Defense files more motions

Marisa O’Neil

For the second day in a row, defense attorneys in an ongoing

gang-rape case filed a series of motions to prepare for its retrial

in January.

The motions, mostly procedural in nature, came days after a judge

revoked the bail of Greg Haidl, the 19-year-old son of former Orange

County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, and sent him to jail.

Defense attorneys on Thursday filed three motions, including one

asking prosecutors to recuse themselves from the case.

Among the documents requested in Friday’s motions are personnel

and insurance claim records for Newport Beach Police Det. Teri

Fischer, who interviewed the 16-year-old accuser after the alleged

rape in 2002. Fischer is on administrative leave from the department

and is under investigation for workers’ compensation fraud.

“This provides ‘good reason to believe’ that investigator Fischer

has been dishonest, and it draws her credibility as a witness into

serious question,” the motion reads.

Judge Francisco Briseno denied a defense motion to declare a

mistrial in the first trial, rejecting their claim that the district

attorney’s office postponed Fischer’s prosecution in exchange for her

testimony.

“[The defense] is trying to put out to the public that there are

serious problems with the case, but there aren’t,” Chief Assistant

Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton said.

Defense attorneys are also asking for credentials of two

prosecution witnesses, Veronica Thomas and Martin Breen. Prosecutors

are calling Thomas to testify as an expert about post-rape trauma

syndrome and Breen, a criminalist with the Orange County Sheriff’s

Department, to testify about blood-alcohol levels, Middleton said.

The latest defense motions also seek to block the prosecution’s

earlier motions, requesting that the defendants sit with their

attorneys in the trial and that the defense not release the accuser’s

medical information to the media.

Greg Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, all 19, were charged with the alleged gang-rape of an apparently unconscious 16-year-old

girl. The July 5, 2002 incident took place in Don Haidl’s Corona del

Mar home and was videotaped.

Though the incident was videotaped, a jury deadlocked in the first

case and Briseno declared a mistrial in June, releasing the

defendants on $100,000 bail each. Briseno revoked Greg Haidl’s bail

this week after he had a series of run-ins with the law, including an

arrest for the alleged statutory rape of another 16-year-old girl.

Briseno decided Greg Haidl had violated the conditions placed on

his bail when the teen was involved in an alcohol-related accident

Oct. 30.

Greg Haidl was hospitalized for depression following the accident,

but Briseno rejected the defense’s requests that he be allowed to

stay out of jail until the completion of the next trial, scheduled to

start Jan. 31.

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

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at [email protected].