Gee VAL....hate to say you are wrong...
YOU ARE WRONG....
Jury reviews bug testimony
WITH VIDEO
Jurors in the David Westerfield kidnap-murder trial ask today to review the testimony the medical examiner and a bug expert.
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 16, 2002
Jurors in the David Westerfield trial spent part of their deliberations yesterday revisiting the testimony of a criminalist who linked a fiber on Danielle van Dam's body to fibers found in Westerfield's sport utility vehicle.
On the panel's sixth day of deliberations, a court reporter went into the jury room and read back the July 9 testimony of San Diego police criminalist Jennifer Shen. Shen said an orange fiber found tangled in the victim's necklace was virtually identical to orange fibers scattered throughout Westerfield's black Toyota 4Runner.
The jury requested that testimony Wednesday. It also has asked to rehear a tape-recorded interview that Westerfield gave to police and to see the pornographic evidence introduced at trial, among other things.
Westerfield is charged with kidnapping and killing the 7-year-old girl, who lived two doors away in Sabre Springs. The 50-year-old design engineer is also charged with possessing child pornography.
At trial, the prosecution presented evidence linking Danielle's hair, blood, fingerprints and fibers to Westerfield's clothing, house, motor home and sport utility vehicle.
The panel went home without reaching a verdict yesterday and was scheduled to return at 9 a.m. today to continue. The jury has now deliberated more than 26 hours, assuming it takes two 15-minute breaks and a 90-minute lunch every day.
Also yesterday, Superior Court Judge William Mudd rejected another request by Westerfield's lawyers to sequester the jury. Defense attorney Steven Feldman said he was afraid the jury was being harassed and intimidated by the media and might feel pressured to convict.
Mudd said he thinks the panel is "an extremely dedicated and hard-working jury that is going about a methodical evaluation of the evidence."
The lawyers also discussed what might happen if the case reaches a penalty phase. If the jury convicts Westerfield of all the charges, the trial enters a second stage in which the panel must recommend death or life in prison without parole.
If the case reaches a penalty phase, prosecutor Jeff Dusek reiterated yesterday, he plans to introduce evidence beyond what was presented during the first phase of the trial.
In the penalty phase, prosecutors are allowed to introduce evidence of certain other behavior in a defendant's background. That includes other felony convictions and "criminal activity by the defendant which involved the use or attempted use of force or violence or which involved the express or implied threat to use force or violence."
Under state law, prosecutors can present evidence of violent behavior in a defendant's background even if the behavior didn't lead to criminal charges. Westerfield's criminal record consists of a drunken-driving conviction.
Dusek said prosecutors have given Westerfield's lawyers police reports, investigative reports, tapes and a witness list, all of which "support what we intend to introduce" should the case reach the penalty phase. He also said some witnesses will be flown in "from elsewhere."
The judge told the attorneys there would probably be a break of at least a day between the verdict and the penalty phase of the case, although it was unclear whether Westerfield's lawyers would want more time.
Lawyers in the case have been ordered by Mudd not to talk to the media.
Feldman told the judge the defense hasn't decided which witnesses to call if the case reaches the penalty phase. Under the law, a defendant's lawyers can present character evidence to show their client's life is worth sparing.
Mudd also denied a request by Westerfield's attorneys to end television coverage. But the judge, who has been increasingly critical of the media, said he was "ruing the day I made the decision" to let the trial be televised.
"I say the odds are not good that it will ever occur again in this department," he said.