So...has DUSEK sunk all of the objective putts, listed below???
SSS San Diego, California, Tuesday, June 4, 2002, 9:50 a.m.
OKAY. MR. DUSEK, ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE.
MR. DUSEK: THANK YOU, YOUR HONOR.
GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.
THE JURORS: GOOD MORNING.
MR. DUSEK: WELCOME BACK. THIS TRIAL WILL BE ABOUT TWO PEOPLE. TWO PEOPLE. DAVID WESTERFIELD AND DANIELLE VAN DAM.
----more specifically, it will be about what david westerfield did to brenda -- or danielle van dam. because of that, we'll be talking about three primary time periods.
the first begins, the first and primary begins february 1st and goes until danielle's body was recovered.
the two other periods will be the week before, a friday, when brenda van dam and some of her friends had minor contact with the defendant.
the other period of time will be in the middle of that week, when brenda van dam and her two children went out selling girl scout cookies to the defendant.
so we will be talking about the three times the van dam family had contact with david westerfield. the evidence in this case will indicate that somebody sneaked into the van dam home that late evening february 1st going into february 2nd;
that somebody was able to get upstairs to danielle's room;
that somebody was able to get her out of the house.
we will show you how that happened.
that somebody killed her,
murdered her.
we will show you who that is.
and that somebody dumped her body like trash alongside the road down in dehesa.
mr. feldman: argument. objection.
the court: overruled.
mr. dusek: and the evidence will show you who that is.
the evidence in this case that we will present will focus on david westerfield, what he did and what he didn't do, what he said and what he didn't say.
the evidence starts back in february, february 1st, a friday, which for many of you might be more memorable as super bowl weekend. that was the weekend of the super bowl this year. the van dam family lives in the sabre springs area up by poway, penasquitos, carmel mountain area, up 15. a nice, new neighborhood. and you'll hear that they've lived there for three, four years. they have -- had three children and a dog in this neighborhood. that friday damon van dam went off to work. he works over at qualcomm, is some sort of an engineer. the kids went to school. and brenda van dam stayed home. there was a trip coming up.
the family was going to be able to go to italy on a business trip that damon van dam had scheduled, and plans were being made to tag along with him. that evening there were also plans for brenda van dam to go out with some friends.
damon had originally been scheduled to go on a snowboarding trip with his oldest boy derrick. he was going to go with derrick and some family friends the libbys. and mr. libby and his boy derrick were going to go off snowboarding up to the mountains that weekend and spend a night at a cabin they have up there. so the plans were for them to go.
brenda had made plans to meet with two of her girl friends, and they were going to go out. one of the girl friends was leaving town. she was being transferred back east. so they had made plans for a babysitter to watch the children, the two kids that were going to remain behind while she went out.
the plans changed at the end because damon van dam couldn't go; the libbys had to back out of it or at least delay the trip to the mountains. so damon van dam was able to remain home that evening and he was the one watching their children. that weekend as he was home with the three children, the two friends of brenda van dam came over, barbara easton and denise kemel.
they came up from i believe it's tierrasanta is where they live. they live next to each other in a complex down there. and they came up, and they were going to go out for the evening to a place called dad's. when they arrived, the van dam family had just finished eating. i think brenda had gone out to get some pizza for the family that night. the two girl friends show up, and they chit-chat for a bit, and eventually they go out into the garage where they smoke.
there is no smoking allowed in the garage. brenda goes out with them. the two girl friends, brenda -- i'm sorry -- barbara and denise, they split a beer. while they're out there, they light up a marijuana cigarette, and the three of them pass it around. damon eventually walks out into the garage for a short amount of time, takes a couple of puffs on the cigarette, and then goes back inside.
and you will hear when he was asked about what happened that day that he didn't tell them about the marijuana cigarette. he lied to the police about that. there is no smoking allowed in the garage. brenda goes out with them. the two girl friends, brenda -- i'm sorry -- barbara and denise, they split a beer. while they're out there, they light up a marijuana cigarette, and the three of them pass it around. damon eventually walks out into the garage for a short amount of time, takes a couple of puffs on the cigarette, and then goes back inside.
while these three ladies were in the garage, denise kemel either got or had to make a phone call on a cell. phone. she couldn't get good reception in the garage, so she stepped outside the side door so she could get better reception. had to unlock the side door, get outside, made the call, completed the business that she was doing, came back into the garage, and didn't lock the door, didn't lock the side door. the three ladies eventually go back into the house, clean up, and head off to dad's.
all three of them are going to go in one car. brenda van dam is going to drive them in their excursion i think she has, and the two girl friends leave the car behind at their house. they drive over to dad's, which is from their house you drive down a little street 'til you get to poway road, then you turn right or east on poway road, heading into the town of poway. and it's about two miles into poway on the right-hand side. it's a family-type restaurant. dad's cafe and steakhouse i think is the name of it. primarily a family restaurant during the day for morning, lunch, and dinner. kind of divided in half.
i think you'll see where basically the booths and the seating for the restaurant over on the left-hand side, on the right-hand side up front they have a room, it's a pool table, couple of pool tables up there. immediately behind that they have a bar and a dance floor. the dance floor is covered with dining tables during most of the day. once you get to 10:00 o'clock at night, those are cleared away, and they typically have a band that comes in, and there's dancing.
this you will hear is the second time that brenda van dam had been to dad's.
she had been there the week before with the same two girls, barbara easton and denise kemel. they had gone there the week before. girls night out. had a good time. and while they were at the bar, the cafe of that place, at least, brenda van dam recognized her neighbor david westerfield. and she'll tell you about the contacts she had with him up to that point. basically none.
they have to drive by the westerfield house to get to their house the way that you come into their neighborhood, and it was basically just a hi and 'bye as you pass them on the street. you wave at your neighbor in this new neighborhood where everyone's just moved in, and there had been no contact. no contact whatsoever. she had not been in the westerfield home. he had not been in the van dam home. she will tell you that she knew he was there, but there was very little contact with him that night. they had a good time, brenda and her two girl friends, and they went home.
she'll tell you about the second contact she had with the defendant. that will be later that week, halfway between the two fridays when she was at dad's. during that week, wednesday or thursday, she and danielle and the youngest boy dylan, were out selling girl scout cookies. she's going along with her daughter to help sell the girl scout cookies and going to all the neighborhood homes. last spot they stopped at was the westerfield home.
tell you they knocked on the door. he invited them in. and they, you know, began talking about the girl scout cookies. quickly enough, though, the two kids, danielle, seven years old, and dylan, five years old i believe, got interested in the pool out in the backyard.
mr. westerfield has a nice pool out there. and the kids wanted to go out and take a look. and brenda let them wander out there and take a look. you know, don't fall in the pool. be careful. they were out there for a bit. eventually came back in. brenda will tell you that they went nowhere else in that house. nowhere else. didn't go upstairs, didn't go in the garage, stayed with her or they were in the backyard.
she'll tell you that while she was in the house she spoke with mr. westerfield. he had just done some new work in his kitchen, some new granite tops or corovan or whatever it is on the top, and some fancy knobs, you know, that they chit-chatted about.
mr. westerfield brought up that he had seen her at dad's the week before. how come you didn't introduce me to your friend barbara. fun chick barbara. how come you didn't introduce me. she was kind of cute. well, i don't even know your name. no, it's david westerfield. they exchanged names there. he indicated to barbara van dam or brenda van dam, i'm sorry, that he would like to, you know, meet her. next time, you know, could you introduce me. let her know that i'm a rich single guy here in the neighborhood.
