U.S.! murder, first-degree murder, tourist’s high-profile 1991 murder, Honolulu 1977 cold case, credit card theft, Drugging Murdering and Robbing Hell’s Kitchen Nightclub Patrons, President John F. Kennedy Assassination, JFK Conspiracy, 40-year-old cold case murder of Texas woman, stealing hundreds of vases from gravestones, Mass Shooting Firing into Nightclub, The only woman on death row in Oklahoma challenge her murder conviction on claims she was sex-shamed during her trial 2025.1.21-1.27

Three people were arrested in connection with the shooting in Amarillo, Texas

A carefree night out turned deadly when a gunman opened fire at a Texas nightclub, killing one and injuring eight after an apparent argument, police allege.

People were gathered in the entrance to a nightclub in Amarillo when a vehicle pulled up at about 2:05 a.m. on Jan. 26 and a gunman exited the vehicle, opening fire into a large crowd with a rifle, the Amarillo Police Department said in a statement.

After allegedly discharging multiple rounds into the crowd and shooting nine people, the suspect re-entered the vehicle and fled the scene, the APD said in the statement.

“Evidence indicates this incident stems from an earlier altercation inside the bar,” the APD said in the statement. “The suspects left the bar but returned in the vehicle.”

While multiple people called 911 for help, one eyewitness followed the suspect’s vehicle and called 911 to let police know where the car was headed, the APD said in the statement.

“Thanks to the bravery and persistence of the witness, Randall County Sheriff’s deputies were able to locate and stop the vehicle,” the statement said.

Officers who responded to the scene at the nightclub immediately began life saving medical treatment to several victims on scene before firefighters and paramedics arrived.

One of the victims, John Love Louima, 25, died at the hospital due to multiple gunshot injuries.

Robert Kenney Knox, 23, of Amarillo, was identified as the alleged shooter, the APD said.

Knox and the vehicle’s alleged driver, Nahryah Hilesta Ines Hayes, 21, also of Amarillo, were both charged with murder and eight counts of deadly conduct/discharge of a firearm, according to the APD.

Britt Brinson Cave, 22, a passenger in the backseat, was charged with public intoxication.

Officers and deputies recovered a firearm, shell casings and other evidence likely connected to the shooting, the APD said.

“Detectives have a considerable amount of investigation to complete before we are able to understand completely what happened,” the APD said.

Knox and Hayes remain held in the Randall County Jail, according to online records.

Cave was released on a $500 surety bond, according to online records.

It is unclear whether any of the three have retained attorneys who can speak on their behalf.

The Amarillo Police Department’s Homicide Unit is seeking assistance from the community. If anyone present during the shooting has video footage or any relevant information, they are asked to contact 806-378-9468.

Ogle County Assistant Public Defender Michael O’Brien called the incident a “paradox of a welfare check”

OREGON – A rural Dixon man charged with the attempted murder of three police officers at his residence in June will remain jailed despite new information argued by the defense calling the incident a “paradox of a welfare check.”

Jonathon Gounaris, 32, is charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, three counts of aggravated battery and two counts of possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card – all of which stem from a June 12 standoff with police in the rural Dixon subdivision of Lost Lake.

Gounaris has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held in the Winnebago County Jail in Rockford.

On Thursday, Gounaris appeared for a status hearing before Judge John “Ben” Roe, during which Ogle County Assistant Public Defender Michael O’Brien argued for his release.

O’Brien said that at the June 20 detention hearing, one argument was not made regarding the circumstances surrounding officers’ entry to the home at 402 Wild Rice Lane in Lost Lake.

During that hearing, Gounaris was represented by former Ogle County Public Defender William Gibbs, who has since left that position.

At a news conference June 12, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said police were called at 8:39 a.m. that day to the residence with a warning that it could be a “suicide-by-cop” situation. The officers were informed that Gounaris had made suicidal and homicidal threats.

Shortly after officers arrived, the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office’s Emergency Response Team was called. The ERT is made up of individuals from different agencies, including the sheriff’s office, Oregon and Byron police departments, and SWAT medics from the Rochelle Fire Department.

Police made more than 60 attempted phone calls to the residence, Gounaris’ cellphone and to a throw phone that was deployed inside the home, VanVickle said.

At 11:53 a.m., police breached the door to the home and were immediately met with gunfire from inside the house, VanVickle said. Three deputies and Gounaris were shot while exchanging gunfire.

In court Thursday, O’Brien said “the call [to police] was made because of mental health concerns.”

He said Gounaris’ mother told police on June 12 that she didn’t know what to do about her son’s mental health. She talked about an emotional outburst as well as homicidal and suicidal comments that Gounaris had made in the past, O’Brien said.

When police arrived at the residence, they never announced themselves as police over a loud speaker, he said. Instead, they established a perimeter far away from the home and concealed themselves and their vehicles.

At 11:02 a.m., two deputies approached the house without announcing themselves as police and deployed a throw phone into the home, O’Brien said. They received no communication from Gounaris and tried to enter the home, he said.

“They had their guns drawn and forcibly kicked in the door,” O’Brien said. “This is not something that was a community caretaking entry.”

Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Kruse disagreed.

Kruse said Gounaris’ mother told authorities that her son suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and, in general, hated police. She said that her son had barricaded himself in the home and threatened to kill himself or anyone else who tried to talk to him.

The mother also informed police that Gounaris had access to two guns, Kruse said.

“The officers went there to make sure the public is safe,” she said.

Kruse said police made multiple calls to the residence before deploying the throw phone, which was done before entry was made.

When officers did breach the door to the residence, “the defendant fired before anybody entered the home,” she said.

Gounaris was wearing a bullet-proof vest and began “shooting multiple rounds not only into but also at officers,” Kruse said. Three of them were struck and injured.

O’Brien disagreed. He called the incident a “paradox of the welfare check.”

“The context does matter,” O’Brien said. “Officers went to that residence to check on a suicidal subject.”

While in custody, Gounaris has continued to follow up with mental health services and hasn’t missed a dose of medications prescribed for his mental health, O’Brien said. In the past month, Gounaris also has started an additional prescription that is helping, O’Brien said.

Kruse disagreed.

“I urge you not to make the leap,” she said.

Gounaris still is a danger while “he’s taking unspecified medications for an unspecified mental health condition,” she said.

Kruse said Gounaris has a history of refusing to get treatment for his mental health, including a dislike of taking medications. When Gounaris was 20 years old, he was seeing a psychiatrist but abruptly stopped going to appointments because he didn’t want to get help, she said.

O’Brien disagreed. There are certain conditions to his release that would mitigate the risk to the public, like stay-away orders or GPS tracking, he said.

Kruse disagreed.

She said GPS tracking assumes that the public is safe if law enforcement knows where that individual is.

Gounaris was in his home when this incident occurred, Kruse said.

“Knowing where the defendant is would not mitigate the danger to the public,” she said.

Roe acknowledged the new arguments presented by the defense.

“There’s certainly some issues that the court can consider,” Roe said.

Still, Roe denied any condition for release based on the extensive previous arguments made by the state.

Gounaris’ next court appearance is at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 6.

Usually the court schedules status hearings about a month apart, but O’Brien requested an earlier date “because there’s some issues with Gounaris’ detention that I want to address promptly,” O’Brien said.

Kruse made no objection, and Roe granted the request.

Sky News looks at the official story surrounding the former president’s assassination and the competing explanations, as well as what experts expect to see in the soon-to-be unsealed government documents. Plus: what’s in all of this for Trump?

Conspiracy theorists will be eagerly waiting to pour over thousands of classified files on former US president John F Kennedy’s assassination after Donald Trump signed an executive order to release them.

“That’s a big one, huh? A lot of people have been waiting for this for years, for decades,” Mr Trump said as he signed the order.

Some critics – including JFK’s grandson – have condemned the move, suggesting the president is using the notorious 1963 killing as a “political prop”.

Whatever his motives, the president is right; people have waited decades to learn more about the shooting of Kennedy.

Conspiracy theories have flourished in the decades since his death – ranging from the potentially plausible to the outlandish.

But what is the official explanation and what are some of the more well-known theories?

The official story: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

Kennedy was shot in downtown Dallas on 22 November 1963, as his motorcade passed the Texas School Book Depository building.

Former marine Lee Harvey Oswald, 24, had positioned himself from a sniper’s perch on the sixth floor of the building and fired multiple shots, killing the president, according to the official story.

Two days after Kennedy was killed, nightclub owner Jack Ruby fatally shot Oswald during a jail transfer.

A year after the assassination, president Lyndon Johnson ordered an investigation into the assassination called the Warren Commission, which concluded that Oswald acted alone and there was no evidence of a conspiracy.

Historians note that the investigation’s findings were widely accepted by the public immediately after its release – but scepticism from conspiracy theorists in the years that followed led many to start doubting the official story.

More than one shooter?

Alternative theories put forward include the claim that Oswald was framed – or that a second gunman also opened fire on the president at the same time.

These suggestions were fuelled by several witnesses to the assassination who believed that at least one of the shots came from a different area known as the “grassy knoll”, rather than the Texas School Book Depository.

The official inquiry into the assassination concluded that Oswald fired three times from the building, including one bullet which hit the president’s head and another which missed.

The Warren Commission said another bullet struck the president from behind, before it exited his body via the front of his throat. It then hit and injured Texas Governor John Connally Jr, who was also in the motorcade with Kennedy and his wife Jackie, the inquiry found.

That last bullet has since been referred to as “the magic bullet”, based on the unexpected trajectory it took.

One of the reasons investigators reached the conclusion that the injuries were caused by a single bullet was due to a bullet found on Connally Jr’s stretcher when he arrived at Parkland Memorial Hospital after the shooting.

To them, it showed that the bullet had passed through the president and then hit Connally Jr, before becoming dislodged on the stretcher while he was being treated.

The analysis was a significant factor in the investigators’ conclusion that Oswald acted alone.

But that finding was questioned in 2023 when ex-Secret Service agent Paul Landis, who witnessed the president’s death at close range, released a memoir in which he claimed he found the bullet in the seat of the car Kennedy was sitting in, pocketed it, and put it on the stretcher carrying the president later.

He guessed Kennedy and Connally Jr’s stretchers then somehow collided, meaning the bullet was shaken from one to the other.

This has led some to believe it wasn’t one bullet that caused so much damage to the pair, opening up the possibility that there were more bullets fired – and potentially more shooters involved.

Mr Landis’s claims are disputed by some other Secret Service agents present that day.

It was not the first time such speculation had been put forward.

The US House Select Committee on Assassinations argued in 1978 that more than one gunman was present that day.

Kennedy’s own nephew, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Mr Trump’s pick for health secretary, has also said he is not convinced just one man was behind his uncle’s murder.

This idea in turn has led to plenty of theories about a larger conspiracy involving powerful forces, domestically or internationally.

The US government

The fact there are so many conspiracy theories over JFK highlights the level of mistrust people have in government, according to Dr Darren Reid, associate professor at Coventry University and an expert in American politics and history.

But many of the conspiracies suggest the US government itself was directly involved in Kennedy’s death – though they aren’t always clear about who within the government might have been responsible.

One popular accusation claims Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s vice president, ordered the deed. According to the book The Man Who Killed Kennedy: The Case Against by libertarian political activist Roger Stone, Kennedy’s successor murdered not only Kennedy, but also several others on his path to political power.

Most believers of this theory say that Johnson had the motivation – a desire for the presidency – and that he worked with a shadowy group of co-conspirators.

The mafia

There are several iterations of the mafia theory, but they typically centre on New Orleans mobster Carlos Marcello, who was deported to Guatemala after Kennedy came to office and charged his brother, Robert, with tackling organised crime as the US attorney general.

When Marcello later made his way back to the United States, he allegedly made threats against the president. He also allegedly made a jailhouse confession of killing the president to an FBI informant.

Mafia conspiracy believers point to a trip Lee Harvey Oswald took to New Orleans prior to the assassination, as well as to the mob ties of Oswald’s killer Jack Ruby.

The CIA

Some Americans blame the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for Kennedy’s death, as they were on rough terms after the Bay of Pigs invasion – a failed military operation the president had ordered in Cuba in 1961.

Classified papers released in 2017 detailed unusual schemes the Kennedy administration and CIA came up with to kill Fidel Castro, who at the time was president of Cuba.

They included giving the leader, known for his love of diving, an exploding seashell or a contaminated diving suit.

Conspiracy theorists believe tension built up after the failed assassination attempt on Castro which led the CIA to retaliate by having Kennedy killed.

CIA conspiracies often overlap with mob conspiracies because of revelations that the agency worked with organised crime on its Castro schemes, at one point hiring an intermediary to approach mafia boss Sam Giancana to offer him “$150,000 to hire some gunman to go into Cuba and kill Castro”.

Fidel Castro

The finger of blame has also been pointed at the Cuban leader, who may have wanted to hit back at American attempts to kill him and overthrow his communist government.

Kennedy’s successor Johnson subscribed to this theory, revealing in two interviews in 1968 and 1969 that he thought Castro was behind the assassination.

Castro denied the allegations, calling the idea “absolute insanity” in a 1977 interview. He said that having the president killed would have been too dangerous for Cuba, as it risked a brutal US retaliation.

Someone else?

Dr Reid says JFK conspiracies are “so prolific” and that there are “too many to name”.

“I don’t think there’s any group or interest group that existed at that time which hasn’t in some way been accused or implicated in it [JFK’s death],” he tells Sky News.

Many, according to polls taken in the US on the subject, simply express dissatisfaction with the official story and believe there are plenty of viable alternatives.

Dr Reid believes the assassination – and the conspiracies around it – have become a part of US culture.

“It was so traumatic that people began to looking for explanations, and because it was an extraordinary event, they started to look for extraordinary explanations.

“The number of people who looked for those explanations in the first instance was relatively small, but over time, they wrote books, they made movies, they told stories, listened to radio broadcasts and watched TV shows.

“This conspiracy was depicted time after time after time, and it just worked its way into the popular culture.”

What documents are being released – and what will they show?

Over half a century after the assassination, there is a collection of over five million records relating to JFK’s death.

It has taken many years for the files to see the light of day. Congress ordered in 1992 that all remaining sealed files relating to the investigation into Kennedy’s death should be fully opened to the public by 2017, except for those the president authorised for further withholding.

In 2017, Mr Trump released a cache of records, but decided to release the remaining documents on a rolling basis.

Joe Biden’s government continued to release some files during his term, and now only a few thousand of the millions of records on the case are still to be fully declassified.

Thanks to Mr Trump’s executive order, the director of national intelligence and the attorney general must develop a plan to declassify the documents by 6 February.

Obviously, no members of the public can know what these documents will show before they are released.

Experts on the subject, though, have been giving their thoughts.

“There’s always the possibility that something would slip through that would be the tiny tip of a much larger iceberg that would be revealing,” says Larry J Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Centre for Politics and author of a book on Kennedy.

“That’s what researchers look for. Now, odds are you won’t find that but it is possible that it’s there.”

Mr Sabato previously said: “It just seemed so fantastical that one very disturbed individual could end up pulling off the crime of the century.

“But the more I studied it, the more I realized that is a very possible, maybe even probable in my view, hypothesis.”

Gerald Posner, author of Case Closed, which concludes that assassin Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, says: “Anybody waiting for a smoking gun that’s going to turn this case upside down will be sorely disappointed.”

Dr Reid says he’s “really excited to read what’s in these documents”, but admits he would “be surprised if there were any major revelations”.

“But there might be some intriguing clues and it will certainly be enough ambiguity to fuel a thousand more conspiracy theories for the next 50 years,” he concludes.

What’s in it for Trump?

For the president, Dr Reid says, the significance is in the act of releasing the documents, rather than the content of the documents.

“I think the reason Trump is releasing these files isn’t because he’s interested in proving, you know, conspiracy theory one, two or three is right – I think it’s about trust in the government.

“He ran on a very disruptive ticket, in which essentially Trump depicted himself as running against a corrupt political order.”

Dr Reid says the move speaks to a core part of his base: the people who don’t trust the government.

He said it sends them the message that he will be more transparent than governments of the past.

Brothers say Hawaii police framed them for tourist’s high-profile 1991 murder and let real killer “return home free”
January 23, 2025 / 7:14 AM EST / CBS/AP

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.

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.

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.

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.”

—

ALBERT IAN SCHWEITZER
Charges:Murder, kidnapping, sexual assault
Length of Sentence:Life
Conviction Date:February 16, 2000
Exoneration Date:January 24, 2023
Causes of Wrongful Conviction:False testimony, false confession, ineffective assistance of counsel

On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, 1991, a young woman named Dana Ireland was struck by a vehicle while she was riding a bicycle down a red cinder road on the island of Hawai’i.

Dana was visiting the Big Island from her home state of Virginia, had cycled eight or so miles from her parents’ rental home in Kapoho Vacationland to a friend’s house to invite him over for Christmas Eve dinner. He was the last person likely to see Dana alive.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., witnesses passing through Kapoho Kai Drive at the entrance to Kapoho Vacationland came upon the scene of an abandoned collision, finding tire tracks in the dirt, a white tennis shoe, a mangled black bike, and clumps of blonde hair. They searched the area for the bicycle’s rider, assuming someone had been severely injured. No one was found.

Around the time the police were called to the scene of the mysterious bicycle accident, at 5:30 p.m., a woman found Dana Ireland laying miles away in the bushes of a fishing trail in Wa’a Wa’a, battered and clinging to life. Dana was incoherent, partially clothed, and believed she was the apparent victim of a sexual assault. 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.

In the days following Dana’s death, the police exclusively searched for two types of vehicle which were suspected to be involved in the incident; a dark-colored 1970’s model pickup truck and a light-colored van.

In the years following the murder, the Ireland family was active publicly and politically to put pressure on authorities to get the case solved. In the spring of 1994, Frank Pauline and his half-brother John Gonsalves, began to opportunistically barter falsified testimonies in exchange for personal benefits in ongoing, unrelated criminal charges they were facing. In the spring of 1994, Frank Pauline was in prison for rape and John Gonsalves and other members of the family were facing serious drug charges. Frank Pauline began by implicating himself and two brothers named Ian and Shawn Schweitzer. Ian was twenty years old at the time of the murder, and his younger brother Shawn was sixteen. The Pauline family lived across the street from the Schweitzer family and their families had a long-standing animosity towards each other. Pauline initially acknowledged that he was not a close friend of the Schweitzers, but claimed that the brothers had picked him up in their Volkswagen Bug on Christmas Eve, 1991, so they could go and do drugs. Pauline’s story was not initially believed by the lead Detective because his story was so inconsistent with the facts. Gonsalves also told police that Frank Pauline had confessed to him that he and the Schweitzer brothers were responsible for the murder, sexual assault, and kidnapping of Dana Ireland.

In exchange for telling the police the identities of the alleged perpetrators of the Ireland murder, Frank Pauline immediately began to receive all manner of benefits, from additional phone calls to his girlfriend, to promises of special visitations, to preferred housing in the prison. John Gonsalves and other family members received highly favorable deals in their pending narcotics case in exchange for their cooperation in the Ireland investigation.

The Schweitzer brothers were indicted on October 10th, 1997, but the charges were dismissed without prejudice on October 20th, 1998 when DNA testing definitively excluded Ian Schweitzer, Shawn Schweitzer, and Frank Pauline as the contributors of the semen of an unknown male left on Dana’s body. Despite the lack of DNA evidence, the Schweitzer brothers were re-indicted on May 20th, 1999.

The only DNA that has been identified at either the crash scene or the fishing trail is that of Dana Ireland, and that of an unknown male. This DNA profile has been unsuccessfully run through the CODIS database, and as of today this DNA still has not been matched. A bloody t-shirt was also found at the Wa’a Wa’a scene, which was alleged to have belonged to Frank Pauline. Previous DNA testing methods done during trial and shorlty after were unable to yield a DNA profile of the shirt’s owner because the shirt was so heavily saturated in Dana’s blood. New DNA testing recently conducted by HIP, has now conclusively shown that the DNA on the shirt is the same unknown male profile as the semen found on Dana.

No DNA found has ever matched any of the Defendants to this heinous crime. Additionally, both Schweitzer brothers had alibis at the time of the crime, neither of which was used at trial. The vehicle Pauline stated was used during the crime, Ian’s purple VW bug, was not even owned by Ian at the time of the crime but was purchased two months after the crime occurred. Despite the lack of physical evidence, Pauline and Ian Schweitzer were convicted of Dana’s murder, kidnapping and rape. Shawn Schweitzer following the guilty verdicts in the two preceding trials, plead guilty and received credit for time served.

In 2017, additional DNA testing was done on the Jimmy Z’ t-shirt that found that the same unknown male who left his DNA on other crime scene evidence was also the habitual wearer of the Jimmy Z’ t-shirt. Sperm was also found on the Jimmy Z’ t-shirt which also belonged to the same unknown male. All three defendants were excluded from any of the DNA found on the Jimmy Z’ t-shirt. With the hopes of freeing Ian, in 2019 HIP joined with the Innocence Project (“IP”) in New York and entered into a joint reinvestigation agreement with the Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney’s office were we agreed to share information and to help identify the unknown male whose DNA was on all the crime scene evidence tested. HIP and IP also hired two new experts to evaluate the tire tread evidence found at both crime scenes and the pattern injury on Dana Ireland’s body that was purported to be a bitemark. The tire tread expert Matthew Marvin concluded that Ian’s VW Beetle could not have produced the tire tracks at the Wa’a Wa’a scene, likely did not produce the tire tracks at the bicycle collision scene, and that the same vehicle may have produced the tire tracks at both the bicycle collision scene and the Wa’a Wa’a scene. Forensic Odontologist Dr. Adam Freeman also reviewed the pattern injury found on Dana Ireland’s body and concluded that the injury on Dana Ireland was not a bitemark as testified to at trial. Lastly, in 2022 Shawn Schweitzer met with Hawai’i County Prosecutors and recanted his prior confession and stated that both a he and his brother Ian were innocent of Dana Ireland’s murder and had not been involved in the crime in any way. Shawn also took a polygraph examination from expert Mark Handler, who concluded that Shawn passed the polygraph and showed no signs of deception.

On January 23, 2023, HIP and IP attorneys filed a Joint Stipulated Facts with the Hawai’i County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. In this Joint Stipulation, the parties did not dispute the newly discovered DNA, bitemark, or recantation evidence and did not dispute the newly presented tire tread evidence. On January 23, 2023, HIP and IP attorneys also filed a new Rule 40 Petition seeking to vacate Ian’s conviction and release him from custody. At an evidentiary hearing on January 24, 2023 before Honorable Judge Kubota of the Third Circuit Court in Hilo, HIP and IP attorneys presented this newly discovered and newly presented evidence. At the conclusion of this hearing, Judge Kubota found that this newly discovered and newly presented evidence would likely produce an acquittal of Ian’s charges at a retrial and that the newly presented evidence goes towards a showing of actual innocence. On January 24, 2023, Judge Kubota ordered that Ian’s conviction be vacated and that he be immediately released from custody. Judge Kubota also dismissed Ian’s indictment without prejudice. Ian walked out of the courtroom that day as a free man into the arms of his family and friends.

—

Judge to consider freedom for Hawaiian man convicted of woman’s 1991 murder amid “overwhelming new evidence of innocence”
January 24, 2023 / 6:23 AM EST / CBS/AP

Attorneys for a Native Hawaiian man who has been imprisoned for more than 20 years for the 1991 sexual assault, kidnapping and murder of a White woman visiting Hawaii will ask a judge Tuesday to dismiss his conviction due to new evidence – including DNA testing – in the case.

A petition filed late Monday outlines additional evidence in one of Hawaii’s biggest murders, which unfolded on Christmas Eve in 1991 on Hawaii Island, commonly known as the Big Island.

A woman found Dana Ireland, 23, “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.

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,” said Kenneth Lawson, co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project. “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.”

With help from the Innocence Project in New York, the co-counsel in the case, Lawson’s group is representing Albert “Ian” Schweitzer, the last of three Native Hawaiian men convicted in Ireland’s death to remain imprisoned.

DNA evidence previously submitted in the case belonged to an unknown man and all three of the convicted men were excluded as sources.

New DNA evidence, according to the petition, shows a “Jimmy Z” brand T-shirt found near Ireland and soaked with her blood belonged to the same unknown man, and not to one of the three men, as prosecutors claimed.

Additionally, a new tire tread analysis concluded Schweitzer’s Volkswagen Beetle car didn’t leave the tire marks at either location where Ireland and her bicycle were found.

Hawaii News Now reported that tire tread marks at the crime scenes were most likely made by a larger vehicle, possibly a pickup truck, an expert witnesses claims in the petition. Evidence shows investigators originally inspected trucks ― a van and a jeep ― before zeroing in on Schweitzer’s Beetle years later, the station reported.

A forensic odontologist also concluded an injury on her left breast wasn’t a bitemark, as previously believed, the petition said.

“At a new trial today, a jury would not convict Mr. Schweitzer of Ms. Ireland’s sexual assault and murder,” the petition said. “In fact, a prosecutor would likely not even arrest Mr. Schweitzer for this crime.”

The likelihood that all three men participated in a sexual attack and left no trace of biological evidence – including a lack of evidence uncovered with advanced forensic testing – is “extraordinarily improbable,” the petition said.

At the evidentiary hearing, a judge will consider the defense’s request to vacate Schweitzer’s sentence and release him.

Ireland’s relatives couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the petition.

In 2019, Schweitzer’s attorneys and Hawaii County prosecutors entered into a “conviction integrity agreement” to reinvestigate the case. It was the first time in Hawaii there has been this type of agreement, Lawson said, which is increasingly being used to reexamine questionable convictions and guard against future errors.

Much of the background on the Ireland case is detailed in a document filed with the petition listing facts that defense attorneys and prosecutors have stipulated.

In 1994, police made what they believed to be a major breakthrough. A man facing charges for his role in a cocaine conspiracy contacted police and claimed his half-brother, Frank Pauline Jr., witnessed Ireland’s attack, according to the stipulated facts document.

Police interviewed Pauline, who was in his third month of a 10-year sentence for an unrelated sex assault and theft. He claimed brothers Ian and Shawn Schweitzer attacked and killed Ireland. But he was interviewed at least seven times and gave inconsistent accounts each time, eventually incriminating himself, the stipulation document said.

Despite the lack of evidence linking them to the killing, the two Schweitzers and Pauline were indicted in 1997.

At one point the charges were dismissed because all three men were excluded as the source of semen found in Ireland and on a hospital gurney sheet. They were indicted again after another informant claimed Ian Schweitzer confessed to him in jail that Pauline raped and killed Ireland.

Pauline later said he offered details to police about the Ireland murder in order to get drug charges dropped against his half-brother.

In a prison interview with the A&E show “American Justice,” Pauline compared his story to the tale of the boy who cried wolf. “Wasn’t me,” he said in a strong Hawaii Pidgin accent. But when he started telling the truth, he said no one believed him.

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 seeing juries convict Pauline and his brother in 2000.

In October, Shawn Schweitzer met with prosecutors and recanted. According to the stipulation document, he pleaded guilty because his “parents did not want to risk losing another son and encouraged Shawn Schweitzer to do what he needed to do to come home and not suffer the same fate as his brother.”

Shawn Schweitzer “continues to feel immense guilt about agreeing to the confession and entering a guilty plea for a crime he did not commit and falsely implicating his brother,” the document said.

A polygraph test in November showed he was telling the truth when he denied any involvement in the murder, the document said.

Pauline was killed in a New Mexico prison by a fellow inmate in 2015. Ian Schweitzer is serving his 130-year sentence in an Arizona prison because of a lack of space for inmates in Hawaii.

“Mr. Schweitzer has spent over two decades wrongfully incarcerated based on unreliable informant evidence and accident reconstruction testimony,” the petition said. “It would be unconscionable for him to continue to remain incarcerated, given this overwhelming new evidence of innocence.”

The trial of three men accused of orchestrating a deadly scheme targeting gay nightclub patrons in Hell’s Kitchen began Wednesday in a Manhattan courtroom. Jayqwan Hamilton, 36; Robert Demaio, 35; and Jacob Barroso, 30, face a slew of charges, including murder, robbery, identity theft and conspiracy, for a series of incidents that led to the deaths of Julio Ramirez, 25, and John Umberger, 33.

Prosecutors allege the defendants preyed on intoxicated patrons leaving gay nightclubs, drugging them with substances like fentanyl to incapacitate them before robbing them of thousands of dollars. The tragic deaths of Ramirez, a social worker, and Umberger, a political consultant, in the spring of 2022 shocked the Hell’s Kitchen community and brought national attention to the dangers LGBTQ+ individuals face in nightlife spaces.

Assistant District Attorney Emily Ching opened the trial with a detailed account of how the trio, along with accomplices who have pleaded guilty, allegedly operated their scheme. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg attended the hearing, sitting in court as Ching described how the men lingered outside popular gay bars, such as The Ritz on Restaurant Row and The Q Club on 8th Avenue, waiting for last call to befriend and isolate their victims. Once alone, they drugged their targets, used their unconscious faces to unlock phones via facial recognition, and drained their bank accounts. The stolen money was allegedly used for personal expenses, including luxury goods and alcohol.

Ching emphasized the defendants’ alleged indifference to their victims’ well-being. “The evidence will show that they acted out of greed, leaving victims unresponsive and, in two cases, dead,” she said. “Their actions displayed an utter disregard for human life.”

Prosecutors recounted the final hours of Julio Ramirez on April 21, 2022. Surveillance footage showed Ramirez leaving The Ritz around 3am, chatting with a group of men who had been pacing outside the bar. Ramirez entered a taxi with three of the men, including Hamilton and Barroso. Hours later, he was found unresponsive in the backseat of the cab and pronounced dead soon after. Toxicology reports revealed a lethal combination of cocaine, lidocaine, heroin and fentanyl in his system. His phone and wallet were missing, and over the next three days, multiple attempts were made to transfer $10,000 from his accounts.

The following month, on May 28, John Umberger, visiting New York for business, became the trio’s next target. After spending the evening at The Q Club, Umberger was seen on surveillance footage interacting with the defendants. He was later found dead in his apartment, his body in the same position as when the defendants allegedly left him. His phone and credit cards were stolen, and significant transactions were made from his accounts.

The trial’s first day also featured testimony from surviving victims, including Alex (a businessman visiting from LA), who recounted waking up disoriented after meeting two of the defendants outside The Q Club. He discovered his phones (work and personal), wallet and credit cards were missing. Transactions traced to his accounts included orders for expensive alcohol and luxury items.

Another survivor, Gerardo, testified about a similarly harrowing experience. After a night at The Ritz, Gerardo woke up in his apartment, sick and disoriented, with his phone and wallet missing. He later discovered unauthorized transactions totaling thousands of dollars, including transfers to Demaio’s account.

Defense attorneys for the accused urged jurors during the opening of the case to reserve judgment, arguing that the prosecution could not definitively link the drugs in the victims’ systems to the defendants. “The deaths are tragic,” said Dean Vigliano, representing Demaio, “but you cannot ignore the possibility of other factors, including recreational drug use by the victims.”

John Umberger’s mother, Linda Clary, also took the stand to recount the heartbreaking days leading up to the discovery of her son’s body. Clary, who described John as her “best friend” and a “bright light,” testified that she became increasingly alarmed when she hadn’t heard from him for four days after his visit to New York City in May 2022. Despite seeing his social media accounts appearing active, Clary said she knew something was wrong when her son, who was usually in constant communication, stopped responding to calls and texts. She contacted NYPD’s 19th Precinct, who conducted a wellness check at the Upper East Side apartment where John was staying. On June 1, officers found John lifeless in the apartment, left in the same position in which the defendants allegedly abandoned him after robbing him.

The testimony of cab driver Wahl Muajak further underscored the chilling nature of the crimes. Muajak recounted picking up Julio Ramirez and three men outside The Ritz nightclub on the morning of April 21, 2022. He told the court that Ramirez appeared unresponsive when the ride stopped, with the other passengers trying to wake him up without success. When they reached their destination, the men instructed Muajak to take Ramirez to Brooklyn alone and left to head to a bar. Muajak brought Ramirez to nearby police, where officers attempted CPR and called EMS. Ramirez never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead shortly after at Beth Israel Hospital, marking the first known fatality in the defendants’ alleged string of drugging and robbery schemes.

The trial is set to resume on Thursday and is scheduled to take two weeks.

Brenda Andrew and her boyfriend, James Pavatt, were convicted of the 2001 murder of her husband, Rob Andrew

The only woman on death row in Oklahoma could get a new chance to challenge her murder conviction, following a Supreme Court ruling in her favor on claims she was sex-shamed during her trial.

Brenda Andrew was convicted of the 2001 murder of her husband, Rob Andrew, an advertising executive and church deacon, who was killed with a shotgun in the garage of his home in Oklahoma City.

Brenda was convicted of murder in 2004, as was her boyfriend, James Pavatt, whom she had begun seeing after her estrangement from Rob.

But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, threw a lifeline to the death row resident.

The justices stated that a lower court could not prevent Andrew from mounting an appeal based on her contention that prosecutors unfairly focused on her personal life during her murder trial. The court ordered the case back to an appeals court for further proceedings.

The unsigned opinion stated that the prosecution “spent significant time” on evidence related to Andrew’s “sex life and about her failings as a mother and wife, much of which it later conceded was irrelevant.”

At her trial, prosecutors told jurors about Andrew’s previous affairs and clothing she wore, at one point holding up a pair of her thong underwear.

Andrew claimed in a habeas corpus petition that the evidence was prejudicial and violated due process.

“The Court of Appeals rejected that claim because, it thought, no holding of this Court established a general rule that the erroneous admission of prejudicial evidence could violate due process,” the Supreme Court wrote. “That was wrong.”

Rob Andrew was fatally shot on Nov. 20, 2001, while Brenda was shot in the arm. She called 911 to say she and her husband had been shot by two masked men.

Following the shooting, Brenda went with Pavatt and her two children to Mexico before she and her lover were named as suspects.

Prosecutors claimed that Brenda and Pavatt, an insurance agent, had killed Rob to cash out on a life insurance policy. A month before his murder, Rob discovered that his vehicle’s brake lines had been cut and told police that he suspected his wife, from whom he was separated, and her boyfriend.

Pavatt confessed to killing Rob to a friend, but denied that Brenda was involved, the Supreme Court noted.

Brenda’s attorneys claimed in the lead up to her trial that the prosecution’s case was completely “circumstantial,” PEOPLE previously reported.

Pavatt is also currently on death row, having been convicted of murder one year before Brenda.