Whiffs of defenses, endings

A pair of above-the-fold police cases in Newport Beach crowds the

notepad this week. The first would be the shocking and despicable

gang-rape case that’s hogged the headlines in these parts for two

weeks now. The other is the nearly forgotten and soon-to-conclude

investigation surrounding the March 24 in-line skating accident that

ultimately took the life of resident Gary Holdren.

The headliner last week unfolded in Orange County Superior Court.

It’s there where Gregory Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann --

the trio of 17-year-old young men accused of drugging and gang-raping

a 16-year-old in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s father -- pleaded

not guilty to 21 felony counts stemming from the July 5 videotaped

incident. The charges include rape, rape by a foreign object and

administering a drug to incapacitate the victim.

Now in these kinds of cases involving sex crimes and other acts of

depravity against women, it’s always quite interesting to see just

how soon the accused will be marketed as an acolyte and the victim as

some kind of consenting strumpet. In this case it didn’t take long.

Following the arraignment, separate attorneys representing Spann

and Haidl -- the son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl --

engaged in a subtle media play clearly designed to position their

clients as choir boys and the victim as a consenting, smitten kitten.

Haidl attorney Joseph Cavallo called his imp-faced client “my boy”

and claimed him the “least culpable of any of them.” In earlier press

reports, Cavallo had characterized Haidl as a good “boy” who “does

his chores,” “respects his mother” and “loves his family very much.”

And so we have the image of some cherub in untied P.F. Flyers and a

propeller hat. An innocent bystander chewing on a Tootsie Pop while

his buddies are chucking rocks through the school window.

Spann’s attorney, Ann Cunningham, chose the same unseemly tack.

“All I’ve heard is he is quiet, polite and respectful,” she said in

post-arraignment spin. She, too, in earlier press accounts gushed on

about her client’s “great relationship with his mother and his

grandmother. He’s a very shy, respectful young man.”

And then came this stinky bit of grimy gossip: “I understand the

victim,” Cunningham said, “likes him (Spann) a lot too.”

This, to my way of thinking, clearly put the Harlot Defense in

play, and foretold Friday’s news that at least one of the attorneys

representing the troika of “boys” believes the sex was consensual.

I’m not sure how one consents to sex when comatose, but we’ll see.

Now I’m kicking all of this around not so much to get some licks

in on these three young men who find themselves swamped in trouble,

and whom I presume to be innocent until proved otherwise. Rather,

it’s this shameless brand of pretrial flacking and bank-shot

character assassination that has me gagging.

And I find it most unfortunate. I mean, I’ve had enough lifelong

friendships and casual acquaintances with some fine judges and

attorneys to know that not all practitioners of law are wretches and

scoundrels lacking inventory in the conscience department. But every

so often, a particular breed of barrister -- usually those who defend

the accused -- says or does something that just wants to make you

take a long, hot shower.

We close out this Wednesday’s entry noting the return of the Gary

Holdren case to the community radar screen. You’ll recall that it was

March 24 when the artificial-heart-valve salesman took a violent fall

while in-line skating on a Back Bay trail in Eastbluff. Some days

later, he died as a result of the massive head trauma suffered during

the fall.

Early press accounts -- constructed around initial statements made

by the Newport Beach police -- reported that Holdren’s fall was the

result of a barrage of paint-ball gunfire. That theory was later

withdrawn when the Orange County coroner concluded Holdren had not

been struck by paint-ball rounds.

Since then, the inquiry has been quietly moving along and has,

according to one source, included a police reenactment of the event.

It reportedly revealed that Holdren could not have been struck in

the eye with a paint-ball round, as had originally been theorized.

Had that occurred, he would have suffered massive damage to his

eye’s skeletal orbit and his face would been covered with paint. In

fact, the investigation is expected to report that no paint (except

perhaps for trace amounts) was found on Holdren and that the incident

will be deemed a skating accident.

The investigation’s conclusions are said to be included in a

report that was finished just last week. Newport Beach Police Sgt.

Steve Shulman said investigators will probably reveal their findings

within the next “day or two.”

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a writer and communications consultant. He

lives in Costa Mesa. Readers can reach him at byronwriter@msn.