Westerfield Jury Reaches Verdict DEATH

o | Joe Hadenuf

[Joe Hadenuf]

Death

[marajade]

Just what San Diego Co needs... another eligibility worker thinking they are a social worker in training....

[FreeTheHostages]

more minorities are on death row, when in fact sadly, minorities do indeed commit far more of the crimes, is not a statitically sound argument.

Actually, there are studies that adjust for class, the type of crime, the fact that more minorities commit crime, and everything, and still find that, all else being equal, the black guy's more likely to get the death penalty. We're talking about state death penalty. In the federal system, there is *no* statistical evidence of racial bias.

[marajade]

" ... but I'm not sure that I've ever seen any statistics on this."

It happens... But often times they don't go to court... the prison itself deals with it in their own disciplinary actions

[FreeTheHostages]

Guilt is not "determined". It is, or is not.

Only in Heaven. On the planet Earth, in America, juries decide guilt.

[VRWC_minion]

Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | September 17, 2002 | J. Harry Jones

Posted on 09/17/2002 8:28 AM Eastern by Bug

Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found

By J. Harry Jones
STAFF WRITER

September 17, 2002

Minutes before Danielle van Dam's remains were found Feb. 27, David Westerfield's lawyers were brokering a deal with prosecutors:

He would tell police where he dumped the 7-year-old girl's body; they would not seek the death penalty.

Law enforcement sources told The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday defense lawyers Steven Feldman and Robert Boyce were negotiating for a life sentence for the 50-year-old design engineer, a neighbor of the van Dams in Sabre Springs.

The deal they were discussing would have allowed Westerfield to plead guilty to murder and be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, said the officials, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

Prosecutors were seriously considering the bargain when Danielle's body was discovered off Dehesa Road that afternoon, nearly four weeks after she disappeared from her bedroom.

"The deal was just minutes away," one of the sources said.

It was aborted, but details were confirmed yesterday soon after a San Diego Superior Court jury recommended the death penalty for Westerfield.

The officials outlined this chronology:

Feldman and Boyce were at the downtown San Diego jail discussing the final arrangements with Westerfield when volunteer searchers found Danielle's remains beneath trees along Dehesa Road east of El Cajon.

When the lawyers left to meet with prosecutors, they noticed members of the news media gathering in the street and asked what was happening.

After being told a body had been found, they went directly to the nearby Hall of Justice and met with prosecutors. The defense lawyers were handed a copy of a Thomas Guide map of the Dehesa area on which a circle had been drawn indicating the location of the body.

Feldman and Boyce took the map back to Westerfield and later telephoned to say they no longer "had anything to discuss regarding a plea bargain."

Neither Feldman nor Boyce could be reached for comment last night.

Danielle was reported missing from her home the morning of Feb. 2, and Westerfield, who lived two doors away, quickly became the primary suspect. He was watched closely by police for weeks as authorities and volunteers searched from the Sabre Springs neighborhood to the Imperial County desert.

After DNA results linked Westerfield to the crime, he was arrested Feb. 22 and charged with kidnapping and burglary.

Three days later, even though Danielle's body had not been found, District Attorney Paul Pfingst announced murder and kidnapping charges would be filed that could carry the death penalty.

Many law enforcement officials feared Danielle's body might never be found. Then, on Feb. 27, volunteer searchers combing the Dehesa area, far from where police had focused, found Danielle's badly decomposed remains.

At that point, the official sources said yesterday, any opportunity Westerfield and his lawyers had to win a plea bargain evaporated.

---

J. Harry Jones: (619) 542-4590;

email

[marajade]

"How do you explain the Unidentified DNA mixed with Danielle's DNA on her blanket on her bed in her bedroom?"

Someone who wasn't DNA tested used their blanket?

[EllaMinnow]

I've always thought that the mysterious DNA on the blanket was from one of Danielle's little friends who slept over.

[HamiltonJay]

Actually, there are studies that adjust for class, the type of crime, the fact that more minorities commit crime, and everything, and still find that, all else being equal, the black guy's more likely to get the death penalty. We're talking about state death penalty. In the federal system, there is *no* statistical evidence of racial bias.

You see, here is where I have a hard time believing this, whenever you start "adjusting" beyond absolute fundamentals.. you are at the whim of the statistician... what they decide to make relevant. (Sort of like the global warming models that were just totally debunked last week because the poles were actually far colder than they believed). You have to know the details of how and why they got to "all other things equal".

I know this, in nearly every state, a white man who kills a minority is far more likely to get the death penalty than any other sort of case. Years ago, this was not true, anymore it definately is. Of course this sort of crime occurs far less frequently that black on white or black on black crime... it is sad, but it is indeed a fact.

Are there individual states who may have problems? I am willing to accept that.. but the general overall view that it is racial unfair across the board I don't agree with at all.

It is understandable that a lower socioeconomic perpetrator judged by a lower socioeconomic jury, who live their lives surrounded by crime would be less tolerant of a violent act, than say a middle or upper class individual judged by middle or upper class jury. Does this make either situation prima facia racist? I don't think so. IF you live your life surrounded by violence, you certainly will be harsher toward it, than someone whose live violent crime rarely enters.

[Illbay]

Has "Jaded" even bothered commenting on the article here (and there is now a separate thread for the article) revealing that Westerfield was trying to plea-bargain by telling the DA where he had dumped the body?

[marajade]

Have you ever served as a juror? I'm sorry your timeframes don't fit with theirs but it is consistent from when I served as a juror... Many times, judges and lawyers do have other cases they are working on simultaneously and it does affect the schedule of a single case...

[EllaMinnow]

Yes, she has.
Says she's known for months.
On the other thread.

[HamiltonJay]

A convict must have due process... even I, and I am an adament supporter of the death penalty do not believe that the person should go from the courtroom directly to the gallows. Mistakes do indeed happen in our system of government, we cannot deny a convict appeal, or we will certainly execute innocent. I agree a lot of frivolous suits get filed by death row inmates... but I do not believe they should be taken from the courtroom directly to the gallows.

[Diamond]

Westerfield is a sick sadistic bastard who kidnapped a young girl from her bed, brutally and viciously abused, assaulted and killed her, and then dumped her body to be ate upon by the beasts of the earth. He is the embodiment of evil. May God have mercy on his soul, because he and his ilk deserve no quarter among the living.

Can't argue with you there. I can only add that the victim's parents are just as evil.

Cordially,

[twigs]

i don't doubt Westerfield was part of it all, but I don't see how the parents get to go free; it was obvious that they were in it more than Westerfield was.

I agree with you entirely. The longer the trial went on, the more I believed Westerfield was involved, if not the pirmary perp. However, I still do not believe the parents are not quilty. The morning when Dan. was found missing, the mother talked of her in the past tense as though she knew she were dead and described her physically as though she were Westerfield. Then Brenda lied like crazy on the stand about not dancing with Westerfield. I believe both she and her husband know a lot more than they're letting on. And that's what concerns me. I do not consider Danielle's death avenged until her parents are brought to justice.

[marajade]

"I've always thought that the mysterious DNA on the blanket was from one of Danielle's little friends who slept over."

Who the heck knows? It seems to me they always had lots of traffic in the home...

It doesn't negate that they did find her or her mother's DNA (hair) on it though...

[FreeTheHostages]

I agree with your last paragraph but I do believe, again, that there is a statistically valid study done by real statisticians, not poll people, lawyers, or activitists. And I say that as someone who (reluctantly) supports the death penalty, but also its fair and consistent application. It turns out that in states where juries get to decide on the penalty, there is, adjusting for class and all, some statistically significant bias in the state system. But not in the federal system. The solution is to get rid of the bias, not the death penalty, and remove this bias.

[bvw]

That Westerfield sought a plea bargain was not before the jury -- and all that was had plenty of reasonable doubt in it -- even as to whether Danielle was murdered. Even if he is guilty, the fact that the guilty verdict was railroaded by means of media leaks, media pressure and what appears to be judicial-DA orchcestration.

What do you think -- is it better to corrupt and bend the due process to convict a murderer that one knows -- by unpresentable evidence to be guilty, than to let him skate for inability to make a straight case against him?

[VRWC_minion]

Yes, Jaded has posted to orignal thread --follow my link above. I think the gist of his point is that this is merely a rumor and not to be given any weight.

[marajade]

So the article which was published was rumor? Okie dokie...

[HamiltonJay]

Can't argue with you there. I can only add that the victim's parents are just as evil.

You see, this is where you lose any sort of moral high ground. Attempting to equate "swinging" or wife swapping with Kidnapping, sexual assault and murder is ludicrous. You may not agree with the parents behavior, and I certainly don't, but to equate the two is just insanity. Even if you believe the parents activities were evil.. so say they are "just as evil" is rediculous.

Your argument is essentially the same as saying US deserved 9/11/2001 because we have bases on muslim soil, and sometimes do things the rest of the world doesn't agree with, and so that is equivalent of slamming airplanes into buildings butching innocents. They are not equivalent.