Trial to Start in Rape Case Hinging on Audiotape

SANTA ANA — Jury selection begins today in the trial of an Australian man accused of raping his wife--while she surreptitiously recorded the incident with a tape player she hid underneath a bedroom bureau in her Santa Ana apartment.

The trial of David Steber is the first Orange County rape case in which prosecutors are relying on an audiotape of the alleged crime. The crime itself is rare: There were only seven felony arrests in the county last year for spousal rape.

Steber, 43, has pleaded not guilty, contending that his wife, Robin Steber, 29, set him up and playacted for the hidden tape recorder about 10 months ago because she didn’t want him to get custody of their two young children.

The alleged rape occurred the night before an Orange County Superior Court hearing was to be held on returning the children to Australia. With Steber jailed, the judge ordered the children returned with Robin Steber, who met and married her husband in Orange County nine years ago.

The case has become a media event in Australia, where the Brisbane Courier-Mail named it “the rape-tape trial.” Steber has been followed by Australian and U.S. television crews during his many court appearances.

“It’s really hard for me to sit here, while you have a husband and wife airing their dirty linen like this publicly,” Steber said during a break in Tuesday’s hearing. He has been unable to return to Australia since his arrest.

Robin Steber told police that she invited her husband to her apartment to talk about the children, who were staying that night with a friend, according to a report filed with Santa Ana police.

She said she went to change clothes and flipped the tape over to record a new side. That’s when she said Steber came into the room, grabbed her, ripped off her shorts and raped her.

Robin Steber took the stand Tuesday in a pretrial hearing before Superior Court Judge Frank F. Fasel to decide which portion of the tape the jury will be allowed to hear.

She testified that she picked up the tape recorder from a friend the night before the alleged rape and brought it home so she could record Steber’s visit. Her statements were made despite advice from a hastily arranged public defender that she might be incriminating herself by testifying. It is a crime to tape a conversation without all of the parties’ permission.

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Steber’s attorney, Ronald Brower, said the tape is suspicious for several reasons, specifically because it includes a 20-minute gap.

“All of a sudden after this huge blank spot, it picks up with conversation,” Brower said. “That’s suspicious.”

The tape was left with Robin Steber for 90 minutes by Santa Ana police officers who arrested Steber after listening to the second side of the tape. She denied tampering with the tape.

Several days later, David Steber filed a complaint against his wife and her sister alleging illegal conspiracy to tape the conversation. Santa Ana police were told by district attorney officials not to arrest them, according to the police report.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patti Sanchez attempted Monday to have portions of the Stebers’ conversation removed from an official transcript of the tape, saying the comments would violate a state law limiting how a victim’s previous sexual experiences can be discussed in trial.

“Maybe we say we’re in the ‘90s,” Sanchez began.

“Oh please, don’t try the ‘90s argument on me,” Fasel said. “This is not a gender issue. This is a procedural issue. You’re going to introduce the tape and now you want to edit the tape. . . . Let the jury hear it.”

Fasel ruled that Brower will be able to ask Robin Steber about the entire tape of the conversation between the couple as well as the blank portion.