Jane Doe takes stand

Marisa O’Neil

The first witness in a high-profile gang-rape case tearfully

testified Wednesday that she felt her “world was falling apart” when

she found out, at age 16, that a videotape existed of three boys

gang-raping her at a party days earlier.

The Rancho Cucamonga woman, now 19 and referred to in court as

Jane Doe, testified that she went to a July 5, 2002 party at the

Corona del Mar home of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don

Haidl to party with his son, Greg, and friends Kyle Nachreiner and

Keith Spann, all 17 at the time. She said she passed out after

drinking a beer, 8.6 ounces of 94-proof Bombay gin and taking one hit

of marijuana.

A videotape taken by the defendants later that night shows the

boys having sex with her on a pool table in Haidl’s garage and

sexually assaulting her with various objects, including a Snapple

bottle, a lighted cigarette and a pool cue, Chief Assistant Dist.

Atty. Chuck Middleton said during his opening statements Monday.

“Did you give consent that night to Mr. Spann to have sexual

intercourse with you on top of that pool table?” Middleton asked her

Wednesday.

Doe raised her right hand to her face and wiped away tears.

“No,” she said.

Middleton named each of the acts the defendants are accused of and

asked her, one by one, if she gave consent.

“No,” she replied each time, continuing to cry.

Though this is the second time the case has gone to trial -- the

first ended with a deadlocked jury last year -- Doe testified she had

seen the video for the first time about two weeks ago. Middleton said

outside the courthouse on Wednesday that she watched it at his

suggestion, so she would be prepared to answer questions on the

witness stand.

“She was very tense about viewing it,” he said.

In court, he questioned her about scenes on the tape.

“Were you faking being passed out on that pool table?” he asked.

“No,” she said.

Doe, whom defense attorneys have characterized as a lying,

hard-drinking, willing participant in the action, admitted to having

sex with Greg Haidl and Spann, whom she was dating, at a party the

night before. She also said she had asked Nachreiner for a strong

drink when she got to the Haidl home that night. She said she quickly

downed the gin.

“I was in the mind frame that I had more fun if I was drunk,” she

said. “That was the only way I would have fun, was when I was drunk.”

Doe said she woke up at some point the next morning when she hit

her head on a couch in the garage and started vomiting. She passed

out again and later woke up in the passenger seat of her car in front

of Spann’s Rancho Cucamonga home, she said.

She went to a friend’s house to clean up and said she didn’t

remember most of the night. She felt that something might have

happened, especially when her bra fell out of her pants when she got

undressed to take a shower.

“At that point I knew in my heart that something had happened, but

I didn’t want to admit it,” she said.

Days later, she testified, her father told her that Newport Beach

police had called him and said someone had turned in a videotape of

her being gang-raped.

“I started crying hysterically and getting dry heaves,” she said.

“I felt really sick to my stomach.”

Earlier in the day, Joseph Cavallo, attorney for Greg Haidl, gave

a roughly 90-minute opening statement to the jury. Judge Francisco

Briseno halted Cavallo’s statements Monday after about 15 minutes

when he made repeated references to Doe’s sexual history and called

her a “drug dealer.”

Wednesday morning, he told jurors that Doe was a compulsive liar

and a promiscuous teen. He described parties at Haidl’s Corona del

Mar home, attended mostly by Rancho Cucamonga teens, as “the 909

meets the 949,” referring to the cities’ area codes.

Doe willingly went to the parties and engaged in risky sexual

behavior, including the videotaped incident, Cavallo said.

“She went down there with her eyes open, knowing the situation she

was entering into,” Cavallo said.

Cavallo started his cross-examination of Doe late Wednesday and is

expected to continue with Doe today.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil @latimes.com.