Jury selection begins in teen gang rape case

Deepa Bharath

Jury selection began Monday morning in a high-profile gang rape case

involving three teens accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old

girl in the Corona del Mar home of an Orange County Assistant

Sheriff.

One hundred and fifty prospective jurors filled a Santa Ana

courtroom. About one-third of that group said they could not sit

through the trial, which is expected to begin on May 3 and continue

until June 25.

Prosecutors say Greg Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann

sexually assaulted the victim and captured the incident on video.

The remaining jurors sat down and filled out a questionnaire

containing 123 questions, said Joseph Cavallo, attorney for Haidl,

son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl. The incident

reportedly happened in the older Haidl’s Corona del Mar home in July

2002.

Cavallo declined to talk about the questionnaire, but Superior

Court Judge Francisco Briseno noted during a pre-trial hearing last

week that this was the “longest questionnaire I’ve ever seen.”

Briseno ruled that the attorneys must remove questions of a

personal nature from the list and also that they must strike out

specific questions relating to the 20-minute digital videotape of the

alleged rape.

Prosecutors consider the tape to be a key piece of evidence, while

defense attorneys call it “incomplete” and say it has been doctored

by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s officials.

Briseno ruled last week that the tape was fit to be admitted into

evidence. He also decided to allow the defense to use several aspects

of the victim’s sexual history to be included in the evidence.

Defense attorneys say that the girl had a sexual relationship with

all three defendants before the incident.

A total of 600 jurors are expected to come in this week, Cavallo

said. Attorneys will look at the filled-out questionnaires over the

weekend and then talk to jurors next week, he said.