Sex Assault Trio May Seek Status as Juveniles

Lawyers for three young men convicted of sexually assaulting a severely intoxicated 16-year-old girl told an Orange County Superior Court judge on Tuesday that they would decide by week’s end whether they would push for their clients to be sentenced to a juvenile facility rather than prison.

If they try to get their clients into the California Youth Authority, probation officers will assess each defendant’s suitability before another hearing in six weeks. The judge would then decide whether Juvenile Hall is the better place for Keith Spann, Gregory Haidl and Kyle Nachreiner, all 20.

If not, they will be reevaluated, which could delay sentencing until October.

In choosing the appropriate sentence, Judge Francisco P. Briseno said, he would consider the defendants’ “expression of remorse and acknowledgments of wrongdoing.”

Although they were tried as adults, the defendants are eligible to be sent to a juvenile facility because they were under 18 at the time of the crime.

They attacked the girl on a pool table during a party in July 2002 at the home of Haidl’s father, than an Orange County assistant sheriff.

A videotape the boys made of the assault was the prosecution’s most damaging piece of evidence, despite defense claims that the girl had consented.

The defendants were convicted in March in a second trial after the jury at their first trial deadlocked. Each has a different possible maximum sentence, ranging from 14 to 18 years, if they are not sent instead to the California Youth Authority until they turn 21.

They would have to register as sex offenders whether they were treated as juveniles or adults, said Assistant Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton, who prosecuted the case.

The prosecutor told reporters he would request prison time for each defendant, but would not decide on the term until he examined probation reports.

“In my eyes, it would be a slap on the wrist to give them a juvenile sentence,” Middleton said. “For somebody to do this type of action, putting a victim at such risk and such danger, I think they should be sent to state prison.”

The original charges filed against the defendants, which included rape and causing great bodily injury, permitted prosecutors to skip Juvenile Court and handle the matter in adult court. But jurors acquitted the defendants or deadlocked on the charges that had allowed the district attorney to bypass Juvenile Court.

Deciding whether to push for Juvenile Hall or adult prison is not easy, said attorney John Barnett, who represents Nachreiner. Barnett said that complications and requirements that go with a sentence to Juvenile Hall might make that more burdensome than a regular prison term.

“It’s complicated,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out what is best for our clients.”

On Friday, the two attorneys representing Haidl who were most prominent during the trial, Joseph Cavallo and Pete Scalisi, may tell the judge that they no longer will be a part of the case, despite encouragement from Briseno on Tuesday to remain with Haidl during the sentencing. The Haidl family has sought the services of Al Stokke as a lawyer more knowledgeable about sentencing matters.

Also Tuesday, Briseno denied Spann’s request for a new trial. He had denied the same requests by Haidl and Nachreiner on Friday.

The judge also said he was considering soliciting jurors’ opinions on sentencing.

He suggested the unusual step after learning from jurors that the defense had sent investigators to approach them for the same reason.

“Normally the court does not canvass the jurors for their opinions on sentencing,” the judge said. “But this is an unusual case.”

Middleton said he did not approve of the judge’s proposal. The jurors would not be able to consider the probation reports, he said, nor would they be privy to the legal issues that the lawyers had argued outside their presence.