Teenagers face retrial on rape charges

Deepa Bharath

Three teenagers, including the son of an Orange County assistant

sheriff will be retried on rape charges, the Orange County district

attorney announced on Tuesday.

The jury, in what turned out to be a high-profile case spanning

two months, hopelessly deadlocked on Monday, forcing Judge Francisco

Briseno to declare a mistrial.

Prosecutors accused Greg Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant

Sheriff Don Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann of raping an

unconscious 16-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her with various

objects including a Snapple bottle, a fruit juice can, a lighted

cigarette and a pool cue.

The prosecution’s key piece of evidence was a 20-minute digital

videotape the defendants had made of the July 5, 2002, incident that

reportedly occurred in Don Haidl’s Corona del Mar home.

Jurors deliberated for close to 15 hours, viewed the tape several

times and asked the judge questions about his instructions before

they sent a note to Briseno on Monday afternoon saying that they had

no hope of reaching a consensus.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said on Tuesday

that retrying the case “is a matter of getting justice for a victim.”

“We can’t tolerate conduct where a young woman is passed out and

people have sex with her unconscious body,” he said.

Rackauckas said he is “disappointed but not discouraged” by the

trial’s outcome.

“This kind of result in a trial is definitely a setback,” he said.

“But we need to proceed on the case and get positive results. We need

to send a message to other young men that just because a girl is

promiscuous that doesn’t give them the license to do what they want

to her.”

The girl, now 18 and identified during the trial only as Jane Doe,

testified for the prosecution during the trial. Defense attorneys

maintained that the girl was known in her circles for her promiscuity

and wild behavior and that she had sex with at least two of the

defendants a day before the incident. They said she came back the

next day for more sex and that she performed the acts willingly.

Greg Haidl’s lead attorney, Joseph Cavallo, said the district

attorney was refiling his case to salvage his faltering political

image.

“This case is not about some victim, who doesn’t exist,” he said.

“This case is all about Tony Rackauckas.”

But Rackauckas said he and his deputies believe Jane Doe was raped

and abused by the three teens.

“Jane Doe has suffered a great deal,” he said. “She’s telling us

she’ll do what it takes to get justice. She is willing to cooperate

with us.”

This has been an unusual case because of the tremendous power and

influence wielded by Don Haidl, who had access to the best attorneys

and resources money could buy, Rackauckas said.

“This is the most aggressive defense for name-calling and abuse

that I’ve ever seen,” the district attorney said. “That seems to be

their tactic, but we’re not going to take it lying down. We’ll face

up to it and prevail.”

Cavallo said he has not been as aggressive as he wanted to be

because he was working with a team of other attorneys involving two

other defendants.

“I held back a lot,” he said. “I’ve been the one that has been

personally attacked throughout this case, both by the district

attorney’s office and the media.”

Cavallo said the emotional case has bulldozed many lives and that

it will do the same damage all over again.

“Whether it’s severed or not, lives are ruined and people are

distraught,” he said.

Rackauckas said his office is taking a closer look at the case and

will make important decisions about the case, including whether to

drop some of the counts. The defendants faced 24 felony counts.

“The jury voted 11-1 to acquit on the first four counts,” he said.

“We’ll be taking a close look at those counts.”

But it’s too early to say whether the case will be watered down

the second time around, Rackauckas said.

Newport Beach Police, who investigated the case, will cooperate

with the district attorney to help retry the case, Sgt. Steve Shulman

said.

Defense attorneys criticized the Newport Beach Police Department,

saying that they conducted a sloppy investigation, fleshing out a

case where there was none.

Shulman said the case was legitimate.

“We believe the investigation was done well,” he said. “We don’t

know what the jury was thinking. But we don’t believe that our

investigation caused the mistrial. But if we learn later that it did,

then that’s something we could learn from.”

Rackauckas said despite the defense’s characterization of the tape

as incomplete and a copy, he believes that it’s still the smoking gun

in this case.

“The result of this trial doesn’t shake my belief in the

evidence,” he said. “The acts that are charged are caught on tape.

It’s hard for us to understand why the jury didn’t see it that way,

but as days go by, maybe it’ll become clearer. We’re just not there

yet.”

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

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.