Gang Rape Case Scaled Back

A judge on Thursday tossed out several charges against two of three young men, including the son of a top Orange County sheriff’s official, accused of raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl and videotaping it.

The ruling scales back the possible penalties and is a big victory for the high-powered defense team employed by Donald Haidl, a wealthy businessman and campaign contributor to Sheriff Michael S. Carona who works without pay as an assistant sheriff.

The charges in question -- causing great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon, which could have led to life terms in prison -- were dropped against Gregory Haidl and Kyle Nachreiner, who were accused of using a pool cue in their alleged assault. The third defendant, Keith Spann, had not faced the enhanced charges.

With the reduced charges, the defendants could face maximum sentences of 55 years and four months, attorneys said.

Defense attorneys say the ruling drastically weakens the prosecution’s case against the three men, all 18 and San Bernardino County residents. They are accused of raping the girl July 6, 2002, at Donald Haidl’s Corona del Mar home.

“The decision strikes a devastating blow to the prosecution’s theory that this was a violent gang rape,” said Haidl’s lead attorney, Joseph G. Cavallo.

The Orange County district attorney’s office declined to comment on the ruling. In a Nov. 24 hearing, Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Gurwitz contended that the questions of great bodily injury and using a pool cue as a weapon were matters for a jury to consider.

But Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno found that there was “insufficient evidence of any significant or substantial physical injury” from the pool cue. “While there is evidence of some bodily injury, there is no evidence that any of the small lacerations constituted a substantial injury.”

The judge also said in his ruling that the girl, in conversations with close friends, her parents and medical personnel in the days after the incident, never said she suffered any physical harm.

As for the deadly-weapon charges, Briseno found that a review of the defendants’ alleged actions involving the pool cue, while providing “graphic evidence of the complete disregard for the welfare of another person,” did not show that they intended to use it as a deadly weapon.

The motions seeking dismissal of the charges of great bodily injury and assault with a deadly weapon were mostly handled by Haidl defense team member and former California Supreme Court Justice Armand Arabian, whose written opinion in an assault appeal while he served on the bench helped define case law on great bodily injury. He also helped draft the penal code section on rape by a foreign object.

Cavallo said he and the two young men were overjoyed about the ruling.

“We commend the judge for having the guts to correct the mistake that was made at the preliminary hearing,” he said.

Nachreiner’s attorney, John Barnett, said, “The potential consequences will change significantly. The possibility for life sentences has been troubling from the beginning.”

The ruling settles one of many pretrial questions raised by the defense. Haidl and his lawyers will be in court again Monday, arguing to suppress the videotape as evidence because it was allegedly stolen before being turned in to police.