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.
The prosecution did not prove the "fibers" belonged to anyone.
The prosecution did not prove who the "hair" belonged to.
Now, if you want to go on the print alone, I will give the prosecution 1.
The dogs didn't hit Westerfield's motorhome, how come? We have all seen dogs locate people buried under rubble of collapsed buildings.
Defense is still up 3.
I don't know anything about mummification,but a few years ago I got to work for a while in the desert in Southern Cal.(Barstow,to be precise). I was there from March to July,and the spring wasn't as hot as I expected,but it's very dry indeed. I'd guess that a small cadaver could start to dry out pretty fast.
Q SO HOWEVER LONG THE BODY WAS THERE BEFORE IT GOT OPENED UP WOULD HAVE MUMMIFIED THE EXTERIOR OF THE BODY.
A AGAIN, IN MY EXPERIENCE WITH ANIMALS FEEDING, USUALLY THEY WILL COME IN AND FEED RATHER EARLY ON THE FRESHER TISSUES, NOT -- I DON'T THINK THAT THE ANIMALS, THE CARNIVORES, WOULD WAIT UNTIL THAT TISSUE IS TOO BADLY MUMMIFIED BECAUSE IT'S HARD TO CHEW, HARD TO TEAR OFF. IF THAT WAS THE CASE, THEY COULD HAVE -- I DON'T KNOW WHETHER ANY OF YOU HAVE EVER HAD THE EXPERIENCE TO PULL OFF MUMMIFIED TISSUES OFF A BODY, BUT IT CAN BE QUITE DIFFICULT AND QUITE TOUGH TO DO THAT. AND SO IT WOULD BEHOOVE THE ANIMALS TO FEED WHEN THOSE TISSUES ARE MUCH WETTER AND FRESHER.
It needs a little common sense, folks. Coyotes and the like prefer fresh bodies. Why would they wait to feed on the body until it was already dried out on the exterior and putrefied in the interior? Crazy nut theory of Duseks, IMO.
Also, in my own experience, animal activity tended to occur during the first days. After that, didn't see much -- unless pigs were loose in the area. Pigs will eat the most disgusting things. Wish I'd never seen it.
From what I have read in the transcripts, only the extremeties and face areas were mummified
the body fluids are the second issue..they did not settle beneath the body like normal
Kim, if the corpse did not show normal signs of livor mortis, then that would be evidence that the body was moved, wasn't it testified to that the body did not appear to be moved?
The third issue is that since the body didn't decompose in the normal way, the standards for testing the TOD or even Date of dumping..has to be altered to account for the oddities. (don't you just love normal discussions without the bs)
Kim, from my understanding, the body decomposed in a very normal way, except for the "mummificaton" - to mummify a body takes some pretty extreme arid/hot conditions - and a storage compartment just doesn't seem like a good place to get the factors that play into this.
So lets give Kim the porn just for giggles (again, not proven, and the "rape" scene is not a crime according to the Supreme Court), Defense still up 3.
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