Judge Mudd Refuses Sequester Plea: Westerfield Jury Verdict In Sep? (Aug. 16th Verdict Watch)

Union Trib ^ | August 15, 2002 | Jeff Dillion/Steve Perez

[FresnoDA]

Judge denies defense motion to sequester jury

By Jeff Dillon and Steve Perez
SIGNONSANDIEGO

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."

 

'Broccoli heads'

He cited an incident earlier in the week in which radio talk show hosts from KFI-AM 640 in Los Angeles broadcast from outside the courthouse, waving stalks of broccoli around and reportedly calling jurors "broccoli heads" for being unable to return a quick guilty verdict.

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.

 

Trust in the jury

Mudd dismissed most of Feldman's concerns, saying that the jurors had only asked a bailiff to keep reporters a little bit farther away, though an alternate juror reported that he or she had been followed to his car.

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.

 

'The activities of a few'

"The tragedy is, the majority of the people in this courtroom are abiding by the court's orders and working very hard to insure they, meaning the media, do not cause something to occur that is going to cause a mistrial," Mudd said. "Not all of them feel that way as is very apparent with the activities of a few."

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:

 

• The jury asked to review the recall testimony of prosecution witness Jennifer Shen, a criminalist with the San Diego Police Department.

  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.

   

• Reporters will no longer be allowed to ask questions of the court's bailiff and clerk.

  "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.

   

[juzcuz]

OK--hoosier:

We know that the VD's were into sex-orgy's, drugs, and alcohol. Let's suppose that they were also into the wiccan thing as well. Also, lets say they have their own little coven group, for the sake of arguement. Nevertheless, here it is that Friday (there's a big festival planned for later that evening in the forest, but still Brenda had such a busy day that she didn't have time to cook their traditional food so she orders pizza, because after all there are all kinds of other people that she had invited over, and well pizza is good enough.
So she goes and gets the pizza, on the way home she passes by the forest to see if anyone has begun to clear an area for the festival. Brenda sees that there are already people out there. So she gets home gets on the phone with friends finalizes her plans with girl friends.
So, time passes she goes to Dad's with girl friends. And either Bill or Andy shows up at the VD's. One of those men invites Danielle to help him/them clean up the forest for the festival, Damon says sure, Danielle says great. So off they go- they don't come back.
More time passes, Damon's not worried, he thinks she's in 'good' hands and enjoying the festival, she'd even brought her blanket to cover in because it was going to be cool that evening. Brenda and friends get home. Damon doesn't tell her that Danielle is not there, because Brenda is really loaded. Brenda, friends and Damon decide that it's too cold outside this year for the festival so they just decide to stay home. Meanwhile, Damon keeps getting up at different hours of the night checking the doors, and Danielle's room waiting for her but she never comes back.....

The next morning (5:00-6:00AM Sat.) Damon gets a call. He finds out through Bill or Andy that she took off at the festival, and that they could not find her.

Now what is Damon and Brenda going to do? If Danielle is not back by 7:00 AM they are going to have to call the cops. They Did at 9:00 AM

Now it's bad enough that they were into swinging and drugs, now they will have to admit that they are into Witchcraft too. To admit that, would force them to have to expose the other coven members, boy that would really be inviting some black magic. So they pick out a fall guy, to protect everyone else involved, maybe even some cops. Do you think this is a workable theory.....

[JudyB1938]

That is a very possible scenario. It would certainly go along with how the Swedish authorities have stated the members of that international porno ring included fathers who raped their own daughters and men who swapped children around to rape and abuse (remember the guy who wanted audio so he could hear the little girl cry as she was being spanked?)

The only thing that might need adjusting is time of death or an accounting of where her body was hidden in the interval. According to the bug evidence, Danielle was either still alive for many days after her abduction or had been hidden in cold storage (but not a freezer).

You know what I am beginning to feel like? Just like Kimmie obsesses on the child porn, I believe I'm starting to obsess on that international child porno ring. I can't help it. I just feel the Demon ties in with them and that he and the group are somehow responsible for that child's death. I also believe there's satanism involved in it. So, if your story would turn out to be true, I could certainly believe it.

I've been wrong about a lot of things in my life. If I am wrong about Damon Van Damn, I pray that Jesus will forgive me.

[JudyB1938]

Hey, juzcuz ... did you see this on the new thread?

And Deejay ... did you see juzcuz's story just above?

You two are on the same track!

***

I say Demon pimped Danielle out that night, probably to someone in the child porn ring, recently busted. I think that "somone" from that group came and picked her up (to use for an hour or two,) & never returned her. Was Demon going to call a cop, when she wasn't returned? Not a chance. And the rest is history.

Make sense? Makes more sense than some of the assinine scenarios I've read from the "guilty" voting side.

325 posted on 8/19/02 6:54 PM Pacific by the Deejay
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/735543/posts?page=325#325