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.

   

[Jaded]

I think the original intention was that there were going to be fibers that matched. But they didn't so they didn't come up in testimony. To come through the garage in to the house you had to go near the laundry room where the shredded up dog bed was or perhaps he hid in there briefly to make sure the coast was clear. He was supposed to have attracted dog bed fibers. He didn't.

[wonders]

Woo! You are brilliant, Jaded!

[Alamo-Girl]

I'm very curious about the absence of fluid under the body. Is there a simple explanation for this?
Could it have any relationship to the fly issues?
Was this highlighted to the jury?

[John Jamieson]

I'll except either one ...... both strike me as more likely than this drunk teddy bear, suddenly deciding to kill the neighbors kid, just for the hell of it.

[Jaded]

How did he get her from outside of her house to the RV? There is NO evidence, no dog hits, nothing. Dusek says he went inside.

[CAPPSMADNESS]

In an election year, I think they would have arrested him even if God Himself came down and told then Westerfield didn't do it. He was the easiest, most likely perp around! Why look any harder if you don't have too!

[cynwoody]

Children don't make particularly good witnesses. They are too easily led. Ask any teacher.

Or ask Tooky Amirault.

[John Jamieson]

Maybe it was just an option to buy. They didn't need the frig after the 16th.

[JudyB1938]

Well, if the children couldn't testify, why didn't some neighbors? If the kids had been playing in there, surely one of them might have seen it. On the other hand, I remember back to my own childhood. LOL

There's something else I've been wondering about. Remember that drink that "nobody wanted" and Westerfield took it? I've wondered if it were spiked with something, and that explained why he was so "drunk" when he got home. The reason it stood out to me is because that happened to me one time when I was young. It was not a very pleasant experience, and I didn't know what had happened until somebody told me a few days later. I absolutely couldn't figure out how I could have gotten so drunk on two drinks; so with Westerfield's having drank several, he might not have realized the difference.

[Jaded]

Page updated: Enquiring Minds New Page: Enquiring Minds-More Questions (summary of yesterday's thread).

Stealth Ninja Dave

**FREE NINJA DAVE**FREE NINJA DAVE**FREE NINJA DAVE**

[wonders]

Me, too, JJ.

[John Jamieson]

I second the emotion.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Glad the 'gators didn't get you.

I was referring to those two articles I linked to at the beginning of this thread. One of the girls was Laura, of the Laura Recovery Center.

There are consistent details to some of the abductions, one of which, is that Damon HAS lived near some of them as he said in that one interview, the one referenced on the Unposted.com site.

I'd love to have someone who is nice and logical point out to me how the connection is pure coincidence so I can go back to worrying about important things like Hillary's haircut. :-0

Have a nice party weekend. Tell your wife thanks for sharing you and your mind with us.

[Jaded]

BTW- Under the Evidence section is the TOD chart from CTV. The weather for Feb at El Cajon, Evidence by Location Table and other assorted factoids.

[John Jamieson]

But Nancy says that some of us are going to havetta be sacrificed to even things up on death row.

[wonders]

I don't know of a simple explanation, only what I've posted so far. Perhaps CAPPSMADNESS can elucidate.

No, I don't think it has anything to do with the flies.

I don't think it was particularly highlighted to the jurors, but it was discussed at trial.

[Dave_in_Upland]

Someone put their motherboard through the dishwasher - and it worked.

Everyone knows that an Apple is a great product. Now if you could just find software for it LOL

[pinz-n-needlez]

Probably, that snotty little sh!t. (Damon not the dog.) When I watch Animal Precinct, or whatever that show is on Animal Planet, I wonder why the cops didn't put Damon in jail for dog abuse, if not for child abuse.

He sure has a golden cape protecting his sorry a$$.

Gee, another crabby poster needs to call it a night! LoL

[CAPPSMADNESS]

"Is there a simple explanation for this? "

none that I can mentally grasp, unless the body was moved prior to discovery, The advanced stage of decomposition tells me that it should have been there......I do know that newborns carry little or no bacteria in their bodies and hence, effects the stages of decomp.

"Could it have any relationship to the fly issues?"

I am not quite sure what you mean by this question, can you elaborate???

"Was this highlighted to the jury?"

Not that I recall (yes, I know I sound like Hillary..)But I do not remember if it was even mentioned during the trial, I remember the grease marks, the hair clumps, the bug activity, the mummified areas etc...... but not whether it was stressed during trial

[wonders]

Yes, thanks Jaded. I checked it a few minutes ago to post here, but the link doesn't work for some reason. Just that little X. I tried "properties" and pasting in the url, all to no avail. Any ideas?