Defendant (Westerfield) Now Lives A Spartan Existence: Nothing Left But To Fight For His Life!!

Union Tribune ^ | August 5, 2002 | Kristen Green

[Freedom2specul8]

That is a nice prayer jaded..thank you.

[spectre]

I was thinking of contacting her at Southwest Airlines, but I don't think she works there anylonger...:~)

sw

[EllaMinnow]

Nothing about the skirt, but a story about the memorial service for Danielle.

http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/sand/news/stories/news-130754120020316-130316.html

[Freedom2specul8]

not sure what blogger site means, but I had read that it can have more than one registrar. Do you know what that means?

[demsux]

What's up for tomorrow, bug guy or closing arguments???

[dread78645]

Now that I think of it, I believe someone on the thread claimed it was registered in europe.

National-net is a medium-sized hosting provider from Atlanta, Georgia.
They provide host services for web and name service for off-site servers.

[spectre]

No more witnesses. It's over...Here we go. Jury instructions, then closing arguments.

Night all..."Let's get it on and get it decided"..sw

[demsux]

No more witnesses. It's over...Here we go

No Bill Libby...No Barbara Easton...Feldman must think he already has a winner.

He PROMISED us that we would hear more about Bill Libby in his opening statement and I've really been looking forward to it.

He never promised Barb, but all the other pizza players were called, why not her?

[Freedom2specul8]

http://www.courttv.com/trials/westerfield/080502_ctv.html

SAN DIEGO — After two months and 116 witnesses, jurors in the capital murder case of David Westerfield will hear closing arguments Tuesday.

"We'll be ready to rock and roll tomorrow morning," Judge William Mudd told lawyers Monday.

Defense attorneys for Westerfield, who is accused of kidnapping and killing his 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam, had considered calling a forensic anthropologist as their final witness. After weekend discussions, however, they decided to rest their case, defense lawyer Steven Feldman told Mudd.

[Freedom2specul8]

Spec, cya tomorrow..

[the-gooroo]

Denise was only asked how she came to find out about Danielle. She said Damon called around 2:30 and told her that Danielle was missing and the detectives wanted to talk to her. She showed up with her ex hubby and before she could speak to the VD's the cops took her downtown for an interview.

[dread78645]

ah..but not all predators will defile their own nests..

My understanding is nearly every pre-pubescent assualts are incestuous.

[theirjustdue]

"If all 6 were lying about being in the house for 20 minutes or so, they are DARN LUCKY a nosy neighbor did not catch them in the lie. Any one of the neighbors could have noticed the cars out side and what time they left. Now you and I both know, all 6 folks didn't go interview neighbors to make sure they didn't watch the van dam driveway before they were interviewed by the cops. "

Kim, don't you think that same nosy neighbor would have possibly noticed a skulking DW making his way over to the VD's and then carting Danielle away?

I think it's much more likely, that DW would be noticed hanging around the VD's, than the pizza gang of six. Don't you? Again, JMO.

[demsux]

Do you, or anyone else, have a link to a list of supoena's issued for this trial???

Would be interesting to see who both sides supoena'ed, but opted not to call.

[bvw]

Were the attack vidoes ever viewed? (Besides by the jury in that prejudicial rather than probative opening statement.) And if viewed were they ever viewed again and again, or just to see what the video was and then deleted?

[dread78645]

not sure what blogger site means,

A Blogger is a more or less regularly kept-up log --kind of personal diary site. Some might throw in bits of news.

Unposted.com is "registared" in the Hebrdies islands of the S. Pacific. But the servers could be anywhere; they get name service from NatNet. NatNet is located in Chamblee (IIRC), just outside of Atlanta, GA ...

[FresnoDA]

Westerfield closings set for Tuesday

The defense for David Westerfield, left, opted not to call a last forensic witness, clearing the way for closing arguments Tuesday morning.

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV

SAN DIEGO — After two months and 116 witnesses, jurors in the capital murder case of David Westerfield will hear closing arguments Tuesday.

"We'll be ready to rock and roll tomorrow morning," Judge William Mudd told lawyers Monday.

Defense attorneys for Westerfield, who is accused of kidnapping and killing his 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam, had considered calling a forensic anthropologist as their final witness. After weekend discussions, however, they decided to rest their case, defense lawyer Steven Feldman told Mudd.

The judge imposed no time limits on the arguments Feldman and prosecutor Jeff Dusek will make, and closings in the trial, which included 199 exhibits and weeks of complex forensic testimony, could stretch into a second day.

At the hearing Monday, Feldman made yet another attempt to have the panel of six men and six women sequestered during deliberations. He cited front page articles about the case in the local paper as well as an article about swinging in San Diego magazine.

"The land mines keep growing, Judge," he told Mudd.

As he had before, the judge denied the request and said he trusted the jury to follow his instructions about avoiding media accounts of the case.

Westerfield, 50, faces the death penalty if convicted of Danielle's slaying. The second-grader was abducted from her bedroom last February. Searchers found her naked body on the side of a road three and a half weeks later. Prosecutors claim Westerfield sexually assaulted and suffocated her, but the defense says forensic evidence indicates she was dumped after the defendant was under police surveillance.

[FresnoDA]

Jury to receive Westerfield case this week


SIGNONSANDIEGO

August 5, 2002

Clearing the way for the jury to begin its real work in the case, defense attorneys in the trial of accused child killer David Westerfield have announced they intend to rest without calling a final witness.

The defendant's lead attorney, Steven Feldman, told Superior Court Judge William Mudd of his intention during a court session Monday.

Feldman's decision clears the way for the reading of jury instructions and the start of closing arguments Tuesday morning in the case, rushed to trial two months ago.

Feldman indicated last week he was contemplating calling a forensic anthropologist as his final witness.

Westerfield, 50, is charged with kidnapping, murder and a special circumstance allegation that the killing of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam occurred during a kidnapping.

The former Sabre Springs resident also faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography.

The victim's mother discovered her missing from her bed the morning of Feb. 2. Police immediately focused on Westerfield, a neighbor who left town following her disappearance in his motor home and placed under surveillance upon his return Feb. 5.

He was arrested Feb. 22.

Volunteers found the second-grader's body on Feb. 27 near Dehesa, in San Diego's East County.

The defense rests a major portion of its case on the contention that Westerfield could not have kidnapped and murdered the child, basing its argument on insect-infestation evidence. Forensic entomologists presented by the defense have testified their examination of the evidence shows her body was dumped at the site at a time when police were watching the defendant.

But prosecutors say the defendant could have stuffed the victim in a container, then disposed of her partially mummified body immediately or days later.

If the jury finds Westerfield guilty, it will be asked to recommend the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mudd and the attorneys in the case spent about an hour this morning finalizing the jury instructions.

When Feldman proposed a special instruction on whether the victim was unintentionally killed in her bedroom, prosecutor Jeff Dusek responded that the defense attorney should "change the law if he doesn't like it."'

Mudd said he would not give the instruction, reminding Feldman that the child's fingerprint was found in Westerfield's motorhome.

Although no time limit was put on the attorneys for their closing arguments, Mudd urged them to be direct and to the point.

"Brevity is the spice of life," the judge said. "It's up to your individual styles."

Mudd admitted 199 court exhibits.

"We didn't make it to 200, " he said.

The judge again denied Feldman's request to sequester the jury during deliberations.

"This is a hearty group of people," Mudd said. "They don't want their lives disrupted. That's exactly what sequestration would do."

Mudd said the prosecution and the defense will each be given four additional seats in the courtroom during closing arguments.

Brenda and Damon van Dam, the victim's parents, will be allowed to bring in one support person, the judge ruled.

Three seats will be made available to immediate family members of the defendant, leaving 10 seats each for the media and the public.

[Karson]

Although no time limit was put on the attorneys for their closing arguments, Mudd urged them to be direct and to the point.

I thought I heard Judge Mudd say last week that each side would have 90 minutes for closing arguments. Was I mistaken or did he change his mind?

[FresnoDA]

Jurors need to do their duty

TED HILLOCK
Commentary

America was founded with a firm belief in individual freedom. That freedom was built on a foundation of responsibility. The more freedom we have, the more responsible we all must be to ourselves and in the larger context, to our society.

One of these responsibilities to society is jury duty and I don't mean just showing up after they rejected your reasons for not going.

Our very professional police departments take their responsibility to catch the bad guys quite seriously. By and large, they do a very good job of catching these guys. They take their evidence to court and try to convince a jury from the community that the guy is guilty as charged.

On the other side of the table, are the defense attorneys. Defense attorneys are of a breed that believes it is not whether you are guilty, but whether they can get you off the hook. An example of this breed is attorney John Pozza, who represented Alejandro Avila in a child molestation case before Avila was arrested and charged in the murder of Samantha Runnion.

Two victims made statements that they were molested and even though Pozza knew his client failed a lie detector test, he got Avila off and felt "justice was served properly." Pozza also said attorneys must "zealously represent our clients." Obviously, the benefits to their clients is more important than their responsibility to our society.

Unfortunately for society, that's what defense attorneys do. Years ago in San Francisco, a lunatic walked into the offices of city councilman Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone and shot them dead. His defense attorney proffered "the Twinkie defense." You may remember, the attorney argued the killer was suffering diminished capacity because of low blood sugar prompted by his addiction to junk food. His attorney convinced a jury that it was not the killer's fault.

Another good one was recently a young man broke into a college dormitory and groped 13 women. His defense attorney said he really didn't do it while awake. He was just sleepwalking. Therefore, he can't be guilty. The jury agreed and let him off. Then, believe it or not, the defense attorney in the David Westerfield trial actually said in court that maybe Danielle van Dam was sleepwalking, rather than taken from her bed and murdered.

And then there's the unforgettable "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit." Now, O.J. Simpson is playing golf and two families lost a son and a daughter.

Which brings us back to jury duty. Jurors will be presented with all kinds of physical evidence that police and detectives worked so hard to obtain.

The prosecution will present this factual evidence to them. Then defense attorneys will say anything to get their clients off. That is to be expected. What must be done is for the jurors to shoulder their responsibility to our society and not buy into it. They must keep their eyes on the facts of the case and not be swayed by the Twinkies.

There's an old adage that it is better to let 100 guilty men go free than to imprison one innocent man, but that shouldn't be the issue.

The issue should be can twelve jurors accept their responsibility to our society and convict those 100 guilty men in the first place.

 

Ted Hillock is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: THillock@coldwellbanker.com.

8/2/02