Jury sees videotape of gang rape

Marisa O’Neil

One juror appeared to cringe, some took notes and others stared

blankly as they watched a videotape in court Thursday that

prosecutors say shows three teenage boys gang-raping an unconscious

16-year-old girl.

The tape, a key piece of evidence in the retrial of now

19-year-old Greg Haidl and Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both 20,

was shown Thursday on four small, flat-screen monitors and one large

one in Judge Francisco Briseno’s courtroom. As in the case’s first

trial, which ended with a hung jury, those monitors were out of view

of courtroom observers.

Prosecutors say the last 21 minutes of the hour-long video tape,

recorded on Haidl’s camera, show the defendants raping the girl on a

pool table in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s father, Don Haidl,

who was an assistant sheriff in Orange County until his resignation

last year. The July 2002 videotape also shows them sexually

assaulting her with various objects, including a Snapple bottle, a

lighted cigarette and a pool cue, prosecutors said.

During jury selection, Haidl defense attorney Joseph Cavallo

warned the eight-man, four-woman jury and alternates that the tape

was “filthy.” Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton advised

jurors to view it in a clinical manner.

Jurors watched the tape in the darkened courtroom Thursday

morning. All stared intently at the monitors.

Some took notes. One man leaned forward in his seat, toward the

monitor. Another man rested his forehead in his left hand.

One woman in the front row seemed to cringe and occasionally

looked away. A woman who told attorneys during jury selection that

she would find it “difficult to watch,” sat up straight in her seat

and squinted at the large monitor to the right of the jury box.

Nachreiner and Spann looked down the entire time, scribbling

notes. Greg Haidl occasionally glanced at the monitor and at the

jurors.

The courtroom stayed quiet except for the rap music played in the

background of the video and occasional male laughter and voices.

At one point, a male voice on the tape said, “pool table, pool

table.”

The room fell silent when the video ended. One female juror wiped

an eye, and a male juror rubbed his eyes.

Earlier portions of the tape were also shown to the courtroom

audience. In one segment, the videographer chides Nachreiner --

holding what appears to be a cup of beer at a party -- and dares him

to jump off a balcony.

Another shows Greg Haidl and other students nervously giggling

their way through a school project -- a mock news report based on “Of

Mice and Men.” In another segment, recorded with a wide-angle,

fisheye lens, a skateboarder repeatedly attempts the same trick,

occasionally landing it.

Another portion of the video not in view of spectators shows

consensual sex between the alleged victim, known in court as Jane

Doe, and Spann about a week before the incident in question,

according to attorneys.

Doe testified earlier that she did not know Spann was recording

and, when she realized he was, told him to turn it off. Newport Beach

police Det. John Hougan testified on Tuesday that when he seized the

video camera from Greg Haidl’s bedroom, it had black electrical tape

over the light that indicates when it is recording.

Also on Tuesday, a forensic scientist testified that he found

genetic material from Doe and Spann on clothes she wore that night

and on the felt of the pool table, collected a few days after the

incident.

Police started investigating the case when friends of Greg Haidl

found the tape and turned it in.

In his opening statements, Middleton called the video a “trophy,”

but added, “It was also their undoing.”

Doe testified that she passed out at the Haidl home after drinking

a beer and a glass of 94-proof gin and did not give consent to the

defendants. Defense attorneys contend that Doe was a promiscuous hard

drinker with a high tolerance for alcohol and willingly took part in

the encounter.

Each of the defendants faces up to 23 years in prison if

convicted.

The case is due back in court starting Tuesday. Prosecutors are

expected to rest their case by the end of the day Tuesday.

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

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