Rape Retrial Jury Pool to Get Bias Test
Several hundred potential jurors will be summoned to Orange County Superior Court beginning next week to determine whether they have been prejudiced by the amount of publicity generated in a gang-rape trial.
Gregory Haidl and co-defendants Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner, all 19, are being retried on charges that they raped a teenage girl in 2002 in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s father, former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl.
The first trial ended with a hung jury.
Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno said he took the unusual step of prescreening jurors so he could determine whether there was a large enough pool of jurors to draw from.
Briseno said that if he could not find enough impartial jurors, the case might have to be moved to another county.
Briseno has asked for an initial batch of 150 jurors on Tuesday, with more to be called each day. All potential jurors will be given extensive questionnaires asking whether they have formed an opinion on the case from newspapers and television news.
Briseno has set aside three weeks for the prescreening.
Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Charles Middleton expressed confidence that enough impartial jurors could be found in Orange County.
Jurors who qualify will be asked to return Jan. 31, when the trial is expected to begin.
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