Defense lawyers say accuser lied

Marisa O’Neil

Defense attorneys in a gang-rape trial set up their case Monday with

two doctors who testified that the alleged victim did not show signs

of a sexual attack.

Prosecutors contend that Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both now

20, and 19-year-old Greg Haidl, son of a former sheriff’s official,

plied a 16-year-old girl with alcohol at a 2002 party, gang-raped her

and sexually assaulted her with various objects. On Monday,

colorectal specialist Dr. Marvin Corman, testified that after viewing

part of the encounter -- videotaped by the defendants -- and a

videotaped physical examination of the alleged victim, he felt she

did not appear to suffer any injuries as a result.

“That implies that the individual was cooperative,” Corman said.

Defense attorneys called Corman’s testimony in the first trial of

the case, which ended in a mistrial, a big victory. Corman offered

similar testimony on Monday in the defense’s attempt to show the jury

that Jane Doe, as the alleged victim is known in court, was a willing

participant.

Peter Morreale, attorney for Spann, started the defense’s case

Monday with a brief opening statement.

He told the eight-man, four-woman jury that the defense witnesses

will cast doubt on Doe’s credibility. Defense attorneys have already

attacked inconsistencies in Doe’s police interviews and testimony.

“She had no veracity,” Morreale said. “She is someone who could

not be trusted.”

Their first witness, Dr. Elvira Whiteford, testified that she saw

Doe the evening after the alleged assault. Doe and her mother came in

for the morning-after contraceptive pill, she said.

Doe and her mother appeared at odds, so she sent the mother out of

the examination room, Whiteford said.

“[Doe] told me she had consensual sex with a man she’d known three

months,” Whiteford said. “It was the first time she’d had sex with

him.”

Doe testified earlier that she had known each of the three

defendants for less than a month at the time of the alleged assault.

It took place during a party at the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s

father, former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl.

Chief Assistant Dist. Atty. Chuck Middleton asked Whiteford if it

was unusual for a teenager to lie to a doctor about sexual behavior

even with no parent in the room.

“It’s not abnormal to be alone with a teen and not have total

honesty,” she said.

During her exam, she did not see any signs of a rape, she said.

But if she had been told it was a possibility, she would have stopped

her examination and brought in a rape crisis team, she said.

Today, defense attorneys are expected to call some of Doe’s former

friends as witnesses.

* 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.