MISTRIAL Jury deadlocked

Deepa Bharath

An Orange County jury hopelessly deadlocked on a high-profile

gang-rape case Monday afternoon, forcing the judge to declare a

mistrial.

The eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated for close to 15 hours

before sending a note to the judge stating that they were unable to

reach a verdict.

Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle

Nachreiner and Keith Spann were accused of raping an unconscious

16-year-old and sexually assaulting her with various objects as she

lay on a pool table in the garage of the assistant sheriff’s Corona

del Mar home.

The defendants also captured the July 5, 2002, incident on

videotape. The 20-minute tape was played to jurors, who watched it in

its entirety and in parts during their deliberations.

The defense maintained that the girl, identified only as Jane Doe

throughout the trial, came to the Haidls’ home in Spyglass Hill with

the intention of having sex with the boys. Jane Doe, who took the

stand for the prosecution, testified that she had consensual sex a

day before the incident with two of the defendants. Attorneys,

however, said she had sex with all three boys the night of July 4.

On Monday, families of the defendants reacted with raw emotion as

the judge declared a mistrial and sent jurors home. Nachreiner’s

mother sobbed uncontrollably as she hugged her son.

The Haidl family, many of whom were present throughout the trial,

embraced the assistant sheriff.

Judge Francisco Briseno called jurors out and asked them

individually if there was any point in proceeding with the

deliberations. Each juror replied “no.” One juror shook his head and

said: “No chance.”

The jury’s foreperson told the judge that all jurors had “strong

convictions” and stuck to their respective positions.

Jurors ruled 11-1 not guilty on the first four counts, which is

two counts each of rape by intoxication and oral copulation by

intoxication. They were split on all others, voting 3-5-4 -- not

guilty, guilty, undecided -- on most of the remaining 20 counts.

The defendants were charged with a total of 24 felony counts and

could have faced up to 55 years in state prison, if convicted.

Jurors, who rushed out of the packed courtroom and the courthouse

escorted by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies, said they were

reluctant to discuss the case.

One juror, who wouldn’t identify himself, stopped to say that it

was a tough deliberation, which was going nowhere.

“I’ve been on many juries,” he said. “This is by far the worst

case I’ve had to serve on as a juror.”

Others would not comment about the jury’s votes or why they were

unable to reach a verdict.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schroeder, speaking on behalf of

prosecutor Dan Hess, said the prosecution was disappointed with the

jurors’ inability to reach a verdict.

“Before we make a decision on whether to refile the case, we’re

going to take a good look at what these jurors had to say,” she said.

The district attorney may have to look at tactical decisions that

were made this time and consider a different approach, Schroeder

said.

“We may have to sever defendants and try them separately,” she

said.

Schroeder said she believes that another jury may look at the same

case from a different perspective and come up with a verdict.

“We’ve retried some cases up to three times and got a conviction,”

she said. “I wouldn’t read too much into how this jury decided

today.”

That said, Schroeder said she was surprised that the jurors were

not convinced by the videotape, which the prosecution has said was

its key piece of evidence. The defense has maintained that the tape

is a copy and is incomplete.

“The videotape I’ve seen is extremely disturbing,” she said. “It

shows a Jane Doe who is out the entire duration. It’s hard to

speculate why this jury saw it the other way.”

Greg Haidl and Spann left the courthouse without making comments.

Nachreiner said he was disappointed that the jury did not come up

with a “not guilty” verdict, but added that he came into this trial

“expecting the worst.”

“I don’t want to see myself ever in this position again,” he said.

“But if I have to face another trial, I’m going to. I’m not going to

run. I’m not going to hide.”

The trial brought his family together, Nachreiner said.

“My parents are divorced,” he said. “But this brought them back

together. They were here for me every single day. They and my family

have been here to support me, and if they have to do it again,

they’ll be back here for me.”

It has been a tremendous learning experience for him, Nachreiner

said.

“It’s taught me to be safe and to think about consequences and

think before you act,” he said. “Always think what the best-case

scenario is and what the worst-case scenario is.”

Haidl’s attorney, Joseph Cavallo, said that this is an

“opportunity for the D.A. to do real justice and not retry the case.”

“A lot of people have gone through a lot for the last two years,”

he said. “It would be an injustice to put these four teenagers and

their families through this again.”

Don Haidl said he and his family felt like a “huge, huge load has

been lifted off our shoulders.”

“My son’s going to sleep on his own bed tonight, and he’s going to

be safe,” he said.

Greg Haidl was shaking after the judge declared a mistrial, his

father said.

“He has shed a lot of tears,” Don Haidl said.

Neither he nor his son want to think about the possible retrial,

he said.

“It’s not on our minds, not tonight,” Don Haidl said. “Given a

chance, Greg can be a great asset to society. I know he’s dying to

have a life, a family and put all this behind him.”

Nachreiner’s attorney, John Barnett, said it would be tough for

any jury to come to a decision on this case.

“Twelve people wouldn’t be able to agree because of the emotional

component,” he said.

Barnett said the testimony of neurologist Harris Fisk and

colorectal surgeon Marvin Corman provided key testimonies in the

trial.

“They were absolutely unemotional and objective and simply

reported the physical findings and that was very important for the

defense,” he said. “Eleven jurors agreed that Jane Doe was awake and

alert.”

Fisk testified that he looked at the tape and observed that Jane

Doe was conscious during the incident. Corman took the stand and said

that the only physical injury the girl suffered was caused by the

examining nurses, not the defendants.

Attorney Pete Morreale, who spoke on behalf of his client, Spann,

said Spann and his family were “relieved.”

“He’s just a kid,” he said. “And this was terribly emotional. He

doesn’t show much emotion. He internalizes it.”

Earlier in the day, jurors came up with one more question for

Judge Briseno asking him if they were required “to arrive at the same

conclusion on all the counts.”

“Some jurors have the opinion that Jane Doe had less or no

‘ability to resist’ later in the tape, which changes their opinion on

the later charges,” the jury’s foreman wrote.

Briseno instructed the jury that they were not required to arrive

at the same conclusion on all the “intoxication counts.”

“You’re asked to decide each count and each defendant separately,”

he wrote. “It is for the jury to decide if there is a state of

increased levels of intoxication during the period of time of the

first alleged sexual act until the last act is alleged to have been

completed.”

Defense attorneys objected to the judge’s reply stating that the

last part of the instruction “interjected into the jury’s

deliberations.” Morreale asked for a mistrial and was joined by three

other defense attorneys in his request to which the judge replied:

“It’s denied, four times.”

Jurors watched the concluding portion of the tape one last time

shortly after 2 p.m. before informing the judge about the deadlock.

The prosecution, which relied heavily on the videotape, had

maintained that the list of charges were like a program guide to the

alleged crimes that were caught on tape.

Schroeder said prosecutors felt sorry for Jane Doe and her family.

“Our hearts go out to Jane Doe,” she said. “She’s a very young

girl. She’s a real person who’s had her name smeared. She’s

somebody’s daughter and somebody’s sister.”

Briseno set a pretrial date for Aug. 6, if the district attorney

decides to retry the case.

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

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