A man who was wrongfully detained for years in a psychiatric hospital in Hawaii has been awarded $975,000 in damages.
Joshua Spriessterbach, who was living on the streets at the time, was arrested back in 2017 for drug-related crimes that were actually committed by someone else named Thomas Castleberry, as court documents indicate.
This whole ordeal began several years ago when Spriessterbach, now 54, was found sleeping at Kawananakoa Junior High School in Punchbowl and mistakenly provided the police with a different name.
During the encounter, he didn’t give his first name and instead used his grandfather’s last name, Castleberry.
Upon checking, the police found an old warrant from 2009 for Thomas Castleberry, who had multiple drug charges against him.
Subsequently, Spriessterbach was arrested but failed to show up for court.
Fast forward to years later, he was approached by police again outside the Safe Haven Shelter in Chinatown and arrested pursuant to an outstanding warrant because Castleberry’s name had been linked to him as an alias.
Even though he repeatedly stated he was not Castleberry, Spriessterbach spent four months at Oahu Community Correctional Center and over two years at Hawaii State Hospital before his release in January 2020.
His lawsuit claims that, “Before January 2020, no one acted on the information available to us to determine that Joshua was telling the truth and that he was not Thomas R. Castleberry.”
The lawsuit argues that instead, authorities concluded that Spriessterbach was delusional and incompetent simply because he wouldn’t admit to being Castleberry or acknowledge Castleberry’s criminal activities.
Recently, the Honolulu City Council approved a settlement of $975,000 for Spriessterbach. Additionally, he may receive $200,000 from the state to settle legal claims involving Hawaii’s public defender’s office.
As for comments, the Hawaii Police Department and the mayor’s office haven’t responded to inquiries.
