Van Dam Jury Update, Monday August 12th: Westerfield's Fate Lies In Mudd Instructions?

Court TV ^ | August 12, 2002 | Court TV

[FresnoDA]

Jury's time Jurors will resume deliberations Monday in the capital case of David Westerfield, who is accused of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam

DAY TWO: FRIDAY, AUG. 9, 2002
12 noon ET	Jury enters jury room.
2:30 p.m. ET	Jury goes home for the weekend.

DAY ONE: THURSDAY, AUG. 8, 2002
1:10 p.m. ET	Jury begins deliberating. After two months of testimony, the capital murder trial of David Westerfield is in the hands of the jurors, who began their deliberations following more than two days of closing arguments.
2:50 p.m.	Jury sends a note to the judge.
3:00 p.m.	Jury at lunch.
4:30 p.m.	Judge calls the lawyers but not the public or the press into the courtroom.
5:15 p.m.	Judge says jurors sent note asking to deliberate five days a week instead of having Friday off and he approved their request.
7:00 p.m.	Jury goes home for the day. Will return Friday morning.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Unfortunately, you're probably right.

I was wondering what their grounds for a civil suit would be if DW is acquitted. Anyone know?

[the Deejay]

Can't recall the Skakel jury & how long they took.

I wouldn't place a lot of faith in the media's "tea
leaves." They don't have any bette "tea" than any of
us.

[Lanza]

Couldn't DW counter-sue for defamation arguing he was found not guilty.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

That's what I'm hoping for. He's got nothing, no car, no house, no motorhome...it all belongs to Feldman. I think he should counter-sue to help re-gain his life.

Who knows...

[small_l_libertarian]

I couldn't believe how big the article said they get! It must be kind of like having a bobcat around the house!

We found our little kitties in a storm drain in my mom's yard after a rain. They were only about 6 inches long at the time, soaked and covered with fleas. My mom asked if I knew what kind they were and I said, "Yeah, yard cats. They're really rare." Cracked her up at the time.

Now they live at my house (well, they think I live at their house). They come and go as they please, and the bolder of the two (Amos) amuses himself by tormenting our basset hound. She's terrified of him.

[the Deejay]

DW certainly has a lot of issues for law suits
and issues for appeal (if found guilty), more
than I've ever seen in a case before.

Just throw a lariat around this case & there are
enough "issues" in this entire thing, start to
finish to last a long time.

[sawsalimb]

I find that sketch interesting. One thing to remember when looking at it is that the witnesses who reported seeing a strange man hanging around the dorm were reportedly seeing the stranger at 4:00 AM. I was once a college student,and-odd as this may seem-sometimes in those days I stayed up late drinking. Really late,and drank quite a bit,as a matter of fact.

So,when looking at that sketch,I think that everyone ought to be aware of the strong possibility that the students just might have had a few beers in them. The reason that I'm bringing this up is that the eyebrows on the sketch resemble VanDam's eyebrows in the photo,except that they're reversed. I'd expect that to be an easy mistake to make when trying to describe someone you've seen one time,at an ungodly hour,after you've had a few.

[UCANSEE2]

Let's get down to basics.

In order for the Prosecution to prove their case they have the following:

(1) 1 partial print in the MH.

(2) 1 blond hair found in the lint trap of the sink in the MH.

(3) 1 spot on the carpet by the bathroom in the MH containing DNA matching (?)Danielle's.

(4) 1 spot on the jacket recovered from the Drycleaners containing DNA matching (?)Danielle's.

This is the WHOLE of the EVIDENCE the PROSECUTION has. PERIOD.

Now, how much of this is valid?

How likely is it that the LE's/Investigators/DA's office would 'plant' the evidence?

I find it really funny that all of the above evidence wasn't found until AFTER DW was THE CHOSEN ONE. Until after police had a manner to obtain false evidence (prints,DNA, etc)

OR AM I WRONG?

Was the PRINT in the MH discovered before or after recovery of Danielle's body?

Before or after LE's dusted Danielle's room and said they found 'NONE OF DANIELLE's PRINTS' in her own bedroom?

Was the 1 blond hair found before or after Danielle's body was found?

Was the spot in the MH found before after her body was found?

What about the fact that the DNA comparison was done from a sampling from Danielle's underwear?

Was the DNA taken from the MH, and from the 'jacket' really ever compared to Danielle's DNA from her body.

I believe that they compared Danielle's DNA to Brenda/Damons to ID the body. But did they go back and match that to the tests done on jacket/carpet/underwear?

Everyone assumes that the jacket was in the MH. What if it wasn't? Police didn't find it there. Is the jacket they tested the one that usually was left in the MH ?

If not, would that be better/worse for DW?

[the Deejay]

The largest one I've ever heard of was 40 or 45 pounds. Mine was the runt of the litter, so he was never all
that big. He was only about 12 pounds.

[MizSterious]

Beethoven weighed about 25 pounds, give or take one or two in either direction. And none of it was fat. He was all muscle. When he boxed your legs, it could get painful.

[small_l_libertarian]

UCANSEE2 - Here's another wild theory for ya'. Danielle's underwear were described as Size 8 Hanes Her Way's.

Size 8 Child or Size 8 Adult? I have Hanes Her Way's and they don't say "Adult" or "Ladies." Just "5."

So, could it have been Brenda's underwear?

[Eva]

I think the sketch looks more like Damon if you picture looking up at him from a chair or a bed. It just looks like a distortion caused by a point of viewing.

[UCANSEE2]

Because tee vee advertising works. That's why scum like Nancy Grace remain employed. Tee vee people like her will have the innocent blood of a man on their hands after Tuesday mid-afternoon. Bugs don't lie, Westerfield is innocent. Pressure by tee vee media works and DAW will be convicted.

The ONION had a satire of this. TRIAL by MEDIA. I think we have seen (in our time) a big case of this.

I also think it has happened time and time again, in the past, and is becoming a trend.

Watch for LIVE TRIALS on TV where YOU CALL IN THE VERDICT !

[small_l_libertarian]

Good Heavens!

[the Deejay]

There are just way too many holes & questions
in this poor excuse for a prosection. Having
said that, if I were on the jury, I could not/
would not convict & send a man to prison & a
possible death sentence on those holes & questions.

[I. Ben Hurt]

We lost our Maine Coon cat a while back. Have not recovered. This was a cat with personality-plus. We called her Door-ie because she just showed up at our door one day and we slowly won her over and she started coming into the house. Didn't know she was a Maine Coon until the vet told us. We live way out in the country, never found out where she came from. I would groom her and if I pulled her hair she would give me a look meaning "that's one". She was one beautiful black cat.

[the Deejay]

No way could Brenda fit into a size 8 underwear.
More like a size 18. (Do ladies underwear go up
that high?) LOL, I don't know.

[small_l_libertarian]

I'm very sorry about your Door-ie. Those Maine Coon cats sound like they're about the coolest cats around. I'll bet she was a lot of fun.

[FresnoDA]

True...size 18...WAA...LOL

[MizSterious]

"Trial by Media"--yup, post #7 on this very thread. As Dread said, Onion imitates life.