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

[the Deejay]

"the court wouldn't let her answer."

And this was wrong, wrong, wrong! On the court's part. Yet, the judge is giving DW a "fair trial". Well, if that's true, and the call could have exonerated DW, then why wasn't it allowed to be discussed in court? It must have been damaging to the vdams or else it would have been allowed.

That phone call has been driving me nuts!

[Lauratealeaf]

For a knutcase you are making perfect sense. Even for a non-knutcase!

[Dave_in_Upland]

Who knows, maybe Feldman is acting disorganized on purpose. It seems to be humoring the jury.

I heard parts of the closing argument and he did sound disjointed, but to me it sounded like someone who has so much to say that the thoughts are tumbling out too fast for his brain to put words to them. (it happens to me a lot LOL)

But it could also be a very effective ploy, starting strong, then getting a little confused just before a long break (while making some very strong points that will stick in the juror's minds when they think of how he was acting) and then in the morning going back over those points in a more collected manner.

[the Deejay]

Right, if suffocated, there wouldn't be any blood. None.

And Dusek implying she was raped, tortured and killed on the bed of the RV, as if he witnessed it himself, just had me moaning in disgust at the nerve of him.

[cyncooper]

First, the porn was also on cd's and zip disks.

Second, Westerfield had a work folder for his company in My Documents and in a sub-folder in that work folder were the "attack" videos that he did later delete. But he devised a folder for them and also they were able to determine that each video was watched at least once and some up to five times on Media Player.

Akin to Dusek pointing out today that Neal would hardly hide "his own" porn cd's and zip disks in his father's work space, Neal also would not hide those kind of videos in a sub-folder of his father's computer work folder.

[Lucky]

It's driving me nuts too. We just want the truth. The parents look so guilty. I hope Feldman can slip in some more information.

[KnutCase]

Maybe it would mean that the DA and police would have to go back to square one and start over.. and one of them said, "Aw shucks, not again. This is getting monotonous....every case?...I'm tired, let's get on with this...no going back now." Plausible??

[the Deejay]

I do believe Feldman is a much more keen and polished attorney than Dusek will ever be. It was so difficult to
try and follow him today. He was all over the place with his closing argument. Very disorganized indeed.

[Spunky]

The parents' bedroom is to the right of the stairs. To the left of the stairs are the kids' rooms

Thanks for the info. So the person wouldn't have gone right by Damon's room.

[gigi]

You would think that when LE found the spot of blood on the floor of the MH and thought DW had cleaned up the evidence, they would haved used luminol, because the blood would have shown up, even if he tried to clean it.

[KnutCase]

Thanx.....first compliment I've had today'

[Spunky]

the story may go national.

Let me know if it does.

[the Deejay]

Well, I don't know if it's plausible, but hey! There's a man's life on the line. There has been little more evidence to come in since the prelim. Including the suspect phone call on the 16th. to the vdams.

[the Deejay]

"So the person wouldn't have gone right by Damon's room."

No, but it sure would have been a chancey thing to do, because Damon's door was open & the tv was on. I will
always contend this was an inside job.

[Spunky]

Am I making sense yet???

I sure hope that is what this was all about.

I did hear Feldman's wife was in the audiance for the first time. Also heard that Westerfields sister and someone else were there, but I can't remember the relationship to Westerfield. Nephew I think?

[gigi]

He was disorganized, but he did explain to the Jury that Dusek's "playing on their emotions" upset him. He said some of their reactions made him nervous.

I also liked that he pointed out the Prosecution brought the VD's lifestyle not him, and if they hadn't the judge would never let him bring it up.

[Lucky]

Well, the big evidence is that the body was dumped after DW was on 24/7 watch.

[the Deejay]

I do believe DW's family members don't want any reporters snapping their photos for print, as one slag had done to Neal. And I think that's why they haven't been in the court-room during the trial. They don't want to be exploited. (I can't blame them.)

However, I did read where they all visit him on a regular basis at the jail. Ex-wife, kids & all, every visiting day.

[the Deejay]

"Well, the big evidence is that the body was dumped after DW was on 24/7 watch."

That's very true. And Dusek implied, today, that the entomologists were "corrupt". How indignant can one get?

Bugs and their infestations cannot lie, nor be "corrupt", either.

[Jaded]

They were also under subpoena and gag.