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

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.

I agree with you on all of this. I am a divorced parent with two kids in their early 20's. I have done some stupid things in my life. I can relate to both sides.

Well, maybe I can. It's a bit of a stretch to relate to the vD's. I try to in my mind, but I can't quite get there.

My inability to get there keeps bringing back to the vD's as "something is wrong here". To say the least, their part in all this stinks. It smells worse than a skunk.

As I have said in some previous posts, I think the porn evidence should have been excluded as blatantly prejudicial, and the vD "lifestyle" evidence should have been allowed in as the basis for an alternate theory of how the crime might have occured. If nothing else, it would have helped the jury get the whole, accurate picture of what was going on in the vD home at the time.

We're talking a cocaine dealer and who-knows-who-else coming and going from the house at all times of day and night. All kinds of prints, fibers, hairs, and DNA all over Danielle's bedroom. Not including DW's, however.

Nothing gets matched to anybody, Danielle included. Then the bedroom immediately gets meticulously cleaned, carpet-shampooed, and repainted.

To me, this is all very relevant to a determination of whether DW should be deemed by the jury to be guilty. I think it should have all been allowed in as evidence that the crime could have occured -- and most likely did occur -- some other way.

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