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
