Gang-Rape Testimony Challenged

Picking away at inconsistencies, defense attorneys challenged the credibility of a young woman who prosecutors say was gang-raped by three teenagers in the Corona del Mar home of a top Orange County sheriff’s official.

The 18-year-old woman, called Jane Doe in court proceedings, seemed unflappable during an aggressive cross-examination by Joseph Cavallo, one of the attorneys representing Gregory Haidl.

Haidl, 18, Keith James Spann and Kyle Nachreiner, both 19, each face up to 55 years in prison if convicted in the nearly 2-year-old incident.

While she maintained her composure, the woman’s testimony appeared to conflict with a statement she gave to Newport Beach detectives during a videotaped meeting with investigators several days after the alleged assault on July 6, 2002.

Two days before the incident, the woman has testified, she and a group of girls visited Haidl at the Corona del Mar home of his father, Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl. During that visit, she said, she had consensual sex with Gregory Haidl and her boyfriend, Spann, and spent the night with Spann in Gregory Haidl’s bedroom.

In the interview with Newport Beach detectives, the woman said she was not drunk that day. But under questioning by Cavallo, she said she was intoxicated the night she had sex with Haidl and Spann.

The woman testified Tuesday that Donald Haidl and his wife were at the house while she and the others drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and had sex. The defense appeared to be zeroing in on inconsistencies in her testimony or her interviews with police before questioning her about the crucial evidence in the case: a videotape of the three defendants having sex with the woman.

Prosecutors maintain that the woman -- who was 16 at the time -- was drugged and had slipped into unconsciousness when the youths allegedly raped and sexually assaulted her with items including a pool cue, a juice bottle and a lighted cigarette.

The defense contends that the woman was not unconscious but a willing participant. One of Gregory Haidl’s defense attorneys said that the woman was aware she was being videotaped.

On Wednesday, Cavallo tried to contradict the woman’s testimony by establishing that she had allowed herself to be videotaped during an earlier sexual encounter with Spann.

In testimony Tuesday, the woman said she did not know at first that Spann was videotaping their intimate moment, which took place June 30, 2002, in the bedroom of her girlfriend’s mother. She said the room was dark, and that she noticed the camera only when her arm brushed against it and she saw a green light, indicating that it was recording. She said she asked Spann to turn it off.

But after the jury was excused for the day, Cavallo told Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno that he wanted to play that video in court today to show that there was enough light in the bedroom to make the camera clearly visible, and that she never asked Spann to turn the camera off.

Cavallo also hammered away at the woman’s credibility by getting her to acknowledge that she lied to her parents about her trips to the Haidls’ house. On the night of the alleged assault, she told her mother she was staying at a girlfriend’s house, and the two planned to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park in the morning.

The woman also said in court Tuesday that she suffered injuries when she was allegedly sodomized with the objects. But she told Cavallo and Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Hess on Wednesday that she was not completely honest with nurses who examined her twice shortly after the incident. She also acknowledged that she did not tell the prosecution about the injuries until this month.

The revelation caused defense attorneys -- who said the prosecution did not quickly share the information about the injuries with the defense -- to threaten to file a motion for a mistrial today. Peter Scalisi, another of Gregory Haidl’s lawyers, said the defense first learned about the injuries during the woman’s testimony Tuesday.

In her testimony, the young woman revealed details about a troubled life that included heavy drinking from age 15, drug abuse and frequent lying to her parents.

In the interview with Newport Beach police, she partly blamed herself for the incident. “I feel that I antagonized it, even though I was passed out,” she said.

After initially asking authorities not to prosecute the alleged attackers, the woman said she changed her mind after she learned from news reports what had allegedly happened to her. “It was wrong,” she said.

She told detectives she did not remember lying on the pool table where the alleged attack occurred. She also said she did not remember leaving the couch near the pool table until the next morning, when Spann woke her up. Prosecutors said she was incapacitated by a date-rape drug.

During an interview shortly after the incident, a Newport Beach detective asked: “What if I told you [that] on the night [in question] Spann had sex with you and Nachreiner had sex with you, and they all inserted things in your vagina?”

“I don’t remember anything. I don’t remember anyone touching me,” she replied.

The detective asked if she was surprised by anything police told her about what occurred. “Halfway yes, halfway no,” she said.

After the jury left for the day, Briseno admonished Cavallo for his courtroom tactics and threatened to sit him down for the remainder of the trial and allow only Scalisi to question witnesses on Haidl’s behalf. The judge said he was upset by Cavallo’s implication to the jury that Hess was coaching the young woman as she testified. On another occasion, Cavallo asked the woman if Hess had instructed her to use the term “oral copulation” rather than a slang term.

Briseno told Cavallo to tell him if he knew anything about possible misconduct by the prosecution. Cavallo did not offer any and declined to comment about his discussion with the judge.