Rape Suspect Hospitalized Until Hearing

The son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff who is awaiting retrial on rape charges on Friday was ordered held in a psychiatric hospital at least until a hearing this month when a judge will determine whether the youth should be jailed.

The judge said he also wanted Gregory Haidl to wear an electronic device so that authorities could track his movements.

Haidl has had a series of brushes with the law since he was charged with raping a girl at a party at his father’s house more than two years ago.

Last weekend, he was involved in a car accident that authorities say was alcohol-related.

Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno said he would wait until the hearing Nov. 15 to decide whether the young man violated the terms of his bail in the rape case by consuming alcohol.

Prosecutors had asked that Haidl’s $100,000 bail be revoked and he be taken into custody.

“If he abides by the judge’s orders, then I’m satisfied,” said prosecutor Charles J. Middleton.

“But my concern is that, in the past, he has not appeared to like to abide by the judge’s orders.... My first concern is that he is safely away from other people.”

Saturday night’s head-on collision in Santa Ana was his latest tangle with police since his 2002 arrest on charges that he participated in a videotaped gang-rape of a then-16-year-old girl.

He and two co-defendants in the rape case are free on bail, awaiting a retrial. The first trial ended with a deadlocked jury that leaned toward acquittal on most counts.

Police said a preliminary sobriety test at the scene showed that while Haidl, 19, was not legally intoxicated, he had been drinking.

The police also concluded that Haidl had caused the accident, in which no one was seriously injured.

Two of the conditions of Haidl’s release on bail were that he not consume alcohol and not violate any laws. Briseno also told Haidl that he would be jailed until the conclusion of the second rape trial, scheduled to begin Jan. 31, if he violated any of the conditions.

Joseph Cavallo and Pete Scalisi, Haidl’s attorneys, denied that their client had been drinking and said they would argue at the hearing that the sobriety test that was administered often produces inconclusive results.

Also at issue is Haidl’s mental condition. The day after the accident, Haidl was admitted to a psychiatric facility, suffering from what Scalisi described as “severe depression.”

Scalisi said that Haidl has attempted suicide several times, most recently in the days before the automobile accident.

Prosecutors argued that the hospital admission was a ploy to keep Haidl out of jail.

In court Friday, Middleton argued that even if Haidl were suicidal, he should be taken into custody because he could hurt others while trying to take his life.

Cavallo backed off the claims that Haidl is suicidal, insisting that he is not a threat to himself or anyone else.

Cavallo lashed out at prosecutors, saying Haidl had to be hospitalized because “they had miserably prosecuted this boy in public for two years.”

“There should not be a second trial,” Cavallo said. “This is still a political prosecution. It’s disgusting.”

Haidl’s father, an influential political contributor, had served as an assistant sheriff until his recent decision to step down and concentrate on his son’s defense.

In an effort to decipher Haidl’s condition, Briseno ordered the young man’s doctor to testify at the Nov. 15 hearing.

The judge also ordered Haidl to attend, unless his doctors think he is too ill.

While out on bail, Haidl was charged in July with misdemeanor statutory rape in a separate case stemming from a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old.

And in October 2003, Orange County deputies said they found a small amount of marijuana among Haidl’s possessions in a car, but no charges were filed.

He was stopped by deputies in May on suspicion of trespassing and vandalism in Dana Point.

And in March, Haidl and 12 others were arrested by deputies for alleged trespassing at a boarded-up restaurant in Laguna Niguel.