California Innocence Project at California Western Aids in Exoneration
After living under the shadow of a false conviction for over 20 years, Shawn Schweitzer is no longer a convicted man. Accepting Shawn’s Petition to Vacate Judgment, in light of new evidence, Judge Peter K. Kubota declared that Shawn and his family had suffered a “manifest injustice,” allowed Shawn to withdraw his plea, and vacated the conviction. This victory comes as a result of the monumental efforts made by Shawn’s lead attorney in Hawaii, who was assisted by staff attorneys and students of the California Innocence Project (CIP) at California Western.
In 1997, Shawn and his brother, Ian, were falsely implicated by Frank Pauline, Jr. in the heinous murder of Dana Ireland in 1991, a story which made national headlines after going unsolved for several years. With only circumstantial evidence tying the three men to the crime, Ian and Pauline were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Seeing this devastating outcome for his brother, Shawn, who was only sixteen when the crimes took place, agreed to plead guilty and made a false confession in order to avoid trial and the potential of a life sentence. He was convicted of kidnapping and manslaughter and was given probation.
Since 2017, the Hawaii Innocence Project, Innocence Project in New York, and the California Innocence Project have been working collaboratively on the case . That collaboration included investigation and DNA analysis which definitively excluded all three of the convicted men and, in fact, implicated another unidentified man, who is still at large. CIP enlisted the testimony of Dr. Richard Leo, a nationally renowned expert on false confessions, who concluded that Shawn had been psychologically coerced into confessing to crimes he did not commit.
This year, these collaborative efforts are finally paying off. In January, Ian’s conviction was reversed, the charges against him were dismissed, and he was released from prison after having served 23 years. Today, Shawn’s plea was vacated, and the charges against him were dismissed by Judge Kubota, citing the overwhelming likelihood that if a jury were to be presented with all of the evidence now available, they would not convict him . Shawn was represented by Hawaiian attorney, Keith Shigetomi, and by Alissa Bjerkhoel, interim director of the California Innocence Project, who appeared on the case pro hac vice. Shawn’s attorneys plan on filing a petition for finding of factual innocence.
This result is yet another testament to California Western’s passionate commitment to using the law to solve human and societal problems, and to training future justice advocates. Ms. Bjerkhoel, who is herself a California Western alum and former CIP intern, said, “Justice has been a long time coming for Shawn and his brother. We are absolutely thrilled the truth has illuminated his wrongful conviction. We hope, for the sake of the Ireland family, that the true perpetrator is found and brought to justice.”
When asked how it felt to finally be out from under the weight of a wrongful conviction, Shawn said, “It’s been a long fight,” but it felt “awesome.” Shawn gave thanks “to Mr. Shigetomi and the California Innocence Project, and all the innocence projects out there. They did a lot for me and my family.”
We could not be happier for Shawn and Ian, and we are proud to continue our dogged pursuit of justice.