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Westerfield's Fate In Hands Of Jury

Panel Begins Sifting Through Two Months Of Testimony

UPDATED: 11:08 a.m. PDT August 8, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- The fate of the man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam is now up to the jury.


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Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek finished his rebuttal arguments Thursday morning, ending two months of courtroom testimony and proceedings in the trial of 50-year-old David Westerfield. Judge William Mudd followed with additional instructions to the jury. The 12 anonymous panel members must now sort through the evidence, including 199 exhibits, and formulate a verdict.

In his final statement to jurors, Dusek said Thursday that blood found on Westerfield's jacket was the "smoking gun" needed to prove his guilt.

Dusek reminded jurors that the girl's blood was found on a jacket that Westerfield took to a dry cleaner two days after she vanished.

"This is the smoking gun ... Danielle's blood on that jacket," he said pointing to a photograph of the blue, hooded coat. He said the defense had been unable to offer an explanation for the evidence.

Dusek ended by telling jurors that if by some miracle Danielle could be brought back to tell the court who killed her, she would say, "I've already told you. I told you with my hair and where you found it. I told you with the orange fiber that you found on my choker and where you found it. I told you with the blue fibers that were on my naked body and where you found them. I told you with my fingerprints, and I told you with my blood. Please listen."

In closing arguments Wednesday, defense lawyer Steven Feldman said it was "absurd" to suggest Westerfield could have entered the van Dam home and taken the girl without being caught or leaving physical evidence. Westerfield, a businessman with two college-age children, had no motive to assault Danielle.

Feldman argued expert testimony proved Danielle's body couldn't have been dumped before Feb. 12, when Westerfield already was under constant police surveillance. He suggested a third party was involved, noting that a fingerprint found in the home and a hair found on the body were never identified.

Danielle was last seen alive on Feb. 1 when her father put her to bed in their two-story home in suburban northern San Diego. After a massive search, the girl's nude body was found on Feb. 27 along a rural road east of San Diego.

The trial, which began on June 4, saw Feldman argue that the lifestyle of Danielle's parents, which included marijuana use and spouse-swapping, exposed their family and home to a number of people who might be responsible for the girl's disappearance.

"We don't blame the parents," Feldman said Tuesday. "We don't think they recognized the dangers of the lifestyle they led."

The trial captivated much of San Diego, with local television and radio stations broadcasting gavel-to-gavel coverage and talk-radio programs delving into minute details of the case and speculation about the van Dam family and Westerfield.

Jurors heard testimony from more than 100 witnesses -- from friends who partied with Danielle's mother, Brenda, the night of the abduction to several entomologists who spoke at length about how bugs found on the body indicated a range of potential times of death.

Prosecutors also called Westerfield's 18-year-old son, Neal, to testify after a defense witness suggested the college student owned some of the pornography seized from the defendant's home.

The son admitted looking at pornography on the Internet but said the thousands of images, including some that contained minors and violence, on computer discs belonged to his father.

Brenda van Dam and her husband, Damon, testified early in the trial about their marijuana use the night their daughter disappeared and previous extramarital sex. But the parents, and prosecutors, asserted their conduct was not relevant to Danielle's death.

After concluding their testimony, the van Dams watched the trial with friends from the rear of the courtroom, looking down when details of their daughter's death or their lifestyle arose. Reporters at the trial said Westerfield appeared impassive throughout the proceeding.

The jury could come back with a verdict at any time. Watch NBC 7/39 for the latest information on the case, and sign up for NBCSandiego breaking news e-mails.

We have heard a lot of talk about the goings on in the Van Dam home the night of Danielle's abduction. I would think it very important to know the activities in the home for the several months before that night. I'd also like to see a very precise schedule of what Danielle had been up to for the two months before that night. Those two parents give me the hives.

I have no problem with Westerfield being convicted. If he's guilty I want him to fry and rot in hell. I just want to be comfortable that he's the perp, not some sicko family friend that nobody's caught on to yet.

I did a little experament the other day. I've been looking into purchasing a new still camera. One of the things I've been checking out has been sample photos from different cameras. As I checked out the camera sample shots, I clicked on a link that took me to a Japanese site. As I looked at the photos, I noticed some rather young looking women. Someone had said that the Japanese dabble in very young girls participating in porn. I decided to see if I could find evidence of it. I spent about one hour clicking links and looking around.

I did find some young looking women. They looked like they could have been as young as fifteen or sixteen. My guess is they were of age but looked a few years younger. I didn't find anything way over the line. But after I was done looking around, I decided to check my system.

I went to the cache directory of my browser and reviewed what I found there. In that 45 minutes to one hour I had picked up between 50 and 75 photos in the cache. Now if I were into this type of thing, it wouldn't take but a few months before I'd have literally thousands of these types of photos in that cache. I'm sure I didn't even focus on about 75% of the small photos and icons I picked up. But if someone were reviewing my hard drive, they'd be convinced that I was drooling over each little photo as I went along. Heh heh heh, lets just state for the record that what the Japanese photographers seemed to think was sensual, wasn't exactly what I think is sensual. When I was done I expunged my cache of any possibly questionable icons or graphics.

The point is, it wouldn't take long at all to have literally thousands of these small photos. If I spent one hour a month over a few years I'd have many many such photos. Someone could make the case that I was fixated on these shots, focusing on the worst ones they could find. And I wouldn't have any defense that anyone would reasonably believe.

Well, this may not mean much to some people. Others will know what I'm trying to say. Appearances can be very decieving. Making a bonified case out of questionable material can be very misleading. I have no way of knowing if Westerfield is as bad as he is portrayed to be. He may be. I'm not convinced.

May the guilty party fry. Westerfield or not.

I'm glad Greg Weston is ready to drop the cyanide pellet, but before he does I wish he'd give me the exact evidence which confirms the following:

1. Greg, show me incontrovertible proof that Danielle van Dam was abducted,...by anyone. You can't!

2. Greg, show me incontrovertible proof that David Westerfield entered the van Dam home on the night of Danielle's disappearance. You can't.

3. Greg, show me incontrovertible prooof that Danielle van Dam was abducted from her home by David Westerfield. You can't.

4. Greg, show me incontrovertible proof that Danielle van Dam was murdered (keeping in mind it's always possible she died accidently either at her home or elsewhere.) You can't.

Westerfield may indeed be guilty, but the burden of proof was on your boy Dusek, and he didn't deliver,...at least to my satisfaction.

If perchance the jury finds him guilty I think it may be a sign of the rampant hysteria sweeping the country in the wake of several well publicized abductions and murders. That is not to say parents don't have a right to be concerned. We do. But convicting a man on such scant evidence would be, in my opinion, a rush to judgement in a climate of protective fervor.