Final arguments focus on video

Marisa O’Neil and Elia Powers

A videotape three teens made of an alleged gang rape holds the truth

of what happened during the July 2002 incident, attorneys for each

side said Wednesday during closing arguments.

The prosecutor and two defense attorneys in the trial of Kyle

Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both now 20, and Greg Haidl, the

19-year-old son of former sheriff’s official Don Haidl, asked jurors

to carefully analyze the roughly 20-minute video of the alleged rape.

Each attorney claimed it would prove his case.

Lifting a handheld camera on numerous occasions, Chief Assistant

Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton began his hour-long closing statement

Wednesday by telling jurors that the videotape was all the evidence

they needed to convict the defendants. Prosecutors contend that the

tape shows the defendants, then 17, raping an unconscious 16-year-old

girl and sexually assaulting her with various objects -- including a

pool cue, a Snapple bottle and a lighted cigarette -- on a pool table

in the garage of Haidl’s Corona del Mar home.

“This doesn’t lie,” Middleton said as he held up the camcorder.

Defense attorney Joseph Cavallo countered that the tape clearly

shows the defendants’ innocence. The videotaped actions of the

16-year-old alleged victim, called Jane Doe in court, showed that she

was a conscious and a willing participant, Cavallo told the jurors.

“That tape is a piece of evidence that, although disgusting, is

embraced by the defense,” Cavallo said.

Jurors viewed the videotape last month. In accordance with Judge

Francisco Briseno’s orders, it has not been shown to courtroom

observers.

But on Wednesday, while Cavallo pointed out on a freeze-frame of

the tape that Doe had a pillow behind her head on the pool table, the

image was visible on a monitor facing the courtroom audience.

It remained on the monitor for about 30 seconds before an observer

pointed out the mistake. The video technician quickly turned off the

monitor.

The defense continued its attack on Doe throughout its closing

arguments, pointing out inconsistencies in her testimony. Doe was a

“conniving, dishonest, lying young lady,” Cavallo told jurors.

“This girl is a train wreck waiting to happen, and these boys are

right in her path,” Cavallo said.

Defense attorney John Barnett attacked prosecution claims that Doe

passed out from drinking too much on the night of the alleged rape.

Doe was a heavy drinker and partyer, who claimed to lose her common

sense when intoxicated, he said.

“Liquor becomes her trump card,” Barnett said. “‘I don’t remember’

becomes her mantra.”

Middleton admitted that Doe had made more mistakes in her life

than a normal teenager, but he advised jurors to ignore the defense

team’s attempt to put the emphasis on her drinking patterns and

sexual history.

“You have to remember, it’s what they [the defendants] did, not

who she is,” he said repeatedly.

“The defense tried as hard as they could to convince you to hate

Jane Doe.... Don’t let this override justice.”

Middleton repeated his claim that the defendants were cognizant of

their early-morning sexual escapades. He said the three young men

were snickering on the videotape, and the camerawork was steady,

demonstrating they were in control of their actions.

He added that there is no way Doe could have faked being

unconscious on the videotape, which he said doesn’t show her speaking

or moaning.

Staring directly at the jurors, Middleton reminded the eight men

and four women that it doesn’t matter whether Doe was forced to

drink, or whether she would have otherwise consented to sex.

Closing arguments are expected to continue today, and the case may

go to the jury by the end of the day or early next week.

* 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.