Lesser jail time requested

Lawyers for the three young men convicted of sexually assaulting an

unconscious 16-year-old girl asked an Orange County Superior Court

judge Friday that their clients be sentenced as juveniles.

Greg Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann were tried as adults

and convicted in March of sexual assault. The defendants were

acquitted on rape charges but were convicted of multiple charges of

sexual penetration by a foreign object.

Haidl was convicted of six counts, Spann of five, and Nachreiner

of four.

Haidl, the son of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don

Haidl, and the other two defendants were under 18 in 2002, when the

incident was videotaped at the Haidl home in Corona del Mar. All

three are now 20.

They will be evaluated, and a hearing to decide whether they will

be sentenced as adults or juveniles is set for Sept. 30.

If sentenced as juveniles, the maximum sentence would put them in

the California Youth Authority until they are 21 or for two years

from the date the sentence begins, said defense attorney John

Barnett, who represents Nachreiner.

The defense believes all three men should be sentenced as

juveniles because they were juveniles when the incident occurred,

Barnett said.

Chief Assistant District Atty. Chuck Middleton disagrees.

“The crimes for which they were convicted, to me, dictate an adult

sentence,” Middleton said out of court Friday.

Middleton declined to comment on the length of sentence he will

seek if the judge rules that the defendants will be sentenced as

adults.

The maximum prison sentence is 18 years for Haidl, 16 for Spann,

and 14 for Nachreiner.

Tuesday, Judge Francisco Briseno denied a new trial to Spann.

Briseno denied the other two defendants a new trial July 24. Briseno

issued a ruling on Spann’s request separately because Spann’s lawyer

was not in court last week.

* LAUREN VANE covers public safety and courts. She may be reached

at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at lauren.vane@latimes.com.