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SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- The judge declared a mistrial Monday in the gang-rape trial of an assistant sheriff's son and two other teenagers accused in the videotaped assault of a 16-year-old girl after jurors said they couldn't reach a verdict.
Superior Court Judge Francisco Briseno made the ruling after jurors said they were deadlocked on every count. Jurors sent a note to the judge saying they were "hopelessly deadlocked with strong convictions" on all 24 counts in the case.
The judge then asked each juror in court whether further deliberations would be helpful, and all said no.
Briseno said the defendants could be charged again, and that double jeopardy would not apply.
The three teens are charged with drugging and raping the 16-year-old girl in July 2002, during an encounter they recorded on a videotape that was the central evidence in the trial. Defense attorneys argued that the girl was pretending to be unconscious during the videotaping and had consented to the sex acts.
"We're very disappointed," said Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office. She said prosecutors would talk to the jurors and review the evidence before deciding whether to retry the case, but she added, "It would take some strong information for us not to retry a case in which a 16-year-old girl was assaulted while she was unconscious."
Gregory Haidl, 18, and Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann, both 19, are charged with 24 felony counts, including rape by intoxication or force and assault with a deadly weapon, a pool cue. They face up to 55 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
"I think it would be very difficult to get 12 honest people to agree on a verdict in this case. It's just too emotional," said Nachreiner's attorney John Barnett after the jury was dismissed. Barnett represented one of the police officers acquitted in the 1992 Rodney King beating case.
Jurors began deliberations Thursday morning by asking the judge to allow them to again view the videotape. They later asked whether they should continue if they were unable to reach a verdict on the first count, rape by intoxication. Briseno directed them to continue.
Later, jurors asked to hear the testimony of medical experts, one for the defense and one for the prosecution, who gave conflicting accounts of whether the alleged victim was conscious in the video.
The July 2002 incident occurred inside the coastal home of Haidl's father, Don, a wealthy businessman and assistant sheriff, who was not home at the time.
In the video, the defendants can be seen assaulting the girl with objects that included a pool cue, drink bottle and lighted cigarette.
The woman testified in the case that a day before the alleged assault she willingly had sex with two of the accused, Haidl and Spann, and kissed Nachreiner. She said she returned the next night to see Spann, but quickly became dizzy and collapsed after drinking a blue-green drink that Nachreiner gave her.
