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Haidl Defense Attorney Leaves Case

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Times Staff Writer

Citing mistreatment by prosecutors and the press, the lead attorney for an Orange County assistant sheriff’s son accused in the alleged videotaped rape of a teenage girl said Wednesday that he has left the case to spend more time with his children.

“They’ve gone through a lot,” Joseph Cavallo said of his children, who, he added, were “really upset” by some media coverage of the case.

After being subjected to “every conceivable dishonorable tactic in order to take my focus away from the case,” Cavallo said, “now I need to focus ... on my kids so that I will not lose this precious time with my children.”

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The lawyer’s announcement came just one day after the Orange County district attorney’s office said that it would refile rape charges against Gregory Scott Haidl, son of Assistant Orange County Sheriff Don Haidl; Kyle Joseph Nachreiner; and Keith James Spann, all 19. On Monday, a Superior Court judge declared a mistrial in the case after a jury said it was “hopelessly deadlocked.”

Cavallo said that when he told the elder Haidl of his decision, he was asked to reconsider.

In truth, though, he said, “it’s an easy decision -- my children always come first.”

Though sparse on specifics, Cavallo mentioned one OC Weekly article that he said had particularly bothered him and his children: an account describing him as one “who spits out 17-year-old girls.”

Cavallo -- who is planning a trip to Italy with his family -- said the Haidl case will be taken over by his co-counsel, Pete Scalisi.

“They’ll never win this,” he predicted of the district attorney’s office. “It will be worse for them this time around.”

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