A bizarre case of mistaken identity that landed a then-homeless man in jail and later caused him to be confined in Hawaiʻi State Hospital for more than two years will cost the state $200,000 under a proposed legal settlement.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Joshua Spriestersbach, 54, alleges he told his lawyers with the state Office of the Public Defender time and again he was not the man named in the warrant that prompted his arrest on May 11, 2017 — to no avail.
He was not released from the state hospital until Jan. 17, 2020 after medical staff at the hospital finally confirmed he was Spriestersbach, not a convicted felon named Thomas R. Castleberry as authorities had believed…