Victim Calls Sex Trial an Ordeal

For a split second after the three young men were convicted of sexually assaulting her, the victim felt sorry for them. Then, recalling the pain she endured for nearly three years, her sympathy evaporated.

“Pretty much guilt, pity, everything, disappeared after that,” the 19-year-old victim told KCAL-TV Channel 9 in an interview broadcast Tuesday -- her first since last week’s verdict in the high-profile Orange County gang-assault case.

The defendants -- Gregory Haidl, 19, and Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both 20 -- could get 14 to 18 years in prison when sentenced May 20. The victim, called Jane Doe in court to protect her identity, said she considered them friends when she went to the Corona del Mar home of Haidl’s father, then an assistant Orange County sheriff, on a summer night in 2002.

After a mistrial last year, a second jury March 23 convicted the boys of sexually assaulting her while she was passed out drunk on a pool table. Jurors said a videotape of the incident, made by the defendants, played a key role in their decision.

During Tuesday’s TV interview, with her real name still withheld and her face shown only in silhouette, she said that when she saw the video for the first time two months ago, it disgusted her.

“The things that they were saying were just as bad as their actions,” she said.

One of the most horrifying moments, she said, was Nachreiner’s remark after she began to appear unconscious.

“Nachreiner said, ‘Oh, OK, she’s good now. Let’s go,’ ” she said.

Jane Doe said she almost didn’t testify in the second trial. She broke down half an hour before entering the Santa Ana courtroom and told her parents she couldn’t do it, before summoning the strength to testify.

During 20 hours on the stand, she sobbed three times. Once, she said, Nachreiner winked at her.

“It was just a wink, like, almost like, ‘I’m here and we’re still gonna get away with this. You can sit up there and do anything you want, but nothing’s going to change,’ ” Doe said.

She said the ordeal of testifying again was worth it, to ensure justice for the defendants.

“If something, God forbid, does happen like this to you, it’s going to be the hardest thing in the world to go through with it and press charges,” she said. “But it’s what’s right, and in the end, not only will you feel better about yourself, but it will help others.”