Anaheim Insider here.

According to the Voice of OC, Jose Solorio is very concerned there are too many white people on Anaheim’s Charter Review Committee. The Orange County Register reports that Mayor Tom Tait is alarmed at former Mayor Curt Pringle’s appointment. Tait even wants Pringle to filed a disclosure form so he can see who Pringle’s clients are.

What about Mayor Tait’s appointee, Tom Dunn? No information on him in either article.  But a few minutes with Google reveals that Tom Dunn is E. Thomas Dunn, a criminal defense attorney who served on the 1999 Charter Review Committee.

Dunn is white, which will worry Solorio.

He’s also the E. Thomas Dunn who was [art of the defense team for Greg Haidl during the gang-rape trial of the son of the late OC Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, one of former Sheriff Mike Carona’s cronies.

The younger Haidl and two friends were tried for gang-raping an unconscious 16-year old girl. Haidl and his friends even videotaped themselves doing this. Dunn claimed the girl was a willing participant:

During a Jan. 22 hearing, E. Thomas Dunn Jr.—a former deputy DA hired by the Haidl defense team—asserted not only that the alleged victim was conscious during the sex, but also that the initial part of the tape shows her giving a blowjob. “It’s pretty hard to commit fellatio when you’re unconscious,” Dunn told Briseño. He also portrayed Haidl as nothing more than a bystander. “It wasn’t Mr. Haidl having intercourse [on the DVD],” Dunn said.

For months, prosecutor Brian Gurwitz has watched defense lawyers attack the motives and techniques of his office and police detectives. His responses have largely been legalistic until now. Dunn’s assertions about the alleged victim’s consciousness coupled with Cavallo’s description of his client as “this little boy” who is “innocent” and “did not rape anyone” left him outraged.

On Jan. 27, Gurwitz—who is adamant the girl was unconscious when she was assaulted—won Briseño’s permission to address his concerns in open court. The 10-year deputy DA acknowledged that the video did not catch Haidl having intercourse, but he argued what it does show is worse. “Mr. Cavallo says his client is not guilty, and Mr. Dunn all but indicated the victim deserved [to be raped],” Gurwitz said. “The defense has also suggested that this ‘little boy’ Gregory Haidl somehow is deserving of juvenile-court treatment because he’s merely an aider and an abettor in this case.

In this February 3, 2004 Los Angeles Times article, Dunn claims that District Attorney Tony Rackauckas was out to get his client. Haidl was sentenced to six years in state prison.

In his published resume, Dunn states he “served as lead motion attorney in highly publicized cases such as People v. Greg Haidl, Orange County Superior Court case number 02HF0889 (rape), and People v. George Jaramillo, Orange County Superior Court case number 05ZF0102 (public corruption).”

Last year, Dunn defended Michael Kevin Lallana from battery charges for secretly [WARNING: this is gross] putting his semen in a co-worker’s water bottle (on two occasions!). Dunn argued the act didn’t wasn’t, legally speaking, actual battery.

What can be politely said about Tait’s appointment, other than it will provide the Charter Review Committee with a unique perspective?