Posted on 01/08/2003 9:24:19 AM PST by TomB
In a videotaped interrogation with San Diego police detectives four days after Danielle van Dam was kidnapped, an exhausted David Westerfield says "my life is over," seemingly coming close to an admission that he murdered his 7-year-old neighbor.
"As far as I'm concerned my life is over, the life that I had, the life that I was living is over," Westerfield says in the interrogation conducted the evening of Feb. 5, 2002. Danielle was last seen the night of Feb. 1.
"But you can't blame anyone but yourself, Dave," answers one of the police detectives.
"And I have no problem with that," Westerfield replies.
In the tapes released Tuesday, Westerfield admits "unusual" sexual encounters with his wife, denies anything improper about his alleged use of binoculars to watch neighbors and says the child pornography found on his computer was simply something he downloaded along with a lot of other pornographic images and that he had no sexual interest in children.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd agreed Monday to unseal the videotape along with hundreds of pages of transcripts, documents and recordings in the Westerfield case, as well as transcripts of police interrogations and court hearings conducted in secret.
Some of the material – audiotape and videotape of Westerfield being interrogated during the early stages of the investigation – was released Tuesday afternoon.
The remainder of the material, which ranges from transcripts of closed-door court hearings to motions regarding potential evidence, will be released Monday, Mudd ruled.
The ruling Monday came three days after Mudd sentenced the former design engineer to death for kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, his neighbor in Sabre Springs.
Monday's court hearing came in response to a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has been seeking access to the information for months. The San Diego-based 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that Mudd must release the information.
The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists made a donation to the legal costs.
Westerfield, who attended Monday's hearing, is scheduled to be moved within days to death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco.
During earlier court appearances, Westerfield was always dressed in civilian attire, but he appeared in court Monday in a green jail jumpsuit. He sat in a holding area so he couldn't be filmed by a television camera.
Glad you don't mind a few of us posters believing differently than you. Sorry, it just seems to me that it does bother you and I can't understand why. I have no problem with what you believe about anything,this case included. That's the American way!
I don't defend Westerfield, only his right to a fair trial, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecution met that burden for you.
Thanks Cyn, always a pleasure.
How nice.
I wish you only the best life has to offer.
We are all children of God.
If he was going to put her anywhere, he would have put her right back in her bed, utilizing his "stealth technology", that makes him undetectable to human radar and police forensic labs.
That's the problem with this case. It falls apart when you start to think. "Put her in the pool", do you hear yourself. No evidence has been provided that DW was an idiot, which is more than can be said for the theories people keep coming up with to try and make sense of the prosecution's case.
The tapes show that the detectives Keyser and Ott violated DW's rights, which was why they were unfit to testify for the prosecution at trial. It shows a man tired of having to repeat himself.
I thought conservatives were defenders of the constitution. But, instead were polluted with either mindless drones or those with so much emotional baggage that they consider such constitutional violations "technicalities".
Any idea when the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th poly was done?...DW asks to redo the 1st and Redden tells him maybe, but not tonight (2/4)..in the Ott and Keyser interview 2/5..they say and your "polygraph", not plural.
Reading on the Michael Crowe murder case..signonsandiego has this mentioned:
A detective may tell a suspect that his fingerprints were found or that a witness saw him at the crime scene or that he failed a lie-detector test, even if none of it is true.
Have no idea when the other polygraph tests were given. Do they not give dates on tape when they start these things?
I think LE can say about anything to a suspect without fear of retribution. Especially off record. DW should have hired an Att. as soon as possible, not tried to be a nice guy and cooperate.
Instead of answering , you point fingers at others. How childish. And clintonish. Why can't you answer a simple question ?
What gets into you people. I question whether there are other possibilities and the people on your side INSIST/DEMAND that there is only one possibility and no one is allowed to question it. Also you are allowed to make fun of anyone that questions you, instead of debating the issue or answering their questions.
Everyone that reads these threads can see for themselves what is going on, and how you and others respond (or don't respond). All I asked for was your honest opinion of DW's statement. Are you afraid to give an answer?
I am interested in hearing where the police state he failed the test. And that would be one of four, correct ?
Not sure when they did them...he hired Feldman on the 7th...cannot imagine him agreeing to 3 more polys.
Remember when Detective Keene testified at trial that DW could not supply Gary's phone number..and Feldman brought him back on redirect and he admitted it was in his notes.....his dang partner said on tape around 7:30pm on 2/4 or so that DW did supply that info from his computer.....geez...think they would compare info.
Does this make them bad people? NO.
I remember back near the beginning of the case, when constant rumors were flying from all sources about the VD's, their friends, etc. Many of us made the same mistake. Because it supported our thoughts/theories, we were awfully quick to assume it was true, instead of realizing it may have all been to sell ad space.
It is much easier for us humans to see faults when they are someone elses. It is hard when it is our own.
You didn't ask me a question. You said you would be interested in my spin on Westerfield's comment about not having a problem with being responsible for his life being over. That wasn't a question. You then proceeded to spin the comment yourself like a whirling dervish.
You are not interested in my "spin" on his comments, believe me.
And I'm not interested in trying to convince you of anything. I don't care why you "question whether there are other possibilities", I really don't. I don't want to debate you, or to change your mind. I'm not going to provide a source or a link to anything or "prove" anything to you. Don't get me confused with anybody else. I'm an "outsider" to these threads; I only dropped in from the real world, as I have done from time to time, to see how things were going in the alternate universe.
While you all have been watching the case, I've been watching you guys, not only the fantastic leaps of logic, but the weird subculture that has developed on FR surrounding the case. You and the rest of the regulars are a story unto yourselves. I've already commented on it once, and I got several replies back, so I'm not going to go into detail again.
I do have my own observations on this case, but if I choose to share them, that doesn't mean I have to defend them, or explain them, or back them up to YOUR satisfaction. They've been defended and explained to the satisfaction of MOST people who know anything about the case; I'm sorry if you feel left out.
The term polygraph, singular, evidently refers to the one session where however many tests are given. There is no question or doubt that this is what happened and DW was informed every step of the way of how the tests would be conducted.
I listened to the tape last night--and will hear the rest today--and Redden explicitly explains to DW the whole process including that he gives a minimum of two tests and that he averages three. He ended up giving four to DW and telling him at the conclusion that he had failed all four times.
It may be useful for interrogation purposes to falsely tell a suspect that they failed a test, but Feldman could have had his own expert review the test(s) and draw their own conclusions, once he was hired. It is well past the time that a lie about failing the tests would not have been disputed.
That may be the situation in this case. Since it can not be proven one way or another, the media has chosen to carry the information as it is, without question. Were the SDPD and Redden in particular to admit that they were using that technique, and that DW didn't really fail, would not be of any newsworthy interest, and would not support the idea that he is guilty.
Just the fact that there is a question over how many tests he was administered, and the way Redden describes the failure, makes it appear as if this is the technique that was being used.
In the parts of the first PG exam I heard yesterday, I did not notice any stress or change in the way his answers sounded from question to question. I know this is not the true test, and that the heart rate,BP,perspiration rate, etc. are the factors used to evaluate.
BTW, the reason that 'the other side' gets SOOOOOOO MAD is that each of these things (prepared for sheeple consumption) is SOO OBVIOUS to them, they are SO READY to ACCEPT anything that even remotely sounds like proof to them, that they just can't see why WE don't immediately eat it up like they do.
that is what makes them mad.
Did I call it when we were listening to the tapes yesteray, or what?
(I maintain it was not a mass hallucination. LOL)
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