Expect to hear more evidence about insects as the David Westerfield trial enters what could be the final week of testimony before jury deliberations. Posted on 07/28/2002 8:56:21 PM PDT by FresnoDA
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 28, 2002
Expect to hear more evidence about insects as the David Westerfield trial enters what could be the final week of testimony before jury deliberations.
On Tuesday, prosecutors are scheduled to call Dr. M. Lee Goff of the University of Hawaii as their final rebuttal witness in a trial that has lasted 23 court days. Goff is a forensic entomologist and the author of "A Fly for the Prosecution: How Insect Evidence Helps Solve Crimes."
Whether Goff will be the final insect expert in the case – jurors have already heard from three witnesses with expert opinions about the behavior of insects on human remains – is unclear. Westerfield's lawyers have said they will take at least a day to present evidence to rebut the prosecution's rebuttal.
The trial will not be in session tomorrow because the lawyers and judge are scheduled to hash out the legal instructions that will be read to the jury after the close of testimony. The instructions guide jurors on the law to be applied in the case.
Given the time estimates of the lawyers, it seems likely that closing statements won't come until Thursday, or the following Monday at the earliest. So far there haven't been any Friday sessions in which the jury was present to hear testimony. The judge said the jury will deliberate Mondays through Fridays.
As the case winds down, the battle of the insect experts has emerged as perhaps the final arena in the murder trial. Westerfield's lawyers say the insects found on 7-year-old Danielle van Dam's body prove that it couldn't have been dumped until after Westerfield was under 24-hour police surveillance.
Danielle was reported missing from her home Feb. 2, and her body was found by volunteer searchers Feb. 27 in a remote area off Dehesa Road near the Singing Hills Golf Course in El Cajon.
The defense called two entomologists who testified about blowflies on the girl's body. Westerfield's lawyers say the experts' testimony proves that the remains couldn't have been dumped until mid-February. Westerfield was under constant police surveillance beginning Feb. 5.
The prosecution countered with a forensic anthropologist who said the body's extreme mummification might help explain why blowflies weren't able to access the remains immediately.
Westerfield, a self-employed design engineer who lived two doors from the van Dams in Sabre Springs, is accused of kidnapping and killing Danielle. He is also accused of possession of child pornography, which the prosecution claims shows that he had a sexual interest in girls.
Prosecutors said the pornography – some of it depicting violent sexual attacks against young girls – was found on Westerfield's computers and on computer disks stored on his office bookshelf.
In a trial of numerous shifts in momentum, legal experts say prosecutors scored a significant blow last week by calling Westerfield's son as a witness. Neal Westerfield, now 19, testified that the computer child pornography in the house was his father's, not his.
Earlier in the trial, the defense presented a computer expert who testified that Neal Westerfield might have been the person who downloaded some of the pornography.
"This is a young man who clearly cares about his dad and has a good relationship with him, so he has no reason to say anything bad," said Peter Liss, a Vista criminal defense lawyer. "He was just truthful."
In this respect, the defense's strategy of trying to blame the son for the child pornography in the house appears to have backfired. Criminal defense lawyer Robert Grimes said the jury is likely to view Neal Westerfield as "basically a nice young college kid" who testified honestly.
Westerfield's lawyers chose not to cross-examine his son. They will indicate this week whether they will call any witnesses to try to refute his testimony.
no telling how old the stuff might be on our kids clothing. The only estimate we could make for sure is based on whether it still fits, their date of birth or the last date we moved in. Anything later is up for grabs.
I don't understand how you figure this could apply to Westerfield. No one would have missed him on Saturday morning. When did he pick up the motorhome. How do you suppose he got a dead child into the motorhome in daylight? Maybe I missed something.
Is it a 22 casing or is it something that looked like a 22 casing ?
Just goes to show that INFORMATION makes the difference.
Easy to jump to a conclusion when you only have partial data.
That is partially why I said "looks like".
Were I to continue to insist that Damon was a scout for CHILD ABDUCTORS, and refer to those two cases as examples, I WOULD LOOK LIKE A BIG IDIOT.
That is why I have a difficult time with people that keep using the same 'proof' over and over that has been discounted by testimony.
And how are you? Haven't spoken with you for a while.
Whew, that's hot for you guys! We've hovered around 100 and had some much welcomed rain. Today is cloudy and about 94, so nice for us! I love the sun, but too much of a good thing and all that, so the clouds are a nice change.
He could be a one time downloader of CHILD PORN.
It could have been NEAL that was the downloader.
He could be a regular subscriber to this site.
He could be a member of the grab a child/film yourself having sex with them club.
We have not seen any evidence or testimony to this effect in court.
Since the first man in the RING was arrested Jan 27, I would think the police had evidence, or the group in Sweden had the information to give that could have identified any of these possibilities. Since they didn't bring them out in court, one must assume such did not exist.
I still say the fact that the POLICE had a search warrant searching for ROPES/CHAINS, etc means they thought they had one of these CHILD PORN RING guys. Instead of 'finding' a suspect, they were pointed at a suspect, and when he didn't have the 'goods', too bad. Enough trace evidence was found to make him look suspicious, so it was decided he should hang to ease the conscience of the community and help the reelection bids of a local politician.
Afterwards, police actually found the 2nd CHILD PORN RING guy they wanted. Got him right after the time Danielle might have actually been killed, or dumped at Dehesa Rd.
Nice of them and the media to keep it quiet.
That isn't a fair assumption in my house, that is all I am saying.
I don't see any connection at this time.
VRWC_minion had a good question---any thoughts if DW was involved in the child-porn ring? He did have possession of child porn.
The police did look at the van Dam computers and found porn (Feldman's question that was sustained). But there has been no evidence whatsoever that Damon was involved in *child* porn.
In that one of them was arrested on February 27, it makes it less likely if thinking rationally. Unless as I speculated before, that one believes he has nothing to lose.
In any case we are assuming that Westerfield isn't part of ring.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.