Arguing that media coverage was creating a "lynch mob mentality" that could pressure jurors to return a guilty verdict, the defense attorney for David Westerfield today asked the judge yet again to sequester the jury. Posted on 08/16/2002 6:39:20 AM PDT by FresnoDA
August 15, 2002
Arguing that media coverage was creating a "lynch mob mentality" that could pressure jurors to return a guilty verdict, the defense attorney for David Westerfield today asked the judge yet again to sequester the jury.
While the jury completed its first week of deliberations without a verdict, Superior Court Judge William Mudd denied the request and a related motion to "pull the plug" on television and radio coverage of the courtroom proceedings, but agreed to set aside a private room for jurors to take breaks. Defense attorney Steven Feldman had argued that reports suggested jurors felt like they were under siege, unable to leave their deliberating room, go to lunch or walk home without being watched or followed.
"We have no assurance that they are not be intimidated ... by the presence of the media," Feldman told Mudd during a morning hearing. "We can think of only one fair resolution to that: Get the jury out of harm's way."
Westerfield, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her family's Sabre Springs home on Feb. 2 and killing her. Jurors are in their sixth day of deliberations.
Lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek disagreed with Feldman's interpretations of the jury's complaints.
"Whether or not any guilty verdict in this case would be based on a siege mentality or the meida I think is pure speculation and utterly false in this case," Dusek said.
What the jurors had complained about was being watched all the time, he said.
"That hardly equates to being under siege," he said.
Media coverage has diminished since the jurors began deliberating, the judge said.
"The synopsis programs on the two local TV networks are not in place," he said. "The talking heads are doing nothing but speculating about what the jury may or may not be thinking."
Mudd said there were no signs that jurors were being harassed by the public, especially since their names and faces haven't been publicized.
"We've all sat here and picked this jury, know their makeup and know their dedication to this cause," Mudd said. "I would prefer to think that any verdict they make in this case would be based upon the evidence."
Sequestering the jury also wouldn't protect them from any public reaction to the verdict, Mudd said.
Mudd took aim at two radio program hosts from Los Angeles who he previously described as "idiots."
"I suppose it's entertainment out of LA. I hope it stays in LA," he said. "The shows those two gentlemen put on made the court incredulous as to what they were attempting to do."
Mudd also announced:
On July 9, Shen's testimony interrupted presentation of defense witnesses. Shen, a San Diego police criminalist, testified about re-examining a group of fibers she had collected from Westerfield's 4Runner in February.
The orange acrylic fibers, found in various places inside the SUV, were the same color and fabric as a fiber tangled in a plastic necklace that Danielle was wearing when authorities found her body in a hollow off Dehesa Road, Shen testified at the time.
All the fibers looked identical under a microscope and appeared to have the same chemical makeup when tested using infrared technology, she said.
Shen said the fibers seem "most likely to have come from something that was very loosely knit," such as a sweater or blanket.
"You folks are going to deal with my PR person. You're going to leave my bailiff and my clerk alone," Mudd told reporters in the courtroom. "One statement leads to 60 questions that they're not going to answer and neither am I."
Mudd decided to turn the daily updates over to the court's public information officer after deciding that an informal system set up to have a bailiff or court clerk provide updates had failed.
"There was a simple note that they started at 9, they left at 4 left you chomping on bit to get copies," He said. "You're welcome to them, they'll be available as soon as we gett the minute order."
Reporters and members of the public will not be informed immediately about notes passed by the jury, Mudd said. The judge said he had procedure to follow, that includes notifying the attorneys involved in the case about the note and determining the appropriate response.
"This is a capital case and you go by steps," Mudd said.
Detective James Watkins testified he copied the hard drives of four computers and the contents of a "Palm Pilot" device in Westerfield's home three days after van Dam was reported missing. Investigators also seized three CD-ROMs and two "zip" disks, he said.
A total of 64,000 images were found in "very highly organized" files, Watkins said.
"Overall, there were thousands of pictures," Watkins said, but of "a questionable nature there were less than a hundred."
Included was a series of six showing a bikini-clad teen posing suggestively on a lounge and in a hot tub.
"I found pictures of a girl named `Danielle' who appeared to be the daughter of a (Westerfield) girlfriend," Watkins said.
One photo, according to Watkins, was of her with a towel over her head.
Defense attorney Robert Boyce challenged Watkins' appearance as a witness before he testified, claiming his testimony would be prejudicial, that there was no evidence Westerfield was the one who downloaded the other "questionable" photos and that they were legal.
But Dusek (pictured, right) argued that Watkins' testimony would support a charge of misdemeanor child pornography and would go to the issue of motive in van Dam's murder.
Superior Court Judge H. Ronald Domnitz examined the prosecution photographs before allowing Watkins to testify.
Among the other items found, Watkins said, were photographs of young females posing with or performing sexual acts with animals and several animated series, including one depicting rape.
In cross-examining Watkins, Boyce was able to get him to acknowledge that there was no evidence Westerfield was the person who downloaded the images, and that the investigator was unable to determine the ages of the females in the photographs. Watkins also said another detective examining the files told him there were no images of prepubescent girls.
The similarity between Wiccan and ancient eastern Satanic sacrifice cults is practically the same.
That is obviously a lie. Everybody knows how gentle and loving Wiccans are. < /so >
Thank God I'm an "overprotective mother" (usually said with a curled lip by other neighborhood moms) who won't let my bunchkins out of my sight...and we have two behemoth dogs* sprawled out on the living room floor most of the time who would gleefully rip the left foot off of any intruder. (*Rottie/German shepherd cross--beautiful and scary-looking! -- and Lab/chow barkomaniac)
Yes! That was the "Luguna greeter"! Always on the same corner, by the pottery shop/yard and seemed to be there almost every time you went thru. I think his name was Dave.
Have to tell you though... that was not even, near, the weirdest thing I ever saw in California. LOL.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.