The Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif.- The son of a former assistant sheriff and two other men will be sentenced as adults for the videotaped sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl.
Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno on Friday rejected defense requests that the men be sentenced as juveniles, which likely would have brought them lighter sentences.
The three men are 20 years old but were 17 when they assaulted the girl in July 2002 as she lay unconscious on a billiards table at Greg Haidl’s Newport Beach home.
Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann were convicted of sexual assault charges in April as adults under a state law that allows stiffer penalties for juveniles charged with serious crimes.
Haidl is the son of former Orange County Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, who was not home at the time of the assault.
The hearing at which Briseno issued his ruling was closed to the media and public. But defense attorney Peter Scalisi told reporters afterward that he was “very disappointed.”
“We certainly thought all three boys should be treated as juveniles in terms of sentencing,” Scalisi said. “But the court ruled otherwise.”
None of the defendants had prior criminal records and “the offense, in our opinion, was very unsophisticated in the manner in which it was done,” Scalisi said.
The three men have already faced two trials. Jurors could not reach a verdict after the first one. In the second, another jury found the three guilty of using objects including a pool cue and juice bottle to penetrate the girl.
All three were sent to prison for a 90-day diagnostic evaluation and will be sentenced Jan. 20, said chief assistant district attorney Chuck Middleton.