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.
Actually, her eyes were blue.
That cracked me up! Good one!
Thanks, AM
The purpose of the mummyologist was to show that mummified skin can keep the internal organs moist..and even feldman himself confirmed that. (see transcripts above)
Haskell's testimony was that green bottle flies will not lay eggs on a body which has decomposed past 24 -36 hours. He did not say they preferred a fresh body, but that they required it. Furthermore, he said that ALL THE BLOWFLIES would disdain a body which had been decomposing for such a long time as Dusek posits. If Dusek's wild theory were true, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN NO BLOWFLY MAGGOTS AT ALL!!!
We all knew already that organs will stay "moist" inside a body whose skin has mummified (actually they are decomposing into goo), and we didn't need this "mummyologist" to tell us that.
From Haskell's testimony:
Q WHEN AN ANIMAL EATS THROUGH THE SKIN OF A PERSON, THE INSIDES ARE NOT AUTOMATICALLY MUMMIFIED, ARE THEY?
A IN MY OPINION THEY WOULD NOT BE.
Q THAT WOULD MAKE THEM RECEPTIVE, THAT AREA RECEPTIVE TO YOUR FLIES, CORRECT?
A IT WOULD. BUT ALSO THE PELVIC AREA WOULD BE THE PLACE WHERE INITIAL COLONIZATION WOULD TAKE PLACE.
Q ARE YOU TELLING US THAT THE FLIES WOULDN'T GO TO THAT AREA WHERE THE ANIMALS HAD EATEN THROUGH?
A IF IT WAS FULLY MUMMIFIED, THEY WOULD NOT. THE BLOW FLIES WOULD NOT GO THERE IF IT WAS MUMMIFIED.
Q WHAT IF IT'S BEFORE THEY'RE MUMMIFIED?
A THEN THEY PROBABLY WOULD.
Q AND THEN WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT TO FIND IN THAT REGION?
A WE COULD FIND SOME COLONIZATION.
Q YOU WOULD FIND A MAGGOT MASS, WOULDN'T YOU?
A NOT NECESSARILY. THE MAGGOT MASS COULD HAVE ORIGINATED FROM THE PELVIC AREA.
Q COULD IT HAVE ORIGINATED ALSO FROM EATING OUT BY THE ANIMALS?
A NOT IF TOO MUCH TIME HAD PASSED BECAUSE THE TISSUES HAD CHANGE UNDERLYING IN DECOMPOSITION. REMEMBER, THIS DECOMPOSITION IS AN ONGOING FORWARD PROCESS. IT DOESN'T BACK UP. AND IF ENOUGH TIME HAS PASSED, THEN THOSE TISSUES THAT WOULD BE EXPOSED WOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE FOR THE BLOW FLIES, BUT OTHER FLIES WOULD COME IN, LIKE THE CHEESE SKIPPERS. IF THAT WERE THE CASE, I WOULD EXPECT TO FIND CHEESE SKIPPERS, COMMON FLIES, AND SOME OF THE LATER COMERS TO THAT. AND WE HAVE HAD CASE EXAMPLES OF THAT IN THE LITERATURE.
Q SO BASED UPON YOUR EXPERT OPINION, ASSUMING AN ANIMAL HAD EATEN THROUGH THE STOMACH AND THIGH REGION OF THIS CHILD, IT WOULD HAVE MUMMIFIED SO FAST THAT THE MAGGOT MASS WOULD NOT BE -- WOULD NOT BE BECAUSE OF THAT OPENING BY THE ANIMALS. IS THAT WHAT YOU'RE TELLING US?
A NO. I'M NOT TELLING YOU THAT AT ALL. I'M JUST SAYING -- I'M SAYING THAT IF IT IS FRESHLY OPENED, AND WE CAN'T HAVE WEEKS PASSING, AND THEN IT OPENS UP AND THE BLOW FLIES BE ATTRACTED TO IT. IF IT'S OPENED UP AND WEEKS HAVE PASSED, THEN OTHER FLIES WOULD BE ATTRACTED TO IT. THE CHEMISTRY OF THAT WHOLE REGION WOULD HAVE CHANGED OVER THAT PERIOD OF TIME. SO IF WE FIND BLOW FLIES, THAT'S EARLY IN THE DECOMPOSITIONAL PROCESS OF THOSE TISSUES.
I really did not like the conclusion that Haskell came to, the conclusion the science forces upon us (that she was probably alive until around Feb. 14-16). Too horrible to think about, what might have been happening to her all that time. Maybe that's why I have to keep the possibility of freezing or cold storage open in my mind. Or that she was taken for ransom or something, not harmed during all that time, then the kidnapper panicked and killed her because the publicity was too much. I realise it's not very logical or probable, just my own wish for a "best possible scenario."
I don't LIKE what the bugs tell us, but it's the truth.
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