[MizSterious]

After a person dies, the teeth loosen. Check the Blackbourne testimony for the sad and gorey details. My feeling is that the teeth were not knocked out or removed--they fell out. Also, if you get the chance, check the testimony of the volunteer searchers (particularly the one who brought his camera along). Chris something or other. Anyway, he testified that he recognized Danielle because of her teeth. So either he's lying through his own teeth, or the teeth were intact when he found her. What happened after that is anyone's guess.

[Bluebird Singing]

So if the teeth fell out, and only one of them was found, that means they were either left at Dehesa, or fell out somewhere else, or taken by somebody. I will look up the testimony of this searcher. I remember he said he had taken photos. That was an interesting statement that he made about recognizing her.

[spectre]

Your logic is correct. It WAS testified that the bone and tissue holding the teeth in tact had degenerated and caused them to loosen.

But what other conclusion would Dusek want the Jury to believe, other than her teeth were "knocked" down her throat.

THIS is the same Dusek, who made-up the rape-scene, "BANG-BANG-BANG"-, against the MH headboard.

If that wasn't misstating the evidence, I don't know what was!

"Objection, Your honor, misstates the evidence", should have been entered.

sw

[FresnoDA]

In day 5 of Westerfield deliberations, more waiting

KIMBERLY EPLER
Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- Jurors in the murder case of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam spent a fifth day Wednesday deliberating the fate of her accused killer, David Westerfield.

Since receiving the case a week ago, the panel of six men and six women has asked to rehear a taped interview Westerfield gave to police two days after Danielle disappeared and to see a transcript of that interview.

They also asked to view pornographic images taken from Westerfield's home computer along with a picture of teen-ager Danielle L., the daughter of Westerfield's ex-girlfriend, lounging in a bikini.

All the notes were signed "Thanks, Juror 10." He is an accountant with a young child.

Westerfield, 50, faces the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and murdering Danielle. The little girl lived two houses from the twice-divorced design engineer. She was reported missing Feb. 2. Nearly four weeks later her nude body was discovered by volunteer searchers under an oak tree in rural East County.

Westerfield also faces a misdemeanor charge of possession of child pornography.

Jurors heard eight weeks of testimony from almost 100 witnesses and viewed 199 exhibits, which now sit with the panel in a secluded room at the downtown San Diego courthouse where they meet each weekday. There is no timetable for them to reach a decision.

While there was little movement in the case Wednesday, a continuous flow of letters were still being sent to the courthouse. The correspondence is kept in court files several inches thick.

Many of the letters praise Judge William Mudd.

"First, I want to thank you for running an excellent trial in the Westerfield case," wrote a Valley Center resident. "I can imagine it is difficult and taxes your patience and concentration."

Another was from someone who claimed to be psychic and was convinced Westerfield was not guilty.

"My ESP is always right," the person wrote.

Others were from people offering their opinions on the case. A few sent pictures.

One woman wrote a poem after apparently being a little bothered by the judge's phonetic pronunciation of prosecutor Jeff Dusek's last name.

"Aya 'Captain' Judge Mudd, you run a tight ship, your rulings are fair, your humor's a pip. But something's amiss, your honor ---- Oh heck. Isn't Jeff's surname pronounced as Doo Shek?"

The authored signed the note to Mudd as "Your fan."

A closed-door hearing on a motion submitted by Westerfield's defense team is scheduled to be heard this morning.

---

Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.

8/15/02

[Eva]

The child was seven years old, the roots of some of her primary teeth would have resorbed and been held in by tissue, alone. Probably when the tissue dried out, the teeth just fell out.

[wonders]

Good post. Yes, the dentist himself seemed to think the teeth naturally fell out as the body decayed, which often happens. He also said the particular shape of Danielle's teeth made it easier for her teeth to fall out.

He also said children whose teeth are shaped like Danielle's tend to get a front tooth knocked out more easily in playground accidents and the like. But he said that if Danielle's teeth were knocked out, it would have to have been a very peculiar glancing blow which would not harm any of the soft tissues of her upper lip or the delicate structure which holds the teeth in the bone. If one looks at the physics of peculiar glancing blows, it would take more than one such glancing blow to knock out those two particular teeth. (I guess the pool players at Dad's could reason that out!) So the chances of such a thing are VERY remote, IMHO, and it's most logical to go with the most reasonable explanation: they fell out due to decomposition.

Dusek just wants to make everything look as dramatic and violent as he can. Perhaps he's concerned the jury will question this whole stranger-abuction/rape scenario, as the ME could find no signs of violence whatsoever on the body. Some jurors might find it extremely odd that this huge, strange man could rape and kill that poor little girl and leave no mark on her at all, not even a pressure bruise on her chest or shoulders from forcibly holding her down or anything. Especially as there were no indications she had been bound.