Accuser in assault case hires Haidl’s attorney

Marisa O’Neil

An attorney for a defendant in a high-profile gang-rape case

announced Tuesday that he also is representing the woman in an

alleged assault by a cab driver that occurred this month.

The woman, a 36-year-old Placentia resident, hired attorney Joseph

Cavallo after prosecutors held off on filing charges against

42-year-old taxi driver Rodney Cornell Carter, pending further

investigation. Cavallo also represents 19-year-old Greg Haidl, one of

three boys accused of raping an unconscious, 16-year-old girl in 2002

in the Corona del Mar home of his father, former county assistant

sheriff Don Haidl.

If the Orange County district attorney’s office does not pursue

the case against Carter, Cavallo said, he will hold them responsible

for “selectively prosecuting” cases.

Cavallo last week filed a motion asking the district attorney’s

office to recuse itself from the Haidl case, citing prosecutorial

misconduct.

The taxi incident allegedly took place just after midnight on Nov.

16, when the woman, who’d been drinking at Goat Hill Tavern with

friends, got into Carter’s 1-800-4-MY-TAXI cab. Friends at a Wallace

Avenue apartment found her passed out and partially unclothed in the

back of the cab about 20 minutes later.

Costa Mesa Police arrested Carter at the scene. An arraignment

scheduled two days later was canceled, and Carter was released so

investigators could build a case, Orange County Dist. Atty. spokesman

Mark Macaulay said last week.

The woman and the cab driver did have sexual contact, according to

police. Carter is claiming that the two had consensual sex, Cavallo

said.

“There’s no way this woman, in 20 minutes, passed-out intoxicated,

consented to [sex with] an absolute stranger,” Cavallo said.

Cavallo said he will file lawsuits next week against Carter, the

cab company and the apartment complex the woman was traveling to. The

incident occurred in a darkened alley, where the landlord had been

told to replace a motion-sensing light.

Prosecutors are still in the process of reviewing the case and

conducting investigations, Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schroeder said.

“Every case has specific facts and issues, and we’re going to

review this case like every other case, regardless of who is

representing the victim,” Schroeder said. “The facts will drive

whether we file this case or not.”

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

reached at (714) 966-4618 or at marisa.oneil@latimes.com.