Westerfield Closings Set For Tuesday, 8-6-2002: More Revelations Continue "Out" Of Jurors Sight!

Court TV ^ | August 6, 2002 | Harriet Ryan

[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.

Comprehensive case coverage

[BARLF]

Doncha think Feldman will remind the jurors that Dusek promised to show how DW got Danielle out of that house?

[Green]

What time are the closing arguments supposed to start?

[demsux]

I don't think I can bear listening to Dusek drone on for more than an hour. It's like listening to Algore give a speech on the combustion engine.

IMO, there is "reasonable doubt" all over this case and any "objective" juror realizes it.

My guess is a very short deliberation period, then acquittal.

[cake_crumb]

What's with the article's digression into a rant against Jews?

[Spunky]

I saw forensic files last night also. I just about fell over when I heard Dusek saying how bug evidence can pinpoint the Time of Death.

[VRWC_minion]

His testimony was largely discredited, in part because he was no expert

If he has to face angry golfers and tell them they have to wait for the frost to melt that would make him a better expert to me than a weather man inside a building reading gauges miles away.

[MizSterious]

I think at 9 am Pacific? But count on them starting later. I suspect there will be a meeting between the judge and the attorneys this morning--just my guess. I've certainly guessed wrong before.

Another freeper is reporting that Nasty Grace was on the LKL show repeating the disinformation that's been refuted by the facts long ago--the bleached out motorhome, etc.--and I gather calling for the guilty verdict. Media has no business trying to taint juries, and that's exactly what she was doing in her annoying, syrupy voice.

[MizSterious]

It's a pity Feldman didn't have a copy of that video (I think they're $19.95 from Court TV) to play to the jurors just after he railed against the entomologists' testimony.

[Spunky]

A week or so ago my husband and I were at the Country Buffet, here in Eastern Washington. I saw this great big biker dude sitting at a table with a t-shirt on that said.

SCREW THE MILKWEED
SAVE GLAMIS

I did a double take as Glamis has become so well known to me from all of this.

[rolling_stone]

And the bug activity in her brain was far less than expected and the experts had never seen or evaluated a situation like this before.

IMO the the brain activity in her parents was far less than I expected and I have never seen or evaluated a situation like theirs before.

BTW, it did freeze every night up until about 2/12

Frost conditions is not the same as freezing.

[MizSterious]

Oh, I'm sorry, Minion, but I still do not consider that proof. It's opinion, and (bzzt) that is the weakest link.

[FresnoDA]

POST 60...YOU ARE BACCCCKKKKKK!!! Hee Hee....

[fatima]

Wow,thanks for the ping FresnoDA.Will try to follow as best I can as I am in work,prayers for all.

[Jaded]

By and large I thought it was a different perspective. She could have left the ENTIRE Gloria Alred schpeil out, IMO. It had less to do with nothin.

[VRWC_minion]

Frost conditions is not the same as freezing.

Would it be colder than the night or warmer at sunrise ? BTW, frost = frozen water.

[bvw]

Freezes and Frosts It's important to know that frost differs greatly from a freeze. Some plants will tolerate light frost while others will be killed. It's helpful to be able to predict when frost is likely in order to take the necessary steps to protect your plants. Most people will listen to weather forecasts on television or read weather predictions in the newspaper.

I live some distance from the cities which broadcast weather predictions on the local news. I don't put much stock in their forecasts and merely use them as a general gauge of conditions to come. Instead I rely on my familiarity with my own garden and its climate and microclimates as well as my knowledge of frost predicters.

The National Climatic Data Center compiles data on frost-free growing seasons in the United States. These are their classifications of frosts and freezes.

Light frost: Tender plants are damaged. Air temperature around plants falls to 32 degrees F.

Light freeze: Tender plants are killed and half-hardy plants are damaged at temperatures between 29 and 32 degrees F.

Moderate freeze: Will destroy most vegetation at temperatures between 25 and 28 degrees F.

Severe freeze: Soil freezes solid at temperatures 24 degrees F. and below. How deeply the soil freezes depends on factors such as soil type, soil moisture and the duration and severity of the temperature drop.

(source: Granny Grow's)

[demsux]

If just one bug guy, hired by the DEFENSE, had refuted the TOD, it would be different.

As it stands, ALL of the bug guys support the defense theory. Remember the Anthropologist hired by the prosecutor is just that, an anthropologist, not a bug guy.

BTW, a govt. employee anthropologist, for what that's worth.

[spectre]

Nasty Grace just asked Beth Karass if she ever "wondered" about the guys who DEVOTE their entire careers to examining dead bodies with BUGS on them...ick..Then she rolled her eyes.

What's the matter, Nancy? Afraid the evidence the Bug guys gave might not convict DW? Hummmm?

Oh, and Miz the commments made by Nancy Graceless on LKL are posted on Jamesons..DEAR LORD...talk about another Jury Landmine! FELDMAN!! Go for it!

sw

[Steve0113]

Frost conditions is not the same as freezing.

That's correct. If the sky is cloudless, radiant cooling can cause frost when the air temp is above freezing.

[mouser]

frost happenes at tempures well above freezing also there are many times where the hill tops are clear of frost and the vailey below is covered or a field with a row of trees along part of one side the part with trees protecting it will be clear the rest frosty to say it is frosty a mile away tells me nothing about frost at the site where the body was

my take form a life on the farm