No Decision From Westerfield Jury: Deliberations Continue Tuesday, August 13, 2002

KGTV ^ | August 13, 2002 | KGTV

[FresnoDA]

No Decision From Westerfield Jury

Jury Could Take At Least A Week, Experts Say

Posted: 5:30 p.m. PDT August 12, 2002
Updated: 5:47 p.m. PDT August 12, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- Jurors completed a third day of deliberations without reaching verdicts Monday in the trial of David Westerfield, a former Sabre Springs man accused of kidnapping and killing Danielle van Dam.

	WESTERFIELD TRIAL Share Your Thoughts About The Case Get The Verdict: Sign Up For Breaking News E-mails Westerfield Trial Jury Questionnaire VERDICT COVERAGE Verdict coverage of the David Westerfield trial will air live on Channel 10 NewsChannel 15 and will be live streamed on TheSanDiego Channel.com DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002 Watch Danielle Video Montage E-mail: daniellevandam @yahoo.com Send mail to: P.O. Box 501515 San Diego, 92150

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.

	Jury Has To Consider Question Carefully

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.

 

SURVEY
	What decision do you think the jury in the David Westerfield trial will reach?
	Guilty on all three counts Guilty of kidnapping, murder Guilty of possessing child pornography Not guilty on all three counts Hung jury
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Westerfield was arrested Feb. 22.

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.

[Rheo]

I'm not sure but guessing it is hearsay as a 3rd party told him info and the 3rd party was not in court to substantiate???

[The Other Harry]

My take on this is that Danielle was in the motorhome up to a year prior to her abduction, leaving behind a few hairs and one blood spot. Blood spots cannot be dated, but now we know those dogs would have found her scent in there had she been in the motorhome that weekend. It should have been quite strong. Vacuuming would not have removed the scent--the article clearly states that the dogs still found scent even after objects had been moved. Nope, she was not in there that weekend, period.

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.

[Rheo]

So, is Dusuck's great legal strategy to simply confuse the h3ll out of the jurors?

Yep...that appears to sum it up.

[Kerensky]

The sketch of the poss. perp. being shown reminds me of the father of Jahi Turner.

The perp in the sketch frequents echo park, according to witnesses. San Diego and Echo Park are 140 miles apart.

[bvw]

It goes to why the detective went to the cleaners when he did, I think that is not hearsay, but the detective's reason for that trip at that time.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

That's messed up. What kind of operation doesn't put their address, or at least a phone number on claim checks/receipts?

[Rheo]

I saw that...how sad and maddening that this continues.

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.

[MizSterious]

Right--otherwise, how do they even know if the receipt is theirs? Maybe they have their company name stamped on the reverse side?

[Lanza]

I don't know. As a parent myself, it makes me more disgusted with the VDs that they invited total strangers home with their children there to have sex parties. As a parent, I ask myself "Would I lie to the police when my child was missing? Would I even be thinking about CYA at a time like that?" As a parent, their behvior waves the major red flags for me.

[Jaded]

It did. It even had the name Westerfield printed on it. Who'da thunk it?

[Rheo]

What kind of operation doesn't put their address, or at least a phone number on claim checks/receipts?

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.

[Kerensky]

she left the park with the man and his dog.

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.

[bvw]

When you have a glitch and put in backup register, or reinstall the POS software, you may not have the time to re-establich the by-store configuration info.

[MizSterious]

The dogs and the bugs pretty much settled the matter for me. Entomology is not, as some would have it, "junk science." Plenty of people have been put away on that evidence alone, lots more using that evidence in addition to other evidence. Bugs, unlike hinky witnesses, have no reason to lie. They just live their life cycles, which will always tell the tale.

In my mind, DW didn't do this, and couldn't have.

[Kerensky]

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?

[shezza]

I never leave my house I tell you...never!!

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.

[bvw]

Another alternative reason, is that some retailers have multiple registers for tax and partner "reporting" purposes. They run the official register for part of each day, and the extra one the rest of the day.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Man alive...if this trial has taught me one thing, it's that San Diego is full of irresponsible airheads (Present company excluded, of course)...I'm embarrassed to have been born there.

[Rheo]

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.

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.

[Kerensky]

Just WHO is San Diego LE trying to protect, and WHY?