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 “under immense pressure to solve the high-profile murder” then botched an investigation last year that would have revealed the real killer using advancements in DNA technology.
Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, who had been incarcerated for more than two decades for the killing of Dana Ireland, was released in 2023 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.
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 – and receive credit for about a year served and five years of probation – after a jury convicted his brother in 2000.
The brothers’ lawsuit insists they “had nothing to do with the crime” and that investigators never found physical evidence linking them to Ireland’s murder.
Marco Garcia/The Innocence Project via AP
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.
The lawsuit includes officers who have since died but retired public defender Alexander Silvert told HawaiiNewsNow that’s not unusual.
“It is important to name everybody individually,” Silvert told the station.
The lawsuit alleges the misconduct continued into last year, when advancements in DNA technology led to the identification of a new possible suspect who killed himself after police took a DNA swab from him.
Police took no steps to arrest 57-year-old Albert Lauro Jr., who lived less than 2 miles from where Ireland’s body was found, even when they knew DNA connected him to the crime scene evidence, lawyers for the Schweitzers said.
“Instead, 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,” the lawsuit said.
William Harrison, one of the Honolulu attorneys for the brothers, said the Hawaii Innocence Project warned the police department not to release Lauro, HawaiiNewsNow reported.
“We told them that he would either run or he would commit suicide and you know, our words came true,” Harrison said.
Jennifer Sinco Kelleher / AP
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for claims including denying the brothers their constitutional right to due process, conspiracy and malicious prosecution.
Harrison 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.
“Insurmountable pressure to solve this case”
In 1991, a woman found Dana Ireland “clinging to life” in the bushes along a fishing trail in Puna, a remote section of the Big Island, according to the Hawaii Innocence Project.
“Dana was incoherent, partially clothed, and believed she was the apparent victim of a sexual assault,” the group said. “They waited for an hour and a half before emergency services arrived when Dana was taken to Hilo Hospital. She tragically died at 12:07 a.m. on December 25th, 1991, from massive blood loss.”
The mangled bicycle she had been riding was found several miles away and appeared to have been run into by a vehicle.
WILLIAM ING / AP
The murder of the blond-haired, blue-eyed visitor from Virginia gained national attention and remained unsolved for years, putting intense pressure on police to find the killer.
“Whenever you have a White, female victim … it gets a lot more attention than people of color and Native Hawaiians,” Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, said in 2023. “The parents, understandably, were becoming more and more infuriated. … There was insurmountable pressure to solve this case. And when that happens, mistakes are made. Some intentional and some unintentional.”
