[EllaMinnow]

SAN DIEGO — Should jurors be allowed to convict David Westerfield of Danielle van Dam's murder and at the same time acquit him of her kidnapping?

A judge in the case says no, according to his tentative ruling Monday.

Judge William Mudd told defense lawyers who had argued for adding the option that he was highly skeptical that the panel could hold Westerfield responsible for the murder and not the abduction.

"The only way the girl gets into the possession of Mr. Westerfield is by kidnapping," Mudd said. "That's the only way."

"A juror who believes that the prosecution has proven that Mr. Westerfield is the actual killer, but a juror that has some doubts about how the murder happened or how the girl got where she got" should have an alternative to felony murder, Boyce said.

He pointed to testimony by Danielle's father about her occasional sleepwalking and other speculation that she might have walked away from her home during the night and said it was possible she could have been killed without being kidnapped.

"I’m not saying we are relying on those theories but those theories are certainly out there," he said.

But Mudd shook off those arguments, saying in a loud, agitated voice, "The parents have indicated no one had a permission to take the child out of the house. That’s kidnapping."

[fnord]

exactly so.

I think the transcripts will make it even clearer, if/when they come out.

[spectre]

It was the parents themselves, who brought forth the idea that very first day, that the child may have left the house by "sleepwalking".

So we aren't supposed to pay attention to the parents? Judge Mudd must know that the Van Dams Lie.

"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." Do you think the Van Damned have learned this lesson?

sw