Prosecution Seeks Haidl Bail Hearing

Orange County prosecutors Monday asked a judge for a hearing on whether Gregory Haidl should have his bail revoked after a weekend car accident that authorities say was alcohol-related.

Saturday night’s accident was the latest in a series of run-ins that Haidl, the son of a former Orange County assistant sheriff, has had with law enforcement since his 2002 arrest on charges that he participated in a videotaped gang-rape of a then-16-year-old girl. He and two co-defendants in the rape case are free on bail, awaiting a retrial. The first trial ended with a deadlocked jury that leaned toward acquittal on most counts.

According to Santa Ana police, the accident on South Bristol Street near Myrtle Street occurred when Haidl drove into opposing lanes and collided with another vehicle. No one in either vehicle was injured, police said. Haidl was charged with crossing a double yellow line and released.

On Monday, defense attorney Pete Scalisi said Haidl was returning to his father’s Corona del Mar home at the time of the accident, but he did not know from where. Haidl’s father, Donald, resigned in September as an Orange County assistant sheriff, citing the personal difficulties of dealing with the rape case.

Police said a preliminary sobriety test at the scene showed that Haidl, 19, had a 0.02% blood-alcohol level, below the impaired-driver legal threshold of 0.08%. Two of the conditions of Haidl’s release on bail, imposed by Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno, were that he not consume alcohol and not violate any laws. Briseno also told Haidl he would be jailed until the conclusion of the second rape trial, scheduled to begin Jan. 31, if he violated any of the conditions.

In a three-paragraph motion for a bail review hearing filed Monday by prosecutor Charles J. Middleton, the district attorney’s office noted the two conditions Briseno imposed after the mistrial.

Briseno also ordered Haidl not to take illegal drugs, and random drug tests were scheduled while he is out on bail. District attorney spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder said Monday that Haidl failed to take a drug test Oct. 16, saying he was incapacitated.

“When he took the test two days later, the urine was unusually clear. We find that suspicious,” she said.

Haidl is also supposed to abide by an 11 p.m. curfew. Questions have been raised whether he was serious about making curfew if the accident occurred at 10:30 p.m. in Santa Ana, and he was driving home to Corona del Mar. Scalisi said Haidl’s mother put the accident time at 10 p.m., saying that since there were no injuries, police did not respond until 10:30 p.m.

But Santa Ana Police Lt. Mark Strohman said the department’s log shows that the accident was reported at 10:29 p.m. Strohman said Haidl was not arrested because police were not aware of the conditions imposed by the court on Haidl’s bail.

Scalisi said Haidl has been under a doctor’s care for depression for nearly a year and was hospitalized Sunday.

“We’re all worried about his mental health and overall well-being,” he said.

Haidl’s hospitalization caused him to violate the electronic-monitoring program imposed by the court, Scalisi said. The attorney said it was “a clear violation but pursuant to doctor’s orders.”

While out on bail, Haidl was charged in July with misdemeanor statutory rape in a separate case stemming from a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old.

And in October 2003, Orange County deputies said they found a small amount of marijuana among Haidl’s possessions in a car, but no charges were filed.

In other encounters with law enforcement since the original gang-rape charge, he was stopped by deputies in May on suspicion of trespassing and vandalism in Dana Point. And in March, Haidl and 12 other people were arrested by deputies for alleged trespassing at a boarded-up restaurant in Laguna Niguel.