Parents Sue D.A. in Rape Case

The parents of a 16-year-old girl who authorities say was the victim of statutory rape by an assistant sheriff’s son already facing gang-rape charges filed suit Thursday against the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The federal lawsuit states that prosecutors violated the girl’s civil rights by using a search warrant to obtain a DNA sample against her will. The girl and her family have said they will not cooperate in the criminal case against Gregory Haidl, 19.

“What they’ve done is used unlawful means for an unlawful purpose,” attorney Adam R. Stull said in announcing the action on behalf of his client, referred to in court documents as Jane Doe No. 2. “She and her family don’t want their personal lives exploited by the media or in open court. They want to handle this themselves, outside the public eye.”

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas told City News Service that his office was only trying to protect the girl’s interests in moving forward with the case. “We are always concerned with the feelings of the victim,” he said, “but our overriding responsibility is to the community.”

The girl has said, through her attorney, that she had “consensual” sex last month with Haidl, son of Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl. The younger Haidl, free on bail while awaiting retrial on charges that he and two friends gang-raped another 16-year-old girl two years ago at his father’s Corona del Mar home, was charged with statutory rape in the new case.

On Aug. 20, according to Stull, representatives of the D.A.’s office served a search warrant at the home of Jane Doe No. 2 enabling them to take a saliva sample despite repeated protests by her and her family. The lawsuit contends that the action was illegal on at least two counts: It was obtained fraudulently through misrepresentations made to a judge, and it violates state law allowing crime victims to withhold their cooperation.

“The law does not allow authorities to forcibly take a DNA sample from Charles Manson or killers on death row,” Stull said, “yet the district attorney decided that it was acceptable to take one from an innocent girl who has done nothing wrong.” Jane Doe No. 2, he said, “has repeatedly told D.A. officials ... that she doesn’t want to participate in the case or aid in the prosecution. She wants to be left alone.”

The lawsuit asks for unspecified monetary damages and that an injunction be issued preventing prosecutors from using the girl’s DNA in court.

Brent Romney, a professor at Western State University College of Law and director of its Criminal Law Practice Center, said Thursday that the D.A.’s real aim may have been to obtain evidence for Haidl’s upcoming felony trial in the earlier case.

“There’s no way on God’s green planet,” he said, “that they would be able to get a search warrant for her DNA in the statutory rape case.” Instead, Romney suggested, “it appears as though they’re trying to establish, through her DNA, [Haidl’s] intent or motive: that he has a propensity for interest in young girls.”

The first gang-rape trial, which included as evidence a video of the alleged rape made by the defendants, ended in a hung jury in June. Prosecutors announced the next day that the charges would be refiled.

The trial in the statutory rape case is scheduled to begin next week.