Posted on 08/13/2002 10:12:33 PM PDT by FresnoDA
SIGNONSANDIEGO STAFF
and WIRE SERVICES
August 13, 2002
The fourth day of deliberations in the David Westerfield trial has ended with no conclusion by the jury. The jury will resume deliberations Wednesday morning at the San Diego County Courthouse. Earleir today, jurors asked to hear Westerfield's only recorded explanation of what he was doing the weekend 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was kidnapped.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd said he was granting a request from the jury for a tape recording and transcript of the taped interview Westerfield gave to police interrogation specialist Paul Redden on Feb. 4, two days after Danielle's disappearance.
During the interview, Westerfield makes a reference to "we" as he describes his meandering trip through San Diego and Imperial counties on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3.
"The little place we, we were at was just a little small turnoff-type place," Westerfield said.
Westerfield, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, kidnapping and a special circumstance allegation that the killing of Danielle van Dam occurred during the commission of kidnapping.
He is also accused of the misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
Jurors are in their fourth day of deliberations.
Mudd's disclosure came during a 10 a.m. open hearing on a request from KFMB-AM 760 to let River Stillwood, an assistant radio producer for talk show host Rick Roberts, back into the courtroom to cover the trial.
"She's out and will remain out and will not be permitted in for any live proceedings... because she is the representative of an individual who takes great glee and delight shoving it in this court's face," Mudd said.
Mudd ejected Stillwood from the courtroom on Thursday after asking her to tell him who told Roberts about the details of a Wednesday exchange between Mudd and the attorneys in the case during a sealed hearing.
Stillwood told Mudd that she didn't know who gave Roberts the information. On the air, Roberts later said he had received a call from a source in the courthouse.
The court is conducting an internal investigation, but cannot compel Roberts and Stillwood to name their source, Mudd said.
Stillwood can still sit in the pressroom and watch the video feed of any court activity, Mudd said.
KFMB was welcome to send someone else to sit in the courtroom, so long as the person was representing the radio station and not Roberts, he said.
KFMB's attorney Joann Rezzo argued that the disclosure did not violate the defendant's right to a fair trial. She also argued that Stillwood didn't give him "the source of the leak" because she didn't know who it was.
Before Mudd made his ruling, he invited comments from prosecutor Jeff Dusek, who managed only a wry remark.
"My inclination is to comment, but on advice of counsel, I I will submit," Dusek said, gesturing to his fellow prosecutor, Woody Clarke.
Defense attorney Robert Boyce told Mudd he was concerned about the integrity of proceedings. "They broadcast it, they knew what they were doing," Boyce said.
He called it "just another effort to sensationalize these proceedings."
Mudd told the media attorneys he welcomed the opportunity to make a "full and complete record" of his decision to eject Stillwood.
In his comments, Mudd made it clear he was still angry with KFMB television's decision to include a high school yearbook photo of Neal Westerfield during a telecast of the son of the defendant's testimony. Mudd had ordered that no television or print images of the adult, who is now 19, be transmitted.
The judge's inclination was to ban both the station's radio and TV representatives from the trial.
"Frankly, they seem to be the two networks in this community that just don't seem to get it," he said.
However, after his wife advised him to "sleep in it, " he gave the matter "serious thought," Mudd said.
He quoted a line from a Supreme Court decision in 1976 involving a press restraint issue in Nebraska.
" The extraordinary protections afforded by the First Amendment carry with them something in the nature of a fiduciary duty to exercise the protected rights responsibly--a duty widely acknowledged but not always observed by editors and publishers," Mudd said. "It is not asking too much to suggest that those who exercise First Amendment rights in newspapers or broadcasting enterprises direct some effort to protect the rights of an accused to a fair trial by unbiased jurors. "
Mudd said he was troubled by the host's decision to broadcast the information, knowing it was from a closed hearing.
The judge wasn't impressed by the host's justification that the general public was already aware of the issue, and that Stillwood was ignorant of the source.
He said the host wasn't conducting a search for the truth, but a grab for ratings. He also took the opportunity to lash out at "idiots from LA talk stations," who broadcast an afternoon program from a media compound outside the County courthouse. He said the members of the talk station were "acting like teen-agers" in front of the courthouse.
The judge acknowledged he could not control such behavior but could control his own courtroom.
The judge said officials from KFMB must be taking "great glee in shoving it in this court's face."
Fred D'Ambrosi, news director for KFMB-TV and Radio, said his television station showed only a high school yearbook photo of Westerfield's son.
"We didn't shoot him in court, which was the judge's order," D'Ambrosi said.
Regarding River Stillwood, D'Ambrosi said the issue was important because of the First Amendment and a free press. He added that he was not in charge of the Rick Roberts program.
"We're just trying to report the news and uphold the First Amendment," D'Ambrosi said. "If (Mudd) can ban River Stillwood, he can ban anybody." The news director suggested that the judge was angry because he didn't like the story that was reported.
D'Ambrosi said he had never spoken to Mudd, and called his reading of the situation "totally inaccurate."
Mudd said he had done a 180-degree turnaround on the issue of allowing cameras and reporters in the courtroom since deciding to allow Court TV to cover the trial live.
Doosuk was making things up as he went along in his closings.
Previously others discussed the 'evidence' in the MH as being highly suspicious because of the small amount. Just enough to help justify the SD arresting DW, but not enough to match what one would normally expect.
I.E. IF Danielle was in the MH Friday night/Saturday morning, then there should be A LOT of HAIR. If DW raped her, then there should be DNA all over the place. If she was taken alive in the MH and driven all over the state of California (per prosecution - closed curtains, voices heard) then her prints should have been all over the place.
Instead we have 1 hair, 1 print, and 1 spot of something, with Danielle's (or maybe Brenda's ) DNA.
We have a jacket that may or may not have even been in the MH with a spot on it that contains DNA (maybe Brenda's maybe Danielle's).
According to the testimony, and the reciepts, the jacket with the DNA may have been at the dry cleaners for a week before Danielle even disappeared.
Oh, my goodness.
You shouldn't call him out.
It was AppyPappy that said DW should do WHATEVER it took to get off free. This is not the case.
IT has been the PROSECUTION that is willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to win, including making up this scenario (even though DW is not being charged with rape) in an effort to win the jury over emotionally. It is a tactic that should be recognized by the jury , what I call the DROWNING VICTIM attempt. They will GRAB at anything to stay afloat. Even if they drown someone else in the process. This is DUSEK's case. GRAB at ANYTHING, NO MATTER WHO IT DROWNS.
If many of you believe in reasonable doubt then he should walk but that is just not good enough for me. Many of you still think it possible he did it but state didnt prove its case and that is just not good enough for me.
I do know from watching this case that their is huge reasonable doubt and he should be innocent. WHen I missed the child porn pic posts I re-asked and many of you were kind to inform me it was probably animation.
Anyway I started with this case believing that he had to be the man....that was back in Feb. There had to be an easy culprit.
It totally chills my soul to know an innocent man may be convicted and one of our children may be the next victim.
OFFICIAL DW TRIAL THREAD GLOSSARY
150-QUADTRILLION-TO-ONE= Proof that Danielle was an Alien whose DNA could not match any individual of the human population on 25 million earth-like planets
AGAINST ALL ODDS=the view of the informed open-minded segment of the populace vs. the view of the media-fed popular over-emotional majority (i.e. sheeple).
ALSO, the fight of the DW-GUILTY posters vs. the DW-NOT GUILTY posters on FR.
BARBED= Having reached the point of being too hot to handle for either the prosecution OR the defense.
BEETLEMANIA= resulting frenzy of hard-shelled insects when their party is moved to another location and postponed for another two weeks.
BUGOLOGIST=hound: a person who is an amateur entomologist who is convinced that the bugs have stated that DW is innocent regardless of blood, fibers, hair and child porn.
BUGOUT= When the first entomology forensics expert hired and normally used by the Prosecution is used to support the defense. As a result, the Prosecution goes out and hires another bug guy from far away that will testify the way he is told.
CHAMELEON-FIBER= a "dull orange" fiber that perfectly matches a "bright orange" fiber when viewed through the world's finest laboratory instruments.
COKEYS=What happens to your keyboard when you read a humorous reply on FR and SPEW your favorite sugar-laced beverage on your keyboard. First, your fingers stick to the keys, then later, you end up with multiple replies and repeating characters due to the keys sticking. Later you end up buying a new keyboard.
DESPERADO SNACK= (AKA Party-Mix) What you do for food after being addicted to the net and FR for so long that you eat and sleep at the PC. Finally you get so addicted you won’t even get up to go get FOOD, so, you turn the keyboard upside down and shake it out over a piece of paper. You then funnel the crumbs into your mouth.
DEJACKALED=Removal of definitions that were attacks by certain posters at other posters. Removal of non-productive REPLIES on a thread by refusal to make such a reply yourself, or respond to one made to you.
.DUSEKCATED= the chewed-up condition of a prosecutor who has no case to begin with, after his 'bugsperts' helped the defendant's case more than his.
DUSEKED= to have your fragile house of prosecutorial cards collapse when your witness is FELDMANIZED.
DUSEK’S MADNESS= the affliction someone has who knowingly attempts to send an innocent man to the death chamber in spite of glaring exculpatory evidence.
FAULKERNIZED= a natural process whereby maggots destroy a month's worth of court testimony in two hours.
FELDMAN FOR DUMMIES=The art of understanding how defense doesn't deny anything, doesn't deny the blood, hair, fiber and child porn..but spends his time deflecting it towards someone else.
FELDMANIZED - Judicially castrated; having reduced a reasonably intelligent witness to a blithering blob with the coherence of Rain Man and the believability of x42; usually accompanied by rhythmic thumping of DA's head on table. See DUSEKED.
FIRECRACKERS = Posters on a thread that appear as: A bunch of noise and sparks, a little fire, but mostly smoke, and then after a while, they are gone.
FISHES AND LOAVES PIZZA= A seeming unending supply of pizza. Can be bought at NOON on a Friday, and it will feed a family of 5, then will feed the same family of 5 + 2 more guests until 8:30pm, then will feed Mom,Dad, and four guests around 2am Saturday Morning.
GRACEFULL= full of self-importance (as in Nancy Grace), to the great annoyance of others
HELLOCINATING= the Swing Set's delusional belief that everyone they met wanted to come home with them.
HIGH LYING VAN DAMS=Description of the parents of Danielle Van Dam who were repeatedly getting HIGH while their daughter disappeared and met her death. Who now have exhibited a pattern of repeated lying about their activities to police, in the PRELIMs and in the TRIAL. In the meanwhile their daughter may have suffered unbelievable horrors until she met her death, yet they continued to lie. Even know, when finding or convicting the killer is of prime importance, they continue to hide the truth and protect their friends. Also they have gone on, after their daughter’s death. New BMW, trip to the state fair, and appearances in COURT where they display an unusual talent for ACTING. HOSED=being subjected to 24 hour surveillance due to unrolled hose in yard.
HTML CODE SHRIEKING - repeated use of large, colorful fonts in posts. To the annoyance of some, the amusement of others, and the bafflement of newbies.
INSECTOPHILE - To be conversant in life cycles and mating of obscure insects, sprinkled with multi-syllabic terms from college level biology and meteorology. Caused by prolonged exposure to a BUG GUY.
THE IMMACULATE ABDUCTION= The kidnapping of Danielle Van Dam by an unknown (Alias SUPER NINJA DAVE), who broke into a locked house, which had alarms, and a dog, and a father and three children inside. He kidnapped the young female, while drunk, carried her out of the house, flew her to his motorhome (see caped outfit), and murdered her. While in the house, he left no prints, no DNA, no hairs, no fibers, not one piece of evidence he was ever there, and neither the dog, the father, nor the two other children ever noticed anyone had been in their house and walked past their open bedroom doors.
LORD OF THE FLIES= A ‘rogue’ bug expert that can be hired to come up with an EXACT time of death matching what you need to win the case, when all other experts you hired didn’t give you the answer you wanted. This LOTF’s lives in a far off land with no resemblance to nor familiarity with the conditions where the death occurred. All you have to do is send him a lock of hair, some newt toes, the evaluations and information from the other experts and a big bag of CHEETOS. The info must be sent in an envelope and you must mark on the back, in PIG LATIN, the Time of Death you wish him to devine. HE will utter such phrases as “the activity of bugs on the corpse is the same as animal activity on the sides of a recent volcano, and the hairs are like the trees of the forest and , well, the whole planet, the sun, the moon, are like the molecules on the skin cell of a person from the next dimension, and they are just a molecule of a hair on the….., uh,hhhh, what was I, oh yeah , TIME OF DEATH IS ……….”
This expert ‘s fee is very high, due to the fact that he lives so far away, and, well, DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH a DECENT BAG of MAUI WOWEEE cost these days ! MAGNETOMANIAC= A suspect who devises theories of how the "immaculate abduction" took place.
MAGNUMFIBER = a 27 pound single orange fiber that covered Danielle's body. Listed in GBR as the largest single fiber ever produced
MASOCHISM=Watching the Trial of David Westerfield on COURT-TV and actually sitting still and listening to the commentary of Nancy Grace, et. al.
PIZZA-EATERS: Usually a group of 5 or more of guests and/or family members that is customarily needed to eat a neverending pizza. See: FISHES AND LOAVES PIZZA
PIZZA-PARTY = After coming home from the bar at 2am with friends, new friends, total strangers, you head to the garage for PIZZA. (PIZZA is AKA drugs, sex)
PREMATURE ACCUSATION=An arrest by police of a suspect before they have done investigative work on all of the evidence which might indicate which suspect is the most likely perpetrator.
REPLY-FOG=Getting so tired and confused on during conversations on the thread that you end up replying to the wrong person, or mistaking the intention or tone of their reply and reply back with an inappropriate response.
SCAPECOAT= the jacket owned by DW with Danielle's tiny spot of DNA
SIX-PACK= PIZZA-EATERS all in one bed.
SLUTJACKALS=(1)a bisexually aggressive female type species, with out scruples, restraint, or moral fiber. Willing to settle for anything that satisfies basal desires, and in any way considered momentarily convenient.(2)Masters of deceit, sinister, cold-hearted, savage creatures which prey upon ambushing unsuspecting neighbors.
SWEET-TREAT= What you get if you just SPEWED on your keyboard and now you are thirsty and hungry. You quickly make a funnel out of paper and turning the keyboard upside down, funnel the Mixture of PARTY-MIX and COKEYS into a cup, then DRINK IT.
SWING-SET= For those who don't like playing in the sand box. Usually a set of six, who share the set and enjoy highs and lows.
SWINGER-SIX =Brenda, Barbara, Denise, Larry, Mo and Curly (AKA PIZZA-EATERS)
THE NEVER-ENDING-JOINT= A rolled cigarette of marijuana (wackyweed) that can be smoked by 4 people at 830pm , then smoked by 4 or more people several times in the parking lot of a bar, then can still be smoked by six people in a garage , at 2 in the morning. (Save the roach!)
TODIOT= a time-of-death expert whose 4 sigma range of possible death dates encloses a range of time, during all of which, the victim is known to have been living
TRANSCRIPT-FATIGUE=:The special feeling one gets when confronted with the task of combing through the transcripts in order to back up (for the 100th time)a theory or assertion regarding the trial. AKA ‘fourth instar’
VAN DAM DAMN VAN = a blue van used in Damon Van Dam's wild ride through all the probable dump sites for Danielle's body on the weekend of Feb 16th. Although Damon does not report having found the body that weekend, the flys did. Now missing in action.
WESTONIZATION= Where North becomes South, and East(on) becomes West(on). A netherworld were fact becomes fiction and imagination comes alive.
WILD BUG CHASE=Going through a series of BUG EXPERTS, one after another, questioning them in endless circles, in an attempt to get them confused.
AND THE NEWEST ADDITIONS:
MY UNDERSTANDING IS= one of the biggest keywords in use, meaning 'I don't know a darn thing about thisexcept for something I read or heard somewhere in the media that told me he was guilty! (obey, obey, obey, now sleep, sleep, good little sheeple)
SHEEPLE= are voters who blindly follow without independent research and investigation. They believe whatever the media tells them...most commonly are democrats. :)
So...which end is it that you know?
...enquiring minds want to know...
unhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........??????????
I feel so strongly on his innocence, that I will become an active activist if he is not aquitted. Don't ask me what that means....
Dusek's closing. Called "The Neverending Story". Sysnopsis: A story that has no beginning, no end, just keeps running in random circles to attempt to endlessly and totally confuse the Jury.
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