Posted on 08/12/2002 10:16:25 PM PDT by FresnoDA
The six-man, six-woman panel was handed the case Thursday after more than two months of testimony.
According to search warrant affidavits made public after six months under seal, Westerfield admitted to police that he dropped off bedding and other items at a Poway dry cleaners two days after Danielle disappeared.
The warrants and affidavits had been sealed since shortly after the girl's mother discovered her missing from her bed the morning of Feb. 2. Last week, the 4th District Court of Appeal ordered the documents unsealed.
Westerfield, 50, a self-employed design engineer, is charged with murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography.
He could face the death penalty if the jury finds true a special circumstance allegation that the murder of the 7-year-old happened during a kidnapping.
The trial, which started June 4, included 23 days of testimony, 98 witnesses and 199 court exhibits.
Trial observers say the deliberations could come down to DNA vs. bugs -- DNA evidence that the victim was in the suspect's motor home versus testimony from defense forensic experts who said bugs on the girl's body indicated it had been dumped while the suspect was under police surveillance.
The alleged swinging lifestyle of the victim's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, also could factor into the jury's verdict.
Defense attorney Steven Feldman told jurors forensic evidence involving bugs on the victim's body proved it was "impossible" for his client to have dumped the body beside an East County road, where it was discovered Feb. 27.
The defense claimed throughout the trial that Westerfield was under tight surveillance by police and the media beginning Feb. 5, three days after the Sabre Springs girl was discovered missing from her bed.
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Prosecutors contend the defense did not represent accurately the information provided by experts who study insect infestation of corpses.
Physical evidence -- including Danielle's blood on Westerfield's jacket and fingerprints, hair and fibers found in the defendant's motor home -- point to Westerfield's guilt, prosecutors said.
Feldman said the prosecution presented no evidence that Westerfield had ever been in Danielle's home. He noted that her parents testified to holding sex parties in the home, and said one of their house guests might have committed the crime.
Feldman also suggested that Westerfield could not have maneuvered his way through the darkened van Dam home the night of Feb. 1 without anyone hearing him seizing the 58-pound child.
You and I agree on this. In my mind, the failure of the dogs to alert on the MH is definitive. The stains, hair, hand-print, and fiber evidence could have all been deposited at any time. And they might not even have been Danielle's in the first place. But I will give some solid points to the prosecution here. This *is* their most damning evidence.
Dogs not alerting on the MH?
I don't think DW knows how to clean out a MH in such a way that a dog would not alert on her scent -- dead, alive, wrapped in something, whatever -- if DvD had been in that MH in the past few days. To me, that's critical.
Yep...that appears to sum it up.
The perp in the sketch frequents echo park, according to witnesses. San Diego and Echo Park are 140 miles apart.
They called off the Amber Alert really quickly as thought she may have drowned, then got info that she left the park with the man and his dog.
The kind of operation that has malfunctioning printers, assigns laundry from one customer to a different customer until error is discovered, the kind that has a 12 year employee that doesn't even know the address.
You pretty much have to assume that every park has its resident perp on the lookout for small children, just as you see the occasional hawk sitting on power poles along the road waiting for roadkill.
That being said, I think its possible that perps cruise in cars looking for the occasional wandering child in the middle of the night - is this what happened to Danielle?
Where were you the week of July 28? Were you or were you not in a motorhome? You drove for hours on routes not normally taken by some other drivers, didn't you? Didn't you??? At any point was there ever a towel on the floor? Did you speak to strangers and invite them to look around your motorhome? Why not? Can anyone other than your party verify the routes you took? Do you remember the names of the highways you were on and what towns you went through (in sequential order) on August 1? Where exactly were you at 2:15 pm on that date? Why did you leave the country? Do you have any black boots? Uh huh. Just as I thought.
Sad fact.
A 4yr old girl at a park that isn't apparently being watched closely has got to be the sick bastards dream come true.....he didn't even run with her..they walked out of the park.
Praying for her safe return and for her family...it doesn't look good.
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