Hiring former jurors is a destructive path

If our senses hadn’t been shocked enough in the case of Gregory

Haidl, the teen accused of joining his two friends in a gang rape of

a 16-year-old girl at his father’s house two years ago, we just

weren’t prepared for what was next.

What was next came as Haidl was arrested again on suspicion of

statutory rape with another 16-year-old, who he met at a party his

assistant-sheriff father, Don, threw for him. And then came the

stunning announcement by his on-again, off-again attorney, Joseph

Cavallo, that some jurors from the rape trial that resulted in a hung

jury would be hired by the defense as consultants.

“I’ve been handling criminal cases for 30 years,” said Dist. Atty.

Tony Rackauckas. “I’ve been a judge. But I’ve never seen or heard of

a defense team hiring jurors.”

Nor have we.

But as we’ve learned time and time again in the Haidl case, lots

of things we see are unheard of.

Cavallo is by most accounts a shrewd and talented lawyer. The

ending result of the trial in a hung jury is evidence of that alone.

With the prosecution in possession of a graphic videotape of the

three boys having sex with a seemingly unconscious 16-year-old known

as Jane Doe and using objects such as Snapple bottles, pool cues and

cigarettes on her in a sexual manner, it seemed that a conviction was

imminent.

When that ended up an acquittal vote of 11-1, leading to a

mistrial, the brashness and cunning of Haidl’s legal team, which

included Cavallo, Pete Scalisi and the well-known John Barnett,

deserved much credit.

But do we need to be taken down such dubious and circus-like

paths?

Cavallo brought multiple calls for mistrials, each one of them

dismissed. He leveled a ferocious, verbal attack on Jane Doe that

left many observers inside and outside the courtroom queasy.

His character also was called into question as he was accused of

offering an internship to a defense witness, and was barred from

bringing in another defense witness who was an admitted porn star.

We don’t have a problem with the younger Haidl and the other

defendants, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann getting the best defense

possible. But the idea that a best defense means making a mockery of

our justice system is plain over the top.

As we move toward the next trial, we’d like to make a plea for a

little less shock and sensationalism and a little more civility and

decorum.

Discontinuing the practice of hiring jurors as consultants would

go a long way toward that goal.