Tape-sex three ‘rejected plea deal’

The three men sentenced to six-year prison terms for their involvement in the videotaped sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl would have received lighter sentences if they had worked out a deal with prosecutors, officials said Monday.

Lawyers for Greg Haidl ? the son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff ? Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner originally approached prosecutors with an offer to plead guilty to the sexual-assault charges in exchange for two-year prison sentences, said Susan Schroeder, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. The deal was offered after jurors deadlocked in an earlier trial. The district attorney’s office countered with a three-year prison term and Haidl and the other defendants agreed to the deal. But at the last minute, the three men pulled out of the deal and opening arguments for the second trial began.

“At the 11th hour, the defense came back to us and said they changed their mind and said they didn’t want to go through with it,” Schroeder said.

The district attorney’s office released the details of the plea deal in response to criticism from a newspaper column, Schroeder said. The district attorney’s office originally agreed to the deal to spare the victim, identified only as Jane Doe, from the experience of testifying in a second trial.

“The biggest thing we considered was Jane Doe and her welfare and we knew how terrible the cross-examination was going to be,” she said.

Schroeder said her office later approached Nachreiner’s attorney, John Barnett, offering his client one year in county jail and probation in exchange for testimony against Haidl and Spann.

“He turned that offer down because he didn’t want to be a rat,” Schroeder said.

The three were sentenced to six-year prison terms Friday, wrapping up the high profile four-year case that involved two trials and a legal dream team hired to defend the young men. Because of time served in county jail during and after the second trial, Haidl is expected to serve 21 more months behind bars, while Nachreiner and Spann will serve 2 ½ years each. Defense attorneys for the three are expected to appeal the sentence.

Authorities began investigating the case after a girlfriend of one of Haidl’s friends turned the videotape over to police. The videotape reportedly showed the three men sexually assaulting the girl with lighted cigarettes, a pool cue, a Snapple bottle and a juice can as she lay unconscious on a pool table. The girl testified that she had sex with both Spann and Haidl the day before the incident and had kissed Nachreiner. The entire affair took place at a home owned by Haidl’s father, a millionaire and well-known Orange County figure who has since resigned his post with the sheriff’s department.