Rape case jurors were quizzed

Marisa O’Neil

Prospective jurors in a high-profile gang-rape case answered queries

in a 23-page questionnaire, released this week, about their views on

teen sex and drug use and about the media exposure the case has

received.

A jury of eight men, four women and three alternates has already

heard the first three days of the case, but Orange County Superior

Court Judge Francisco Briseno did not release the questionnaire until

Wednesday, two weeks after the jury was selected. Only blank copies

of the 100-question document were made public.

The juror questionnaire in another high-profile case -- the

Michael Jackson child-molestation case in Santa Barbara County -- is

eight pages and 41 questions long. Jury selection in that case is not

yet complete.

The lengthy questionnaire helped speed up the process of jury

selection, said John Barnett, attorney for 20-year-old Kyle

Nachreiner, one of three defendants in the case. The court

pre-screened nearly 800 jurors last month and whittled that down to

some 120 who filled out the questionnaires.

Interviews of prospective jurors took a day and a half before a

jury was impaneled.

“That made it a lot faster,” Barnett said of the lengthy

questionnaires. “A lot of questions didn’t have to be asked

individually. Most of the work was done in the evaluation of the

questionnaires.”

The first trial of 19-year-old Greg Haidl, Nachreiner and

20-year-old Keith Spann -- on charges they gang-raped an allegedly

unconscious 16-year-old girl in 2002 -- ended with a hung jury. The

case generated enormous publicity, at least partially due to the

position of Greg Haidl’s father, Don Haidl, who was an Orange County

Assistant Sheriff at the time.

That publicity, though small compared to that of the Jackson case,

raised concerns among attorneys that the jury pool in Orange County

was tainted.

The questionnaire in the gang-rape retrial asked prospective

jurors what, if anything, they had heard about the case and if they

had formed opinions on it. And if they had, it continued, could they

put those aside and make a decision based on the evidence alone?

It also asked them to identify their primary sources of news.

“The questions were on the sensitive matter of the trial and

whether they had preconceived notions they could not put aside,” said

Deputy Dist. Atty. Susan Schroeder.

Other questions ask jurors how common they feel date rape is in

our society and how common group sex is among teenagers. Jurors with

children were asked if their children drank alcohol, smoked

marijuana, engaged in sexual behavior or visited pornographic

websites as teenagers.

“Would you be able to watch a videotape that shows foreign objects

being inserted into the body of a teenage girl and still a remain

fair and impartial juror throughout the entire trial?” one entry on

the questionnaire reads.

A videotape of the July 2002 incident is a key piece of evidence

in the case. The three defendants are accused of sexually assaulting

the girl with objects including a Snapple bottle, a pool cue and a

lighted cigarette.

The jury had this week off because of one member’s

previously-scheduled vacation. The trial is scheduled to resume

Tuesday with defense attorneys continuing their cross-examination of

Jane Doe, the alleged victim.