 In January 1996, they send the case to prosecutors, despite the fact that test results for Frank and the Schweitzer brothers and a few other potential suspects have failed to show any connection to Dana's murder.

Speaker 12 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 13 We all said DNA on our side.

Speaker 14 It didn't matter.

Speaker 11 And by now, detectives are tired of Frank's countless changing stories, but they think he knows too many details to have made the whole thing up. But there's a problem for Frank.

Speaker 11 Though he expected to be treated as a witness after implicating the Schweitzer brothers, he eventually realizes that he's in potentially just as much trouble as they are.

Speaker 11 So he changes his tune.

Speaker 15 The reason why I said that, like I said,

Speaker 15 the detectives really wanted me for say what they wanted me for say.

Speaker 15 And I kinda, I mean, I feel hurt hurt for the family and stuff, but these people, I don't know what is the detectives, them, what is their problem, but, you know what I mean?

Speaker 15 They told me what for say, so I said,

Speaker 15 I just say what they wanted me for say.

Speaker 11 Throughout 1996, the Schweitzer brothers are trying their best to maintain a normal life.

Speaker 11 Not only have they been living the past year under a police microscope, But thanks to Frank's confession and his media tour frenzy, the public has their eyes on them too and to the islanders these men were bad news

Speaker 13 we had wanted dead posters

Speaker 13 yeah put up in in pohotown

Speaker 13 the the media anytime we went to any little thing came up they ran it in the front page they ran it in the front page

Speaker 13 I bet you will count how much times it was in the front page. You had about at least 100.

Speaker 11 while the brothers want nothing to do with the spotlight frank wants everyone to know his name and his story but his story isn't what people are coming to believe they think he's just as guilty as the schweitzer brothers so frank decides to call up the one resource that always seems to listen the media It's time for him to clear some things up, but not just about his own involvement.

Speaker 15 You know what I mean? I was there at the wrong place. You know what I mean? At the wrong time, and I was involved.

Speaker 15 That's what I really wanted. Everybody for know.

Speaker 15 Because right now everybody stay hearing, you know, me, bad publicity about me. They making them seem like I was involved when they wrong.

Speaker 17 Were you in the Volkswagen, though, with the Schweitzers at any point?

Speaker 15 I was in a Fort Cavalier station wagon. And the detectives know that, too.
They got verification on that.

Speaker 17 So basically, as far as your connection with Dana Dana Ireland, what did you see? You saw her on the road?

Speaker 16 What did you see?

Speaker 15 Oh, no, see, there was,

Speaker 15 I can say it again, they made me say a lot of things they wanted for here. It was mostly all fabrication, I would say.

Speaker 11 I'm Amanda Knox, and this is three.

Speaker 11 Chapter 4 The Prison Priest

Speaker 11 Frank goes on to tell the reporter that it's true that he was there on Kapohokai Drive when Dana Ireland was murdered. But he wasn't there with the Schweitzer brothers.

Speaker 11 He was there by himself, smoking crack cocaine.

Speaker 15 I just seen these guys, you know what I mean, what they was doing and stuff. stuff.
I never really do nothing. I never know who for tell or what for say.

Speaker 15 I was more afraid for myself and for my kids, so I never did say anything about it.

Speaker 15 But the thing is, where I was when they came in, you know what I mean, they dropped the, they took the girl out of the car and they threw her on the ground and they was doing what they did to her, you know what I mean?

Speaker 17 But who did that?

Speaker 15 I cannot say their names, but not at this moment. But

Speaker 15 they were the one that did it

Speaker 17 But you're saying it was somebody else, not the people that are targeted in the grand jury.

Speaker 19 No.

Speaker 11 When investigators meet with Frank at Oahu prison on July 6th, 1996, after his public recantation, he gives investigators this new story and a new name. But here's the thing.

Speaker 11 I can walk you through each specific detail of each of Frank's stories, but that's all they are.

Speaker 11 Stories.

Speaker 11 Stories that, according to Ken Lawson of the Hawaii Innocence Project, Frank hoped he'd benefit from.

Speaker 12 Remember, you got Mr. Island writing, U.S.
senators, U.S. senators are writing over here to the governor.
You got letters from the governor.

Speaker 12 And so you got all these letters from high-ranking people asking Big Island police and they're probably like, what are you guys doing?

Speaker 12 When you're going to solve this crime. So it's that type of pressure along with the, you know, the victim's family, obviously, but it's that type of pressure.
It's like, look, you got to do something.

Speaker 12 And so so they eventually, each time Frank wants a benefit or some type of money on his books or some type of, you know, package being delivered or visiting with his girlfriend and stuff like that, he has to give them more information.

Speaker 12 Hey, Frank, you want something? You got to tell us a little bit more about this case. He eventually walks himself into the murder charge, right? Now, right? So it goes out.
I'm just a witness.

Speaker 12 I don't know. Hey, man, I don't know what you're talking about.
I saw this. I'm being a good inmate.

Speaker 11 One night, Frank Pauline even calls Dana's father, John Ireland, from prison to tell him, quote, I know who really killed your daughter.

Speaker 11 And John tells investigators that this conversation ended with John telling Frank, quote, you son of a bitch, I hope you rot in jail, as he slammed down the phone.

Speaker 11 Around the same time, while Frank is serving a prison sentence for another crime, he is indicted for first-degree sexual assault against a minor under 14 years old back in 1993.

Speaker 11 And police are still receiving compelling tips that contradict the forensic results.

Speaker 11 A woman even tells them that Frank had once bitten her in the same location where the supposed bite mark was found on Dana. All in all, police are feeling pretty good about their chances with Frank.

Speaker 11 But the Irelands, not so much.

Speaker 17 My only purpose here is to find the people that did this to my daughter and have them

Speaker 3 indicted.

Speaker 20 It would be very difficult to convince the jury that this guy

Speaker 20 is a good witness with his background. I would like to put enough pressure on him over here to

Speaker 20 get indictments

Speaker 20 in short order. This has been going on too long.

Speaker 17 We should get some kind of answer this time,

Speaker 17 because that's what we over here for.

Speaker 20 I think the people in the state of Hawaii are upset. And we're upset.

Speaker 20 I'd like to see it come to a conclusion.

Speaker 11 A little more than five and a half years after the murder of Dana Ireland, on July 29th, 1997, Frank Pauline is indicted and charged with second-degree murder, first-degree sexual assault, and kidnapping.

Speaker 11 But he's not the only one.

Speaker 11 A couple months later, on October 9th, 1997, Albert Ian Schweitzer and Sean Schweitzer are indicted on the same charges as Frank.

Speaker 11 All three of the men plead not guilty. While Frank has to wait it out in prison, Ian and Sean's parents do all they can to make bail.

Speaker 11 And part of the bail agreement is everyone is placed under a very strict gag order.

Speaker 12 That was

Speaker 13 part of our

Speaker 13 term to get bail the first time is they put a gag order so we couldn't talk to any

Speaker 13 political policy.

Speaker 18 We couldn't say we were innocent. Yeah.

Speaker 13 My mom said that one time on the news and they threatened to put her in jail. I've never heard of a fucking gag order.

Speaker 14 I was like, what?

Speaker 13 Isn't that your First Amendment right?

Speaker 13 It's freedom of speech. You're supposed to be able to say what you defend yourself.

Speaker 13 You know, you gotta watch all these newspaper come out and you can't even say anything to defend yourself. It's like

Speaker 13 having a tape on your mouth.

Speaker 11 So they keep their mouths shut for the next six months as they prepare for their day in court.

Speaker 11 Ian and Sean's date is set for April 6th, 1998, while Frank is supposed to go on trial in January, but that gets delayed until July 1998.

Speaker 11 You may be wondering, why the separate trials? This happens more often than you might think, especially when the evidence implicating the suspects is thin.

Speaker 11 In my case, my boyfriend Raffaele and I were arrested early on after the police coerced me into signing statements which implicated myself, Raffaele, and my boss.

Speaker 11 I recanted those statements hours later, once the brutal police pressure was off. And when the forensic evidence came back two weeks later, it all pointed to a local burglar named Rudy G'day.

Speaker 11 Not a trace of me, Raffaele, or my boss. G'day even said at first that we weren't present at the crime scene.

Speaker 11 But instead of going after G'det alone, as they should have, the police doubled down on their initial mistake and charged all three of us with the crime.

Speaker 11 G'day then changed his story and pointed the blame at me and Raffaele.

Speaker 11 If they'd tried us all together, it would have been easy for my defense to show how all the evidence pointed to G'day as the sole killer.

Speaker 11 So instead, G'day was tried separately and was convicted in a fast-track trial with no opportunity for my defense to cross-examine him.

Speaker 11 Raffaele and I were then tried together, where prosecutors could take G'day's role as a judicial fact and build their case against us from there.

Speaker 11 Something similar happened with the Schweitzer brothers.

Speaker 11 By trying them separately from Frank, it would be harder for the Schweitzer's defense to cast doubt doubt on Frank, the sole witness against them.

Speaker 11 And a potential failure to convict Frank wouldn't necessarily tank the prosecution's chances of convicting them.

Speaker 11 So the trial dates were set, and the prosecution began preparing its cases. Ian and Sean would have to prepare as well.

Speaker 22 So, what happened is when they first brought the indictment,

Speaker 22 the court appointed a set of lawyers to represent Ian Sean

Speaker 22 and Frank Pauline.

Speaker 11 That's Keith Shigatomi, who took over as Sean's counsel in March of 1998.

Speaker 22 The court went through great lengths to

Speaker 22 make sure

Speaker 22 that the attorneys that were appointed were quality attorneys and that the court could trust that they were going to provide

Speaker 22 good, well, not good, I mean, superior representation to the three of them.

Speaker 22 Then what happened was,

Speaker 22 once the attorneys were selected and were representing Frank, Ian, and Sean, the prosecutor started saying, well, you know, we want to disqualify some of these attorneys.

Speaker 22 So I think they moved to disqualify Frank's lawyer, who was well regarded.

Speaker 22 And then they disqualified Sean's lawyer, who was highly regarded.

Speaker 22 And, you know, I was a lawyer in private practice in Honolulu. I had been practicing criminal defense for a number of years.
I had a lot of high-profile cases.

Speaker 22 And the court called me and asked me if I would consider. But, you know, typically when the court appoints someone, they simply will call the attorney, ask the attorney, hey, are you available?

Speaker 22 Will you accept the case?

Speaker 22 But in Sean's case, before that even happened, the court called and, well, the staff called and said, you know, judge, I'd like to interview you and meet, talk to you before she makes a decision on who she's actually going to appoint.

Speaker 22 It's always better to have good lawyers involved because there's less mistakes made and it saves time and money in the future. So, I mean, that's kind of how that went.

Speaker 22 And the court called me in Honolulu and asked me to represent Sean.

Speaker 22 And so, you know, that's the kind of steps that were taken in this case, which typically doesn't happen because, you know, the court saw the significance and magnitude of the case.

Speaker 11 Then in March, Sean and Ian's individual legal teams receive some shocking new information from the Hawaii District Attorney.

Speaker 23 If you could stop a home break-in before it starts, why wouldn't you? Traditional home security systems only respond after a break-in. SimplySafe is different.

Speaker 23 With their active guard outdoor protection, you can prevent crimes before they happen. AI-powered cameras detect threats while they're still outside your home and alert real security agents.

Speaker 23 They confront the intruder, letting them know they're being watched on camera and that police are on their way, and even even sounding a loud siren and triggering a spotlight if needed.

Speaker 23 Anyone who knows apartment living knows that sometimes putting a bunch of holes in the walls is not ideal.

Speaker 23 But with SimplySafe, I had the option to mount the entire system in my apartment without even one nail or screw.

Speaker 23 The setup was so easy, and I know that when it's time for me to upgrade to a larger home, it will be just as easy to pack up and take with me.

Speaker 23 Plus, SimplySafe is designed to grow with me, which means that as my home security needs grow, so will my system. Don't miss out on SimplySafe's biggest sale of the year, 60% off.

Speaker 23 Right now, our listeners can save 60% off on a SimplySafe home security system at simplysafe.com slash three. That's simply safe.com slash thre.

Speaker 23 There's no save like SimplySafe.

Speaker 3 The 2026 Chevy Equinox is more than an SUV. It's your Sunday tailgate and your parking lot snack bar.

Speaker 19 Your lucky jersey, your chairs, and your big cooler fit perfectly in your even bigger cargo space.

Speaker 19 And when it's go time, your 11.3-inch diagonal touchscreen's got the playbook, the playlist, and the tech to stay a step ahead. It's more than an SUV.
It's your Equinox.

Speaker 19 Chevrolet, together let's drive.

Speaker 11 The defense team learns that DNA tests were done on the semen found on the vaginal swabs and on the hospital gurney that brought Dana Ireland into the ER.

Speaker 11 And neither Frank, Ian, nor Sean were a match.

Speaker 22 And so we're talking to them and I asked them, well, what are you guys going to do about this DNA result?

Speaker 22 And they said,

Speaker 22 you know, there's all this mind gaze going on. It's like, nothing.
I said, what do you mean nothing? And so I told prosecutor, well, I guess then you won't mind that

Speaker 22 I sent in the motion to dismiss, and we have the DNA result attached to it. And all of a sudden,

Speaker 22 prosecutor starts swearing. You know, what the fuck did you do that for?

Speaker 22 You know, what the fuck? You know, it's like, well, you told me you don't care. So what's the problem? I mean, that's what I'm doing.
I'm finding a motion to dismiss.

Speaker 22 And it's like,

Speaker 22 but just calm down. down, you know.
I said,

Speaker 22 I'm willing to call the court and say, hey, don't file this motion,

Speaker 22 because they're obviously at that point, nobody, there's no public knowledge of it. And so now, all of a sudden, everybody's going to find out that the DNA doesn't match.

Speaker 22 And so I said, but you know, if you're willing to give me something for it, I'll call the court and say, don't file the motion, just hold on to it.

Speaker 22 What do you want?

Speaker 22 Want the case dismissed?

Speaker 11 It's October of 1998, and Ian and Sean's trials are about to start when a dramatic ruling upends the entire case against the Schweitzer brothers.

Speaker 22 And a couple of days later, they came back and they said, okay, we'll dismiss.

Speaker 22 And so that added another tremendous twist to the case because we go to court, nobody's expecting it, and all of a sudden the state files this notice of dismissal.

Speaker 22 and now the public's even more like what the heck is going on in this case

Speaker 11 it's to everyone's surprise that the judge grants the request and the charges against ian and sean are dropped the brothers are free now but in the court of public opinion they are anything but

Speaker 22 i mean the public was in an outrage at that point because without notice here they are dismissing the case and everyone's saying hey you know these inept prosecutors or police are screwing up again.

Speaker 22 And so, you know, that was a sacrifice that or concession that we were willing to make because

Speaker 22 we were under the impression that they're not going to try this case again with the DNA doesn't match.

Speaker 22 Now, in Frank's situation, you got a little different story because Frank says, I did this, I did that. And so, you want to try Frank? Go ahead.

Speaker 22 But, Ian and Sean, no way.

Speaker 11 But the door is still open for retrial if new evidence emerges. And emerge it does.

Speaker 11 For example, the bite mark analysts decides to change his initial findings, saying he can't exclude Frank, Ian, or Sean as the source of the bite mark.

Speaker 13 It's amazing.

Speaker 13 Even the bite mark, I mean, bite mark isn't even a bite mark.

Speaker 12 The only true science is DNA. The rest of this stuff, bite bite mark evidence, is just crazy.
Crazy. But people believe it.

Speaker 11 Bite mark evidence is now thoroughly debunked as junk science. But back in 1998, it held sway with experts, with judges, and with juries.

Speaker 11 This twist with the bite mark evidence is a bad sign for Ian and Sean.

Speaker 11 But even so, their defense is not convinced that the prosecution can make a case out of it alone, given the clear lack of DNA and physical evidence tying the three to the murder.

Speaker 11 But one thing I've learned, in a high-profile homicide investigation, it's not just the freedom of the accused on the line, but also the reputations and egos of prosecutors and law enforcement.

Speaker 11 Nobody likes to be wrong, and especially not with so many people watching.

Speaker 11 And so, it's no surprise that with egg on their face after dropping the charges against the Schweitzer brothers, the prosecution was willing to find whatever scrap of evidence they could to prove they had been right all along.

Speaker 11 By May of 1999, Ian and Sean Schweitzer face a renewed indictment for kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder.

Speaker 11 But the legal language this time includes the phrase, with others, hinting at the involvement of Frank and a potential fourth person who Frank alluded to in the past.

Speaker 11 The inclusion of this detail in the indictment gives prosecutors flexibility when addressing the DNA discrepancy before the jury.

Speaker 11 Even though it doesn't match any of the three men on trial, they can claim it belongs to this fourth mystery accomplice.

Speaker 11 and that the lack of a match doesn't prove the innocence of Frank, Ian, or Sean.

Speaker 11 Again, this is similar to what happened with my case. Though all the DNA evidence pointed to Rudy Gadet, he was convicted in his own trial of committing the crime with others.

Speaker 11 And that was used to implicate me and Raffaele and excuse the obvious absurdity that we'd somehow participated in a violent murder without leaving any traces of ourselves at the scene.

Speaker 11 But the bite mark isn't enough. The prosecution needs more.
And they find what they're looking for in a man named Mike Ortiz.

Speaker 11 Like many people at the center of this story, jailhouse informant Mike Ortiz is only several degrees of separation away from Sean and Ian Schweitzer, even though they've never met him.

Speaker 11 And Mike has plenty to gain from implicating the Schweitzer brothers, just like John Gonzales and his family.

Speaker 12 Now keep in mind too, Gonzales wants that $25,000.

Speaker 12 Reward money. And so you can only get it if it leads to a conviction.

Speaker 12 So remember, he gets Frank to call in to say, hey, man, talk about the slices and get mom and dad, get mom and the family off the cocaine. So Frank do it.
They get indicted.

Speaker 12 Then the indictment gets dismissed and there goes John's 25Gs. So now John's calling or T's.
They say, hey, man, right? So now they get indicted again.

Speaker 12 And you'll see the letters in there from Gonzales talking about, you know, if you can pay the money to my aunt or something.

Speaker 11 Gonzalves even writes a letter to the Irelands about the reward money, sharing the financial, physical, and mental struggles he and his family have been through.

Speaker 11 To avoid being accused of acting in self-interest, he asks that the check be made out to his aunt. The Irelands don't reply, but forward the letter to the prosecutor's office.

Speaker 11 But beyond the money, which he doesn't get by the way. Rumor inside the prison is that deals are being handed out left and right and that this particular deal is the best deal out there.

Speaker 18 They already came to the conclusion in their mind that we're going to railroad the Schweitzer brothers and that's it.

Speaker 18 And we're going to give John Gonzales his immunity and his mother the immunity and that's it.

Speaker 18 And we're going to let Mike Ortiz out of jail again.

Speaker 18 So the prosecutors and the detectives, they're all right

Speaker 18 sleeping at night with an innocent man dying in prison. They're all right with that.

Speaker 18 I don't know why it was so important to give this guy this deal, especially when he came after me and Sean the second time.

Speaker 11 This scenario isn't just speculative. Incentivized informants, aka jailhouse snitches, are one of the leading causes of wrongful convictions.

Speaker 11 Advocates have repeatedly warned against offering incentives to informants since it creates enormous motivation for inmates like Mike Ortiz to give false testimony and evidence.

Speaker 11 Yet such incentivized testimony is relied upon in court to this day.

Speaker 12 He's like the prison priest, but he just happens to wear stripes instead of the white collar.

Speaker 9 Check out Zen.com slash find to find Zen at a store near you.

Speaker 24 Score holiday gifts everyone wants for way less at your Nordstrom rack store. Save on UGG, UGG, Nike, Rag and Bone, Vince, Frame, Kurt Geiger London, and more.

Speaker 12 Because there's always something new.

Speaker 11 I'm giving all the gifts this year with that extra 5% off when I use my Nordstrom credit card.

Speaker 7 Santa, who?

Speaker 24 Join the Nordy Club at Nordstrom Rack to unlock our best deals. It's easy.
Big gifts, big perks. That's why you rack.

Speaker 11 With no physical evidence tying any of the men to Dana's murder and the DNA excluding them, Mike Ortiz could be the trigger the prosecution needs to push their case to trial.

Speaker 11 So investigators go speak with him.

Speaker 21 Okay, today is Monday, May 17,

Speaker 21 and it's 10.38 Hawaii time.

Speaker 21 And we're in Minnesota, which is five hours ahead.

Speaker 21 This is a

Speaker 21 video interview of, what is your full and correct name? Michael Wayartes.

Speaker 11 They speak with Mike in Minnesota, where he is being held for theft charges. This isn't the first time they have spoken with him, though.

Speaker 11 They got his initial statement over a phone call a few days earlier. Today's visit is to verify all that information one last time in person.

Speaker 21 Michael, on May 5th, 1999, we had a video conferencing

Speaker 21 you from Honolulu to Minnesota. Do you remember that video conference? Yes.

Speaker 21 We asked you questions about the Dana Ireland case and you provided us with information which we recorded on audio tape. Do you remember us doing that?

Speaker 26 Yes.

Speaker 21 Is the information that you gave us on the audio tape true and correct to the best of your knowledge?

Speaker 26 Yes.

Speaker 21 Do you remember who you got that information from?

Speaker 26 Yes.

Speaker 21 Who gave you that information?

Speaker 26 Ian Sweitzer.

Speaker 21 At what area or when did he give you that information?

Speaker 26 Somewhere on August of last year, 98, in Hilo Joe.

Speaker 21 That's Hilo Jail? Yes.

Speaker 22 Okay.

Speaker 21 Have I promised you

Speaker 21 or anybody from my office promised you anything

Speaker 21 in exchange for the information that you gave us on May 5th over the video conference?

Speaker 26 No.

Speaker 14 Okay.

Speaker 21 Michael, are you willing to testify in the

Speaker 21 Ireland case

Speaker 21 should the case go to trial?

Speaker 26 Yes.

Speaker 21 It is now 1041

Speaker 21 and end of this

Speaker 21 tape recorded session.

Speaker 11 Three other inmates also come forward, all jailhouse informants and all anxious to cut their own deals in exchange for information they claim to have.

Speaker 11 Information that can be easily conveyed to them because Dana's case is widely known inside and outside the prison walls by this point.

Speaker 11 After investigators talk with Mike and these other informants, it's official. The case against Sean Schweitzer, Ian Schweitzer, and Frank Pauline Jr.
will move forward. For the second time.

Speaker 11 And oh, that line from the investigator, have I promised you anything in exchange for this information?

Speaker 11 Well,

Speaker 11 actions speak louder than words.

Speaker 27 In exchange for his testimony, Ortiz is expected to be placed in protective custody and have his 15-year sentence reduced.

Speaker 27 Prosecutors allegedly played his tape testimony for defense attorneys when they offered the brothers a plea agreement last month.

Speaker 28 It's frightening that that's all they have against my son. Lack of,

Speaker 28 there's no physical evidence. So now they're going into the jails and offering deals or making deals with convicted felons.

Speaker 28 And my sons are paying for it.

Speaker 11 After their renewed indictment, the Schweitzer brothers are sent back to jail. Technically, together.

Speaker 18 I was never a cellmate with him.

Speaker 12 Yeah.

Speaker 18 Hilo, you locked down 23, 24 hours. So if it's raining, there's no wrecks of 24 hours.

Speaker 12 You lock that cell.

Speaker 18 And that's the majority of our time.

Speaker 13 I think I did like six months on the ground, 23 hours lockdown in Hilo jail.

Speaker 18 Shit on the ground.

Speaker 13 Because of the overpopulation, populated.

Speaker 13 You get two guys on a bunk and one guy on the ground. And you're in there 23 hours a day.

Speaker 11 They are both held with no bail under strict order to avoid contact with the roughly 300 witnesses involved in the case. By July 1999, several politicians' offices in both Hawaii and Washington, D.C.

Speaker 11 have become accustomed to the flood of letters from John and Louise Ireland, who remain committed to getting justice for their daughter.

Speaker 11 The pressure is everywhere, and things are now at a boiling point as Frank Pauline Jr.'s trial begins on July 21st.

Speaker 11 Prosecutor Charlene Iboshi lays out the gruesome details of what they believed happened that day.

Speaker 29 Stana Arlen,

Speaker 30 riding on a bicycle that day,

Speaker 30 was struck by the defendant and his friends off her bicycle, taken from

Speaker 30 the stat scene. She was beaten,

Speaker 30 struck,

Speaker 30 disabled, and just thrown away into the bushes. But his conscience would not undo what Frank Pauline and what his friend did to her.

Speaker 11 Sitting at the defense table, observers note a marked change in Frank Pauline's appearance. Gone is the tough guy facade.

Speaker 11 In its place, Frank exudes warmth and looks just like another guy in glasses and a button-up shirt, his tattoos barely visible above his collar.

Speaker 11 The defense, led by Cliff Hunt, leans on two key points as their arguments.

Speaker 11 That Frank's confessions to police were false and that the physical evidence, mainly the DNA, does not support any of the three men being part of this.

Speaker 30 So Frank Pauline was obviously lying, but Frank Pauline will testify Detective Guillermo pressed him. Oh, come on, you must have done something.
You and whacked the girl?

Speaker 30 And finally, Frank Pauline says, well, what do you want me to say? Is that what you want me to say? Okay, I hit her.

Speaker 30 But the sperm DNA did not match Frank Pauline Jr.'s known DNA because he provided a sample, did not match Sean Schweitzer's known DNA profile, and did not match Ian Schweitzer's known DNA profile.

Speaker 30 They were all excluded.

Speaker 11 In a case fraught with complexity and emotion, and with local and international pressure for a conviction, conflicting expert testimonies further muddy the waters, leaving the jury tasked with unraveling the tangled web of evidence.

Speaker 31 The defense opened its case with testimony from forensic experts from the FBI who examined hairs on a buddy t-shirt that prosecutors say belonged to Pauline.

Speaker 31 The FBI also examined hairs found on some underwear and Ireland socks, comparing them with DNA from Ireland, Pauline, and the Schweitzers.

Speaker 32 Therefore, Albert Schweitzer, Sean Schweitzer,

Speaker 32 Louise Ireland, including maternal relatives of Louise Ireland, Dane Ireland, and Frank Pauline Jr.

Speaker 32 can be eliminated as the source of the hairs from the Q2 underwear,

Speaker 32 the hair from the Q12 t-shirt, and the hair from the Q19-20 victim sock.

Speaker 31 Now the jury has yet another week's worth of evidence to help make a decision. Was Frank Pauline Jr.
on that secluded trail with Dana Ireland?

Speaker 11 Dana's family are called to testify early in the trial, offering emotional testimony about Dana and the events that happened back on Christmas Eve, 1991.

Speaker 11 As Sandy's voice chokes up, one of the jurors wipes away tears from her eyes.

Speaker 33 I saw the hair, a lock of her hair on the road and her shoe and

Speaker 33 a watch, broken watch.

Speaker 33 And I knew something really bad had happened. I never saw her again,

Speaker 33 alive or

Speaker 33 dead. I never saw her again.

Speaker 11 Dana's mom, Louise, also takes the stand.

Speaker 34 And I called him and I said, John, you better come. Dana, this is life threaten.

Speaker 11 Come down here.

Speaker 34 So he came down and she died right after that.

Speaker 11 Ida Smith, who says she found Dana at the fishing trail, is also emotional in her testimony.

Speaker 16 And it wouldn't stop.

Speaker 16 Help me, help me. And I said, Where? The voice was very faint.
That's why I thought it was another girl.

Speaker 25 I heard the cop crying, so I said, I'm coming, you know, I just swear I

Speaker 25 stopped looking.

Speaker 16 She had nothing on.

Speaker 25 Her jeans were, she had cut off jeans and they were down around her ankle.

Speaker 25 And her shirt looked like someone had grabbed it and tore it off her like that.

Speaker 25 So I got hold of her arm, you know, and I said, Let me help you up. And she started to scream

Speaker 25 in the pain.

Speaker 11 The lineup of witnesses includes three different prison inmates, all with a story to tell about how Frank had run his mouth in prison telling them about his involvement in Dana's murder.

Speaker 11 Shannon Thumper Rodriguez was serving two life sentences for a double murder, and Jeffrey Alfonso was in on a drug conviction. and Shane Kobayashi on sexual assault.

Speaker 11 Kobayashi's sentence sentence of up to 15 years was reduced to three.

Speaker 11 The same day, members of the Pauline family testify.

Speaker 11 Frank's girlfriend, the mother of two of his children, Charla Figueroa, takes the stand and shares that she and her grandmother heard Frank confess over a 1994 prison phone call.

Speaker 29 And you had seen him... had seen him wearing that shirt before the Dana Arlen case?

Speaker 22 Yes.

Speaker 27 Did Frank Pauline tell you he didn't want to tell you about the Dana Ireland case?

Speaker 25 Yes.

Speaker 27 And why did he tell you that?

Speaker 22 He said he's protecting me and my kids.

Speaker 29 It's better for you not to know.

Speaker 22 Yes.

Speaker 11 She goes on to recount the moment she saw damning evidence on television. A large shirt she had washed that she knew Frank wore and was bloody was now on the news linked to Ireland's death.

Speaker 11 Multiple witnesses would echo her realization.

Speaker 11 To some, like Cliff Hunt, the large shirt was obviously too small for Frank's stocky torso. Ken Lawson agrees.

Speaker 12 Remember, the prosecutor in both trials hung his hat on that Jimmy Z t-shirt. This is Frank Pauline's t-shirt.
You have witnesses say that this is his Jimmy Z t-shirt. And it's at the scene.

Speaker 12 It has Dana's blood on it.

Speaker 12 You get to see pictures on the automatic, see the broken pelvic, and then the man rapes it, right?

Speaker 12 And everybody's in the courtroom and the guy sitting over there, somebody got to pay for this. And so that passion, that anger, right, can cloud a factual analysis.

Speaker 12 That was like, I think either a medium. I mean, Frank was a huge dude, man.

Speaker 12 It should have been like one of those older and with so much blood on it. But he should have just tried to put it on.
He probably couldn't have got it around his head. You know what I mean?

Speaker 12 If it don't fit, right? But so there's physical evidence like, this guy doesn't wear

Speaker 12 that size t-shirt. I mean, huge guy.
But that wasn't enough.

Speaker 11 Under cross-examination, Charlotte Figueroa says Pauline told her he did it to help his stepbrother, John Gonzalves.

Speaker 11 Finally, Frank Pauline decides to take the stand, still dressed in a nice shirt, tie, and glasses.

Speaker 35 My name is Frank Raymond Pauline Jr. The truth is I couldn't remember because I wasn't there.

Speaker 30 So when they came that first time, you weren't really ready for them?

Speaker 35 No, because I only knew certain bits and pieces from the news, from what I see on TV and from what people tell me.

Speaker 11 Frank admits I am a liar on the stand. He says, I figured I could at least do that for my brother after all the stuff he done for me.

Speaker 11 Love is powerful, Cliff. That's all I can say.
Love is powerful, man.

Speaker 11 In a passing shot furthering the family drama of it all, Frank Pauline also says that he was planning to implicate his half-brother, Wayne Gonzalves, as the fourth participant in the killing, which of course lined up perfectly with what the police and prosecutors had been floating to.

Speaker 11 Having done so many not-so-great things already in his young life, the possibility of Frank convincing the jury that this time he was a liar was a tall mountain to climb.

Speaker 11 He says on the stand, I may be dumb, but I didn't kill anybody.

Speaker 11 And yet, jurors deliberate for roughly 14 hours, and despite DNA and bite mark evidence failing to tie Frank to the murder, they find Frank Pauline guilty of murder in the second degree, kidnapping, and sexual assault in the the first degree.

Speaker 11 Jurors say his confession played a crucial role in his conviction.

Speaker 11 Now, despite the fact Ian and Sean did not confess ahead of their trial, with Frank now convicted, things aren't looking too good for them.

Speaker 11 Ian's trial is next, but he and their family struggle to find the right defense attorneys.

Speaker 12 So his parents mortgaged their house and stuff like that and got him a very good paid attorney.

Speaker 12 And so what the prosecutor did was they gave him the witness list and used a lot of the attorney's former clients and said they're going to be witnesses. They never called him, right?

Speaker 12 So now that attorney has to recuse. Well, by the time he recuses, he's done enough work to where he can't return it.
He's not returning the fee.

Speaker 12 So then they scrounge up more money, hire a second attorney. Prosecutor does it again.

Speaker 11 I can tell you from experience that a high-quality defense is expensive. Members of my family family had to take out second mortgages and cash out retirement accounts to pay for my defense.

Speaker 11 I was fortunate that the lawyers my parents found were able to stand by me for eight years of trials. Ian, by contrast, was eventually left with no choice but to rely on a public defender.

Speaker 18 This was just 100% malicious, intentional, intentional. They intentionally

Speaker 18 made sure I ended up with the worst attorney in the state of Hawaii. And how did they do that? They put 480 witnesses on the witness list to conflict every decent attorney out of the state of Hawaii.

Speaker 18 So I ended up with an attorney who was sleeping under the table during my trial. You know, in recess, we go to the back room.
This guy goes under the table. When they call in, I kick them.

Speaker 18 Hey, let's go. It's time.

Speaker 3 It was bad.

Speaker 8 Yeah.

Speaker 18 He did nothing.

Speaker 13 Yeah. When this first started going down, they gave me an awesome lawyer, Ira Leitel, and there was nobody on that child court fucking attorney.

Speaker 11 Thanks to the prosecution's meddling, the Schweitzer's case was hampered by one of the other leading causes of wrongful convictions, inadequate defense counsel.

Speaker 11 The Innocence Project cites a 2022 study from the American Bar Association showing that funding for public defenders, quote, would have to increase threefold in order to meet the standard of effective counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment.

Speaker 11 Saddled with a poor defense, any defendant is more likely to take a plea deal, and the prosecution knows that. So just before the trial, Ian is offered a deal.

Speaker 11 One that is tempting compared to a potential sentence of life in prison, especially after witnessing Frank's fate. But Ian resists.

Speaker 18 20 years probation.

Speaker 18 And then I rejected it. And then they came 10 years probation.

Speaker 18 And I told him I didn't do it.

Speaker 12 I think most lawyers would have said, you know, take it. Even in the end, the 10 or 20 years, it's like, well, I think I can beat this.
The problem is...

Speaker 12 When we talk about the system, it's just not the prosecutors and the police that are at fault, right?

Speaker 12 It's the lawyer that's supposed to be, you know, making sure that the police and prosecutors are doing their job. And if they haven't, then you got to bring that to light.

Speaker 11 Ian has no reason to agree. He's innocent.
I would have done the same. Of course, we were both naive in trusting that the justice system would deliver a just outcome.

Speaker 11 In his opening statement, prosecutors Lincoln Ishida and Charlene Iboshi paint a gruesome picture of the attack and describe Dana's attempt to fight back.

Speaker 11 While informant Mike Ortiz corroborates this, stating that Ian witnessed the struggle and said that there was blood everywhere, Ian's attorney, James Biven, argues it's improbable.

Speaker 11 Here's a voiceover actor reading some of James Biven's arguments from the trial transcripts.

Speaker 36 John Gonsalves sees Frank Pauline, Ian Schweitzer, and Sean, and this fourth person at his mom's house that Christmas Eve. He's talking to them.
He's standing five to six feet away from them.

Speaker 36 He sees no blood on Frank Pauline's hands, face, arms, body, clothes. He sees no blood on Ian.
No blood on Sean.

Speaker 36 If you believe Michael Ortiz's story that Miss Ireland bit Frank's hand or arm and the blood from Frank was going all over the place, one would expect to find some kind of blood or injury on Frank's hand.

Speaker 36 The testimony of the medical people, all of the medical people in this case, and a view of the blood-stained blue t-shirt shows that Miss Ireland was bleeding a lot.

Speaker 36 With that much blood, one would expect to see blood on Frank Pauline's body, hands, especially his pants. You would also expect to see blood in the Volkswagen.

Speaker 11 The prosecution argues that it's obvious that the VW bug was the vehicle that matched the treadmarks found at the scene, and that Ian, Sean, and Frank were together and using substances that day before they decided to kidnap, sexually assault, and murder Dana Ireland.

Speaker 11 Ian's attorney mentions that the date of when Ian purchased the Volkswagen is fuzzy. And again, even today, Ian swears he didn't get that vehicle until after the incident.

Speaker 11 Ian's defense begs the jury to look closely at the evidence as DNA still excludes the three men, to think of John's motive in his accusations.

Speaker 11 And he calls out inconsistencies in the state's claims about how the VW supposedly hit the bike.

Speaker 18 The

Speaker 18 intentional

Speaker 18 with the Volkswagen, the malicious, like so dirty,

Speaker 18 like they knew it wasn't the car, the detectives.

Speaker 18 They knew it, like based on

Speaker 18 the length, width, tire tread

Speaker 18 you know of the vehicle but they were willing to go along with charlene igoshi and lincoln ishida's fake big lie story to get john guns off the deal the immunity i don't know why why it was so important to give this guy immunity You know what I mean?

Speaker 18 Instead of just not coming after us after the DNA didn't match and go find whose DNA it is before you come after anybody.

Speaker 11 We tried to connect with Lincoln Ishida, but after going back and forth via email with him, he decided he didn't want to go on the record.

Speaker 11 Charlene Iboshi also did not answer any of our contact requests.

Speaker 11 So despite attempts to discredit the prosecution's narrative, Ian's attorney, James Bivens, appears to be disengaged throughout the trial, to say the least.

Speaker 11 Bivens also does not present key evidence or cross-examine prosecution witnesses, not uncommon with overworked and underprepared public defenders, leaving Ian vulnerable and undermined in his defense strategy.

Speaker 13 It was our lawyers that found the DNA too.

Speaker 18 Absolutely.

Speaker 14 It was our lawyers that found the DNA.

Speaker 18 He wasn't trying to solve it. He never did a murder trial.
No. But there was nobody else because they conflicted them all out.

Speaker 12 And so when you look at the ineffective assistance to counsel, like I said, that lawyer didn't present the evidence, right? The evidence of the tire trade.

Speaker 12 I mean, the police department took the measurements. So it's, right? And they have to admit these are the measurements we took.

Speaker 12 And if you match these measurements up with the Volkswagen, there's no match. There's no way it could be a match, right? That was never presented to the jury.

Speaker 11 Coming up on three.

Speaker 18 They re-indicted us on a jailhouse informant.

Speaker 12 Yeah. So back then, rape, the sex crime had a statute of of limitations.

Speaker 12 And so at the time that the DNA came back and they had it dismissed, I think it was six months left on the statute of limitations for them to recharge with the rape.

Speaker 12 And so if you go back to those documents, you'll see that the prosecutor is getting desperate. So now the indictments are dismissed.

Speaker 12 Prosecutors calling Sean's lawyer, trying to come to the grand jury and tell on Ian. I mean, Sean and his lawyer, like,

Speaker 12 there's nothing to tell, right? And so finally, Gonzales, John, contacts Ortiz.

Speaker 18 One jailhouse informant is stronger than DNA. Mike Ortiz had a child with John Gonzalez's wife in high school.
This guy is a known jailhouse informant, and that's the prosecutor's number one man.

Speaker 11 That's next in chapter five, which you can listen to next week.

Speaker 37 Did you know that at Chevron, you can fuel up on unbeatable mileage and savings? With Chevron Rewards, you'll get 25 cents off per gallon on your next five visits.

Speaker 37 All you have to do is download the Chevron app and join to start saving on fuel.

Speaker 37 Then, you can keep fueling up on other things like adventure, memories, vacations, daycations, quality time, and so many other possibilities.

Speaker 37 Head to your nearest Chevron station to fuel up and get rewarded today. Terms apply.
See Chevron TexascoRewards.com for more details.