Three 17-year-old defendants asked a 16-year-old girl who lived in
San Bernardino County to Haidls fathers lavish home in Corona del Mar. Jane Doe considered the three males her friends and trusted them. Soon after she arrived, she drank a beer and took one hit of marijuana that was offered by the defendants. Nachreiner then gave Jane Doe a tall cup of pine tasting drink which she gulped down. Jane Doe woke up the next day in front of Spanns house with vomit in her hair and her bra shoved down her urine stained jeans. She had no memory of what happened to her while she was at the Haidl residence after she drank the pine drink.
Haidl and Nachreiner subsequently took the video they taped without Jane Does knowledge or consent to another friends house and accidentally left it. A group of teenagers found the tape and thought the girl on the tape looked dead. One of them turned the tape over to a neighbor who was a police officer.
The images on the tape were disturbing. The tape showed the three young men repeatedly sexually assaulting (in the vagina and/or anus) an unconscious Jane Doe with various foreign objects such as a Snapple bottle, an apple juice can, a lit cigarette, and both ends of a pool cue. Spann had intercourse with Jane Doe as she laid unconscious on the pool table. They slapped and pinched her and signaled to each other that she was still out cold. They continued for more than 40 minutes while making hand signs pretending they were gangsters, laughing and mugging for the camera.
The defense put on an unprecedented publicity campaign to smear Jane Does name and made outrageous allegations that were never proven. The defenses media spokesperson even handed out Jane Does private medical records to members of the media. Their actions were so egregious that the California Legislature enacted a law that limited attorneys in what they could say in court or court documents as to a sexual assault victims history.
Unfortunately, the first jury could not reach a verdict. This meant that Jane Doe had to endure another round of brutal cross examinations, lasting multiple days, by three experienced criminal defense attorneys who challenged every nuance of things she did or did not say and revealed embarrassing personal information. Jane Doe was a girl who wanted justice to be done so that other girls would not have to go though what she did.
There was no hesitation by the District Attorney to re-file the charges. This case stood for whether there would be an equal administration of justice for all defendants, no matter who they were in the community and how much money they possessed. This case also stood for whether a woman had a right to control her body and whether she had the right to say no, regardless of her sexual history.
The District Attorney put together a special team of prosecutors and investigators who were experts in their various fields to handle the retrial. As a result, the defendants were convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault on an intoxicated victim.
During the pendency of the trials, Haidl continued to get in trouble with the law, including being charged with the statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl. One of the incidents involving Haidls possession of marijuana resulted in a grand jury investigation and report.
On March 10, 2006, all three defendants were sentenced to six years in state prison. "Judge Briseno made the right decision in sending these defendants to prison. He gave them more consideration than they ever gave to Jane Doe. The law doesn't make any special exceptions here. It applies no matter who you are, who you know, or what you have," said District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
