Haidl retrial underway

Marisa O’Neil

The judge in the retrial of a high-profile gang-rape case

unexpectedly cut the opening statement of a defense attorney short

Monday, saying it “blew right past” guidelines he’d set for his

courtroom.

Judge Francisco Briseno sent the jury out of his courtroom and

quietly but firmly admonished defense attorney Joseph Cavallo for

bringing up details of the sexual history of a girl that his client,

Greg Haidl, and two others are accused of sexually assaulting. That

came less than 20 minutes into Cavallo’s expected two hours speaking

to the jury and after he had described her to the jury as a

compulsive liar and a drug dealer.

“It pains me that I have to get involved at this point in the

proceedings,” Briseno told Cavallo.

Briseno cited the state’s rape shield law, which is meant to

protect the sexual history of rape victims. He warned Cavallo that,

despite extensive discussions over what could and could not be stated

during the opening statements, it seemed the attorney was “not

willing to comply with the court.”

The judge then brought the jurors back into the courtroom and told

them that opening arguments had concluded.

Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton, who is prosecuting

the case, said it was the strongest statement he’d seen the judge

make.

“I’ve never seen him with this intensity,” Middleton said. “I’ve

never seen a judge shut down a defense attorney in opening

statements.”

Cavallo said he will appear in Briseno’s courtroom today in an

attempt to have the judge allow his opening statements. He declined

to discuss the incident further on Monday evening.

Haidl, the 19-year-old son of former Orange County assistant

sheriff Don Haidl, and Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both 20, are

accused of raping an allegedly unconscious 16-year-old girl in 2002

and sexually assaulting her with various objects. Briseno declared a

mistrial in the case last year after jurors could not reach a

verdict.

During the first trial, defense attorneys portrayed the girl,

known only as Jane Doe, as a wild, promiscuous girl who willingly

participated in the videotaped incident. The defense followed the

same tack Monday.

“It was a hyper-speed sexcapade on the part of four children,”

Cavallo said Monday before the judge’s admonishment.

Prosecutors began Monday’s opening statements describing to jurors

a 16-year-old girl that was so intoxicated when the three boys had

sex with her, that she was like a “rag doll” and a “lifeless figure”

during the incident, which took place at a July 5, 2002 party at Don

Haidl’s Corona del Mar home.

“This is a person who was too intoxicated to function as a human

being, much less give consent,” Middleton said.

He described Doe as an “enigma,” a girl who was bright and

outgoing, but sexual at an early age. She had consensual sexual

encounters with each of the three defendants before the night in

question, but the boys, who were 17 at the time, “wanted more.”

Middleton told the jury that the defendants “crossed the line

between outrageous behavior and criminal conduct.” Doe became

incapacitated after drinking a glass of straight gin, some beer and

smoking some marijuana and was still exhausted from a night of

partying with the boys the night before, he said.

He described to the eight-man, four-woman jury details of the

videotaped incident. The jurors will have to watch the tape made by

defendants, which Middleton said includes scenes of them sexually

assaulting the girl with a Snapple bottle, pool cue and lighted

cigarette.

“The video was a trophy,” he said. “It was also their undoing.”

John Barnett, Nachreiner’s attorney, said during his opening

statements that Doe was faking unconsciousness and could have said

“no” if she had wanted to.

Before opening statements began, Briseno excused juror No. 6, an

aide for Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe. The juror asked to

be excused after he found out Knabe had received a campaign

contribution from Don Haidl.

The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday with Doe as the

prosecution’s first witness.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].