Recently released documents confirm that a homeless man in Hawaii was mistakenly arrested for a crime committed by someone else and subsequently held in a psychiatric hospital for two years before being released. According to court documents submitted by the Hawaii Innocence Project, Joshua Spriestersbach was arrested in 2017 while sleeping on a sidewalk in Honolulu. When a police officer awakened him, he believed that he was being arrested for vagrancy. Instead, though, they insisted that he was Thomas Castleberry, a drug offender for whom there was an outstanding warrant from 2006. Records remain unclear as to why Spreisterbach was confused with Castleberry and no fingerprint or photograph check was made.
After repeatedly insisting that he wasn't Castleberry, Spriestersbach was eventually sent to the Hawaii State Hospital where he underwent mandatory psychiatric treatment, including medication, after being declared delusional. With doctors maintaining that he was not competent to stand trial, he was simply held indefinitely and even public defenders refused to believe his story. While in hospital, he was forced to attend group treatments sessions for drug users and kept heavily medicated due to his agitation and "delusional beliefs."
"Yet, the more Mr. Spriestersbach vocalized his innocence by asserting that he is not Mr. Castleberry, the more he was declared delusional and psychotic by the H.S.H. staff and doctors and heavily medicated," the petition submitted on his behalf said. "It was understandable that Mr. Spriestersbach was in an agitated state when he was being wrongfully incarcerated for Mr. Castleberry's crime and despite his continual denial of being Mr. Castleberry and providing all of his relevant identification and places where he was located during Mr. Castleberry's court appearances, no one would believe him or take any meaningful steps to verify his identity and determine that what Mr. Spriestersbach was telling the truth — he was not Mr. Castleberry."
The mistake only came to light when a hospital psychiatrist conducted an Internet search which determined that the real Thomas Castleberry had been in an Alaska prison since 2015. After a fingerprint and photograph check verified that a mistake was made. According to court records, "a secret meeting was held with all of the parties, except Mr. Spriestersbach, present. There is no court record of this meeting or no public court record of this meeting. No entry or order reflects this miscarriage of justice that occurred or a finding that Mr. Spriestersbach is not Thomas Castleberry," court documents added. He was then released from the hospital on January 20th with no follow-up and with only fifty cents in his pocket.
Since the Hawaii Innocence Project took up Joshua Spriestersbach's case, it has received national coverage though many of the details remain hidden from public view. Along with clearing Spriestersbach's name, the Innocence Project is also demanding that "Thomas Castleberry" be removed from his list of aliases, something that could potentially lead to his being arrested in the future. Most officials associated with the case have refused to make any comments and the Innocence Project is accusing the Hawaiian government of "covering up their mistake."
For now, Mr, Spreisterbach is living with his sister and refuses to leave her ten-acre property. "He's so afraid that they're going to take him again," she said.
Comments