Jury deliberates gang-rape case

Deepa Bharath

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday afternoon in a high-profile case

involving three teenagers accused of gang-raping an unconscious

16-year-old girl.

Prosecutors say Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff

Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann sexually assaulted the

girl, identified during the trial only as Jane Doe, with various

objects as she lay on a pool table in the assistant sheriff’s Corona

del Mar home. The defendants videotaped the incident.

The teenagers face 24 felony counts. If convicted, they could face

up to 55 years and four months in state prison. Prosecutors allege

that the girl passed out after drinking a mixed drink handed to her

by Nachreiner. Jane Doe testified that she didn’t remember anything

that happened after she downed the foul-tasting drink and chased it

with Seven-Up.

Attorneys from both sides wrapped up their closing arguments

Wednesday morning before a courtroom packed with members of the media

and the defendants’ families.

Spann’s attorney, Pete Morreale, followed the lead of Haidl’s

attorney, Joseph Cavallo, and Nachreiner’s attorney, John Barnett,

pointing out Jane Doe’s “wild” lifestyle.

“What if we had a videotape of July 4, [2002]?” he asked, facing

the jury. “What would that look like?”

The defense has maintained that Jane Doe initiated and

orchestrated the sexual encounter the night of July 5, 2002. The

girl, now 18, testified during the trial and admitted she had sex

with Greg Haidl and Spann a day before the incident.

Defense attorneys and Jane Doe’s former girlfriends said she also

had sex with Nachreiner in the pool at the Haidl residence on July 4,

minutes after she had met him for the first time. Jane Doe denied

having had sex with Nachreiner in the pool and said they only made

out.

Morreale assured jurors that the girl’s friends were telling the

truth about Jane Doe.

“She was their best friend at the time,” he said. “Why would they

fabricate lies against their friend if they believed she is the

victim of a crime?”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess, while presenting his rebuttal on

Wednesday, said the girls were no friends of Jane Doe’s. He said they

isolated her after the incident and chose to take the boys’ side.

“Those girls were here for three reasons -- the three defendants,”

the prosecutor said.

Hess said the girls talked to one another about their testimony

and reviewed Jane Doe’s statements in court and “made up facts” as

they went along. The girls testified that Jane Doe told them the boys

did not have to get her drunk for her to have sex with them, that she

would’ve done it anyway.

Morreale argued that the boys did not spike Jane Doe’s drink with

GHB or any drug associated with date rape as the prosecution alleged.

He criticized the testimony of the prosecution’s expert witness,

Trinka Porrata, who testified that what she saw on the videotape was

consistent with the actions of someone who had ingested GHB or a

similar drug.

The prosecution had no forensic evidence to prove that, Morreale

said.

“The only GHB we have here came out of the mouth of Trinka

Porrata,” he said. “It was a part of a scheme by the prosecution.”

Hess said the defense’s tactic throughout has been to divert

attention from the videotape, which he said is obviously the most

significant piece of evidence in the case.

“What’s truly offensive is that the defendants filmed it so they

could watch it later,” he said. “They transferred the tape to a

different camcorder so they could show it off to their friends.”

He said the defense was intentionally painting a picture of Jane

Doe to give the impression that she could’ve agreed to the sexual

acts.

“But advance consent is not a defense,” Hess said.

Judge Francisco Briseno instructed the jury as to what to consider

when deliberating before noon on Wednesday. The jury began

deliberating after lunch at 1:30 p.m. They are expected to continue

today.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].