• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Man serving 130-year jail sentence gets released from prison after evidence proved his innocence

Home> News

Published 02:14 26 Jan 2023 GMT

Man serving 130-year jail sentence gets released from prison after evidence proved his innocence

Albert 'Ian' Schweitzer has already spent 20 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit.

Rachel Lang

Rachel Lang

Featured Image Credit: Hawaii News Now. AP

Topics: US News, News, Crime, True crime

Rachel Lang
Rachel Lang

Advert

Advert

Advert

A man has been released from jail after spending more than two decades in prison for the assault, kidnapping, and murder of a tourist in 1991.

Hawaiian man Albert 'Ian' Schweitzer, who is now 51, was freed after new DNA evidence proved he was not responsible for murdering Dana Ireland.

Ireland was 23-years-old when she was found in a patch of pushes along a fishing trail in a remote part of Hawaii's Big Island on Christmas Eve.

Advert

She was barely alive, had been sexually assaulted, and beaten to a pulp.

She later died at Hilo Medical Center.

Police also found her ruined bicycle, which was discovered several miles away and looked to have been run over by a vehicle.

But now it seems her cruel killer may have gotten away with murder as new evidence indicated there was none of Schweitzer's DNA on her body or bike.

Advert

He has always maintained his innocence, despite being sentenced to 130 years behind bars for her brutal death.

And now the courts finally agree with him.

Judge Peter Kubota ruled on January 24 that Schweitzer should be 'released from his shackles immediately', according to AP.

There was applause in the courtroom after the judge handed down his decision.

Advert

A shell shocked-looking Schweitzer spoke to AP about how he felt when Judge Kubota ruled in his favor.

"My feelings were all over the place. Nerves, anxiety, scared," he said.

Schweitzer told reporters he was 'grateful' for the judge doing the 'honorable thing', but also dubbed the justice system as 'flawed'.

The now 51-year-old's release was thanks in a large part to Hawaii's Innocence Project, which fights to clear people who have become trapped in the web of the US justice system.

Advert

Hawaii News Now. AP

Co-director of the Hawaii Innocence Project Kenneth Lawson told AP that whenever a white, female victim falls foul of something in Hawaii, the case typically gets more attention than people of color and Native Hawaiians.

"The parents, understandably, were becoming more and more infuriated," he said of the 2000 conviction.

"There was insurmountable pressure to solve this case. And when that happens, mistakes are made. Some intentional and some unintentional."

Advert

The Hawaii Innocence Project together, with assistance from the Innocence Project in New York, worked on Schweitzer's release after the other men also convicted for the crime were released when new evidence came to light.

The three convicted and then absolved of their crimes were Native Hawaiian men.

But there is still no justice for Dana Ireland, with the DNA found on her body belonging to an unknown person.

Choose your content:

7 hours ago
8 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 7 hours ago

    Diddy denied bail after being found guilty on 2 out of 5 counts in sex trafficking and prostitution case

    Diddy has been denied bail after being found guilty on two of five charges he was facing

    News
  • 8 hours ago

    Donald Trump makes shocking threat he wants to deport US citizens and people are stunned

    Donald Trump has made a threat to deport US citizens following the opening of a migrant centre in Florida

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Bryan Kohberger speaks for first time in court admitting to how he brutally murdered four Idaho students

    The Idaho murder suspect has spoken out following the brutal murders of four students in 2022

    News
  • 10 hours ago

    Former prosecutor explains why Diddy was found not guilty on 3 out of 5 counts in sex trafficking and prostitution case

    A legal expert has shared his thoughts about why Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been found not guilty of three counts

    News
  • How mom's random selfie saved her innocent son from 99-year prison sentence
  • Police reveal new evidence after sharing chilling theory in search for father of three daughters found dead following visit
  • New appeal could see Josef Fritzl released from prison as early as this year
  • Disturbing new evidence regarding Charles Manson emerges in unearthed prison call