A man who spent two years wrongfully detained in a Hawai’i state psychiatric hospital due to a case of mistaken identity is set to receive a payout of $975,000 from the City and County of Honolulu.

Joshua Spriestersbach, who was homeless at the time, was arrested for crimes committed by another man, Thomas Castleberry.

The error began in 2011 when Spriestersbach, then sleeping at Kawananakoa Middle School, was asked for his name by an officer.

He reportedly withheld his first name, providing only his grandfather’s surname: Castleberry.

The officer subsequently found a 2009 warrant for Thomas Castleberry and arrested Spriestersbach, despite his protests that he was not the man sought.

Although the bench warrant for Spriestersbach was later dropped after he missed a court date, the mistaken identity continued to plague him.

In 2015, Honolulu Police Department (HPD) officers again encountered Spriestersbach. While they confirmed through fingerprints that he was not Thomas Castleberry, the police department’s records were never updated, according to a lawsuit filed by Spriestersbach in 2021.

This failure to correct records culminated in his 2017 arrest while he was waiting for food outside a Chinatown facility. He was once more apprehended for Castleberry’s outstanding warrant.

Spriestersbach endured four months at O’ahu Community Correctional Centre before being transferred to the Hawai’i State Hospital, where he remained for over two years until his release on 17 January 2020.

His complaint alleges that police officers, public defenders, and health workers all had opportunities to rectify the error but failed to do so.

“Prior to January 2020, not a single person acted on the available information to determine that Joshua was telling the truth – that he was not Thomas R. Castleberry,” the complaint states.

“Instead, they determined that Joshua was delusional and incompetent just because he refused to admit that he was Thomas R. Castleberry and refused to acknowledge Thomas R. Castleberry’s crimes.”

The lawsuit further contends that city practices, particularly the failure to properly identify homeless and mentally ill individuals and to correct erroneous records, were “the moving force” behind his wrongful arrest and detention.

A majority of Honolulu council members approved the city settlement last Wednesday, though one member voted with reservations.

Spriestersbach may also receive an additional $200,000 settlement from the state to resolve legal claims against the Hawai’i public defender’s office.

Lawyers for Spriestersbach, HPD, and the mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.