By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 14, 2002
Jurors deliberating David Westerfield's fate have asked to review all the pornographic evidence, look at Westerfield's photos of his ex-girlfriend's daughter and listen to his tape-recorded interview with police.
The jury made the requests Friday, Monday and yesterday in notes sent to Superior Court Judge William Mudd. All the notes have been signed by juror #10, who is an accountant and the father of a newborn boy.
Also yesterday, the judge erupted at the media again, and refused to reverse his decision to ban a radio producer from the courtroom because her station reported details of a secret hearing in the case.
Mudd criticized several other media outlets for their coverage, referred to personalities from one Los Angeles radio station as "idiots," and said his opinion about the benefits of having cameras in his courtroom has changed "180 degrees" since the trial began.
The jury, which ended its fourth day of deliberations yesterday, sent two notes to the judge Friday, according to court records. "We request all available evidence with pornographic images," they requested in the first note. The second note said: "We request the photos of Danielle L."
The judge granted both requests. Hundreds of pornographic images, including pictures organized in binders and videos, have been introduced as evidence in the case. Prosecutors say a small portion of these images are child pornography.
Westerfield, 50, is charged with kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, who lived two doors away in Sabre Springs. Prosecutors say he is sexually attracted to young girls. Westerfield also faces misdemeanor charges of possessing child pornography.
Among the computer images seized from his house were photos of his ex-girlfriend's daughter, identified as Danielle L., in poses that prosecutors argue are sexually provocative. She is now 17.
On Monday the jury asked to rehear a recording of Westerfield's Feb. 4 interview with police interrogation specialist Paul Redden. In the interview, the tape of which was played at trial, Westerfield made a number of statements, including describing his whereabouts for that weekend. Danielle van Dam was reported missing two days before the interview.
The jury's request was granted, as was yesterday's request by the jury to review a transcript of that same interview. The jury has now deliberated more than 16 hours over four days, and the panel is scheduled to return at 9 a.m. today to continue.
Also yesterday, the judge refused to change his mind about banning an assistant radio producer from his courtroom for the remainder of the trial. River Stillwood, who works for Rick Roberts' talk show on KFMB-AM 760 radio, was kicked out after her boss reported details of a closed-door hearing involving the judge and lawyers in the case.
Citing a confidential source, Roberts reported that the hearing involved comments made by the father of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam toward the mother of Steven Feldman, the lead lawyer for Westerfield. Roberts later said Stillwood had nothing to do with the leak, which Roberts said came from a confidential source who called him.
Lawyers for the radio program wanted Mudd to reconsider his ruling. Mudd refused. He criticized the station for airing its report "within 45 minutes of the hearing." And he blasted the media for "using sources that violate the very integrity of this courtroom."
Lawyers for Roberts' show wouldn't comment yesterday on whether the station plans to appeal. In court, a lawyer for the show said reporters shouldn't be punished for exercising their First Amendment right to air newsworthy information.
Mudd said he is conducting an investigation to see who might have been the source of the leak. And citing the behavior of various news outlets, he said the case has caused him to change his mind about allowing cameras into his court. The Westerfield trial has been televised gavel to gavel.
Mudd also was upset that talk-show hosts for one Los Angeles radio station handed out stalks of broccoli near the courthouse. They said the broccoli was meant to symbolize what the hosts said are dim-witted jurors who haven't returned an early guilty verdict.
In an interview yesterday, Roberts said he obtained his information through a legitimate source. He said that whenever he receives such information, he makes a number of considerations before deciding whether to air it, including its reliability and its possible effect on the case.
Media advocates said the judge's comments reveal a fundamental misconception about the rights and responsibilities of the media.
"Reporters are not courtroom stenographers," said Terry Francke, a lawyer for the California First Amendment Coalition in Sacramento. "They're not subject to the content control of the court."
Just because a judge holds a secret hearing doesn't mean a reporter has an ethical duty to keep the information secret should the reporter learn the details through a legitimate source, Francke said. As a general rule, if the information is news, and if it was obtained through legal means, it gets reported as soon as possible, Francke said.
The press's job is to "print all the facts no matter what happens," Francke said.
San Diego attorney Mike Still, a former prosecutor who has been providing media commentary on the case, said of Mudd: "I think he's frustrated. He's got all these competing interests. He's got Westerfield's fair-trial and due-process rights. He's got the media's First Amendment rights. He's got the prosecution's fair-trial rights."
Does that mean she had clothes on but posed sticking her butt or chest out?