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.

[Yeti]

I don't want to fight with any of you guys about this.

I'm not up for a fight tonight either. Besides, we agree more than we disagree. And I consider my self a conservative-leaning small-l libertarian, so there! In opinion, it is where independant thought borne of a reverence for justice and freedom will lead anyone.

I just don't think anarchism and libertarianism are the same thing.

[bvw]

"used or damaged audio cables"

Is that a strange phrase? Haven't done a usenet search to see how often it comes up. I mean how expensive are audio cables?

[bvw]

Oh and that the body was stored, maybe in some blue sports duffle bag, in some kind of very dry environment, explains the mummification and bugology.

[John Jamieson]

They're very cheap. And available at Radio Shack or even K/Wal-mart.

[juzcuz]

This is on another subject---sorta

I wonder how sophisticated the computer system is in that jury deliberation room (like an intra-net). I wonder if they have access to computers with testimony filed in it, or do they just have to request another person to come in and read portions of testimony? I wonder how that works over there.

I know how tedious it is to read through all of that--I've done it--I'm still doing it..

It seems that they sould just be able to type in say "danielle's blood" and get all testimony that relates to it printed out for them--That sure would cut time in half... Does anyone have any ideas ????

[gigi]

My maine coon wont eat anything that is alive much less have to catch and kill it. His motto is If It Didn't Come out of a Can...I"m not gonna eat it!
My cat Lucy on the other hand has brought home snakes, birds, rats and ran off all the squirrels in the neighborhood.

[John Jamieson]

Frig in an empty house or cabin.

[bvw]

Oh, and in a mountain cabin one might find taxidermic artifacts that would be useful in riping off body parts without leaving knife marks and such.

[bvw]

So then could it be a code phrase?

[Yeti]

Yes.

[I. Ben Hurt]

Giant pizza sounds good. I'm just hoping it's not a family size box of Kleenex that we're sharing.

[Krodg]

I thought Dumsh@t tried to convince us that DW stood in the corner of her room for over an hour. Let me think about this.

Uh huh, man in his fifties been drinking all night (holds that bladder well. What concentration) stands perfectly still (no finger prints where he supported himself. Oh what fortitude) has watched porn and is lusting after his next victim (no heavy breathing or panting to wake the victim. Dumsh@t watches too many silent movies) smothers the child in her bed (no screams no struggle and no blood. He is a neat freak!) and silently carries her barely breathing body (while he is panting from exertion) from her home while leaving someone else's fingerprints and D N A.

The first half of his scenario is so ludicrous, why go to the next step???

[John Jamieson]

I don't think so; he's just cheap. He certainly likes money more than young girls. In another email he wanted to buy a used light bulb for his bike!

[UCANSEE2]

Sounds like that agrees with the speculation that the vDs came into a lot of money after Danielle's body was found. Insurance again?

I think that someone should be concerned about funds for the Danielle Recovery Center.

This case was spread NATIONWIDE !!!!!!!!! That means people all over the nation donated money to the FUND.

Much more than any child's recovery.

WHO MANAGED THAT MONEY ? We were told there was only ...so much.... money in the fund. Poor people, didn't have much to search with.

From what I have seen , personally, when a families child disappears, and then is found dead, overall the FAMILY goes INTO THE HOLE. Their whole lifestyle suffers, if they can manage to keep their jobs.

Sometimes, after they take care of funeral expenses, etc. they have money to do something for the rest of their family.

In Kansas City we had a case like this, and the family was able to buy a house in a 'nicer' neighborhood.

Seems to me the VD's have been living "high off the hog" ever since Danielle died. The person controlling the funds and saying there wasn't much left, was also SUPPOSED to TESTIFY in court, and never did.

HE was supposed to HAVE A DATE with BRENDA that FRIDAY NIGHT, but no mention of his whereabouts was ever made.

[The Other Harry]

I agree. If it was just someone on the street, it might be understandable --- people who do sport wear warm-up jackets --- but it was a dry cleaner! They would use the correct terminology.

At the dry-cleaners where I've ever taken my stuff, how the various garments get logged-in determines the charge. The way the clerks do it initially can sometimes get changed by the back room later on, but that can become the basis for an argument.

In any event, a "sport jacket" is definitely not a "windbreaker". I would never expect any confusion there. There have sometimes been confusions about shirt types, but never anything like the jacket type.

I don't think this is a trivial point with respect to DW's invoices. At the moment, if I were a juror, I'd be inclined to disregard all dry-cleaning related evidence. That includes the everything to do with the jacket -- whichever jacket it was.

[the Deejay]

My Maine Coon was very fussy about his food, too.
And even if he'd caught a mouse, he would have
just played with it until it died a s l o w death.

He would do that with crickets & grasshoppers when
I'd have him out the back.

[bvw]

That is strange. A used biggo hi-intensity LED, mebbe, but otherwise very weird.

[John Jamieson]

He escapes down the hallway covered with pictures on the wall and furniture in the way, in the dark, and down the dark stairway. All with an "edgy" dog looking for him. All of this in a house with a first class burglar alarm.

Give me a break.

[Krodg]

Any time I've taken jackets to a cleaners they charged more for a coat than a sports jacket. I think it had to do with weight??