Posted on 08/06/2002 6:40:14 AM PDT by FresnoDA
Westerfield closings set for Tuesday |
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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. |
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Regarding this particular point, not by the time she was found. They couldn't even extract her own blood from within her veins. Any DNA left from the perp would have degenerated from the exposure to the elements.
Re: the blood drops. She was missing some teeth (not teeth that were already missing when she was taken) so that would be one possible source.
Or the jury would be disgusted with Feldman for trying to pull a stunt like that.
Do you know what the lifespan of human DNA is? Do you know how weather conditions affect it? If DNA degenerates so badly, how were they able to run DNA on a single hair shaft found in a sink trap? Wouldn't the wet climate of the trap degenerate the follicle?
How were they able to run DNA on 2 minute blood drops that had been in the MH for over a week or so? DNA is not as fragile as we would like to believe.
The Boston Strangler case should be a lesson on how durable DNA is. DNA from the murderer was collected from the decomposed, exhumed corpse of one of the victims some 30 years later - and it didn't match the man convicted of the crime......go figure.....
And do you think it would take a little, or a lot of effort to lose 4 teeth? Do you think that 2 drops is sufficient blood loss for tooth extraction?
But they can be very subjective and easily "skewed".
They couldn't extract blood from here veins because putrification had already advanced to the point where her body fluids had already pooled and seeped from her body.
No kidding!
What happenned to Mudd's "search for the truth?" I guess it's a search for "some expedient truth-like notions."
Are you a psychic?
Well, the hair in the sink was found a lot sooner than her body. Yes, I think her exposure to the elements severely hampered the recovery of possible DNA from the perp. I am not stating such DNA was present.
As to the teeth, I was pointing it out as a possible source for the drops of blood. Perhaps (mere speculation) the orange and/or blue item(s) had more blood on it/them. That is something we will probably never know.
And only testified truthfully to by Goff the human abacus.... LOL!
Prosecution has not shown that ANYONE, much less DW, wished the death of Danielle. The smashing out of the teeth is beyond belief for DW to have done.
Even if DW had some guilt in the matter, someone ELSE would have had to dispose of the body on Dehesa Rd on Feb 15/16 night. Virtually impossible it was there before that.
Better acquit and let the prosecutors look at Damon and other possible perps, including accidental death scenarios, and also possible other disposers of the body in DW scenarios.
More search for direct witnesses and evidence.
BTW, IMHO it is impossible that Danielle was extracted from her home by force or grabbing. She was already out in a public place when taken, be that on Friday or Saturday. If anything happened INSIDE her home, Damon did it. QED.
I thought he was very Al Pacino. He wasn't that lucid, but he didn't really have time, so just left the jury with some stuff to think about.
Infield on a NASCAR weekend is the top, The dunes is a close runner-up. (Of course that was back when I did those things. Ahemm)
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