Westerfield's Fate In Hands Of Jury: VERDICT WATCH BEGINS in Van Dam Murder Case

CourtTV ^ | August 8, 2002 | CourtTV

[FresnoDA]

Jury's hands After two months of hearing evidence, jurors have begun deliberating the fate of David Westerfield, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam

[Green]

I'm still wondering how forensics found the stain. Was it visible to the naked eye or did they luminol the jacket? Was it ever discussed?

[fatima]

But even if there was more,what does that have to do with the death of her daughter and if there was more why would she not tell it so the police could get the real killer?

[JudyB1938]

It is impossible to believe that the parents could have searched Danielle's closet and not left any of their prints on the mirrored doors.

[nycgal]

Can blood splatter analysis be done if the spot is on a fabric material?

I don't know. My knowledge of blood spatter analysis came from the OJ trial and Dr. Henry Lee :-) I think I remember that the pattern of the spatter can tell you if it came from a gun shot and how distance and angle the victim was from the gun, someone brushing up against an object with an open wound, etc. I don't remember if there was testimony relating to how it appeared on fabric.

[Green]

I could be wrong here, but I thought the drycleaning was never picked up by DW, I though that LE picked up the cleaning. Anyone? What was the timeline here?

[UCANSEE2]

That's what he said - that DNA degrades over time, and if it starts to degrade, you may not get a match at one or another marker.

Another example of letting the human mind make inferences /assumptions by not supplying all the info. "Imagined Testimony":

SO, MR. _____ expert, HOW LONG does it take to degrade.?

Well, it would take longer than the time between Danielle's disappearance and the time we found this stain and tested it.

SO why didn't you test another cell?

"Well, they were all the same, it wasn't possible to prove it was DANIELLE's only, it could be Brenda's, but that would ruin our case, and I wouldn't get paid!"

[JudyB1938]

You are just TOO GOOD! (fixing that poll for us)

Thanks.

[CedarDave]

It may be that he was prohibited from presenting controversial alternate scenarios (such as the one in #531 directly above your post) so that he thought the best thing to do was not draw attention to it, and work with the other prosecution evidence that could be demolished more easily and more completely.

[NatureGirl]

Rumour has it that "Brenda did a guy in the parking lot". What if that guy was DW? He wouldn't be the first guy to make a mistake like that when he was drunk, and that may have had more to do with his "get out of the neighbourhood quick" trip the next day.

Hypothetically speaking of course, if he "did" the wife of a guy that lives down the street from him --

...and BVD at that.

[UCANSEE2]

Any good Dry Cleaning establishment has a "spot testing kit" consisting of about a dozen small vials. They can determine the type of stain by placing a drop of solution on the stain. No problem. Used to work in auto detailing years ago...we used same type of kit for stains on upholstery. Never found stain we couldn't remove. Customers were always amazed

So, this place was a crappy Dry Cleaners?

[the-gooroo]

Do you believe Susan Smith drowned her two boys but said it was a kidnapping? Do you think the Ramseys (one or both) may have killed Jon Benet or are covering up for someone? Do you believe that just a couple of weeks ago a father and uncle of a 5 mo old baby admitted throwing her in the air and letting her hit the ceiling then letting her drop to the floor. The uncle admitted raping her. She's dead but not by the hands of a stranger.

[CedarDave]

But what if she suspects the real killer is her husband, DVD!!

[UCANSEE2]

How could they stain his jacket if it was with him on the trip?

The idea was that they placed the stain on his jacket after they picked it up from the Dry Cleaners.

[crystalk]

Danielle's room was described as a virtual sump of DNA. There were (besides very much of her own) an incredible number of blood traces of dozens of people, not known, on her beanbag chair, others on the wall, in her bed, on the stair rail, it was more like what might be in a public toilet, than one little girl's suburban room!

And wasn't this AFTER it was cleaned?

[nycgal]

The world needs more artists. There's a difference between an artist and a painter.

My teacher tells us we're artists. I'm beginning to believe it. Not doing too badly after so many years away from it. One of these days I'll post some of my work on my home page. Please do the same.

[Illbay]

Yup, hang 'im too!!!!!

[nycgal]

Thanks for the poll. I think you know how I voted :-)

[KnutCase]

Not necessarily. I suppose that most stains would come out in the normal cleaning process unless the customer specifically asked the cleaners about an unknown spot stain.

[UCANSEE2]

Thank you. Printing it out , read most of it, and bookmarking it.

[CedarDave]

Haven't made up my mind!