Role of Video in Rape Case Is Upheld

A judge on Monday denied a defense motion to suppress a videotape of an alleged gang rape as evidence in the trial of three teens, including the son of an Orange County assistant sheriff.

Defense attorneys for Gregory Haidl, 18, have raised questions about how the videotape ended up in the hands of police detectives investigating the case.

The credibility of the tape is in doubt, Haidl’s lawyers said, because the footage was stolen from the Corona del Mar home where the alleged rape took place, and the youths who stole it were pressured into handing it over.

But the judge said there was insufficient evidence to grant the motion.

“This motion is premature,” said Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno. “The issue can be raised again if more facts come up that give grounds to the motion.”

Haidl and two other 18-year-olds, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, all San Bernardino County residents, are charged with raping an unconscious 16-year-old girl during a party in 2002 at the home of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl.

Monday’s ruling on the videotape was a victory for prosecutors, who were dealt a setback last week when the judge dropped some charges against two of the defendants, finding insufficient evidence that they inflicted great bodily harm on the accuser or used a pool cue as a deadly weapon in the alleged rape.

With the reduced charges, the defendants could each get maximum sentences of 55 years and four months in prison, attorneys said.

During Monday’s hearing, defense attorney Joseph G. Cavallo said the camera and videotape were stolen before they fell into the hands of the authorities and should not be allowed into evidence. Cavallo also questioned the role that a Pasadena police sergeant, who lives in Rancho Cucamonga near Haidl’s mother, played in helping the investigating detectives obtain the tape.

“We have private citizens involved in the search and seizure of a camera,” Cavallo said. “Gregory Haidl had a reasonable expectation as to the privacy of the camera and its contents.”

Cavallo said he plans to refile the motion and persuade Briseno to at least order an evidentiary hearing to explore how the tape was obtained and turned over to police.