Posted on 12/12/2002 8:19:20 AM PST by Jaded
When a person goes in search of enlightenment, it's usually good advice to avoid an Internet chat room. And yet it was a random posting on the Internet that led to a key piece of evidence in the David Westerfield case.
At a luncheon in Mission Valley yesterday, prosecutors Jeff Dusek and George "Woody" Clarke told a number of anecdotes – some of them funny, others poignant and revealing – about what happened behind the scenes in the most publicized criminal trial in San Diego County history.
The luncheon was organized by the San Diego Crime Commission and about 100 people attended.
The lawyers talked about their late-night strategy sessions, about the emotional toll of the case on their spouses, about moments of inspiration that came from the strangest of places.
They also took some shots at the media coverage – especially the media's treatment of the parents of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam – and revealed some previously undisclosed statements they said were made by Westerfield. He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 3 for kidnapping and killing the Sabre Springs second-grader. A jury has recommended the death penalty.
It was Dusek who told the story about the Internet.
During the trial, he said, the lawyers were surfing a Web site where most of the postings were from people convinced of Westerfield's innocence. Several of the postings dealt with the subject of the blond hairs found in Westerfield's motor home.
Prosecutors said the hair proved that Westerfield kidnapped the girl. Westerfield's lawyers said their client often kept the motor home unlocked in the neighborhood and that the girl might have snuck inside at some point to play.
On the chat room, the discussion turned to speculation about whether the prosecution had bothered to find out the date of Danielle's last haircut. The consensus in the chat room was that of course they had.
Actually, they hadn't. They'd never thought to do so.
It turned out that Danielle's last haircut had been five days before her disappearance. After the haircut, her hair was eight inches long – the exact length of the hairs found in the motor home, which hadn't been parked in the neighborhood for several months.
Dusek also revealed the story behind the alleged scratch marks on Westerfield's arm. Pictures of the scratch marks were used as evidence at the preliminary hearing in March – but the jury at Westerfield's trial never heard about them.
The reason: An expert analyzed the marks after the preliminary hearing and couldn't conclusively match them to Danielle's fingers.
"Woody and I are still convinced it's scratch marks," Dusek told the audience. "What else could it be? But we didn't have proof."
Dusek said parts of the trial were particularly draining on his wife, who broke into tears after listening to a media commentator who suggested that the defense's opening statements were more effective that the prosecution's.
He also criticized the media for overhyping the testimony about the van Dams' spouse-swapping and the couple's use of marijuana on the night their daughter vanished.
Discussing what he called the media's vilification of the van Dams, Dusek cited an incident where the couple was lambasted on talk radio for wearing Danielle buttons on their lapels during their testimony at the preliminary hearing.
Noting that the couple immediately removed the buttons from their lapels after leaving the witness stand, one radio reporter suggested that the couple had been making a phony display of their grief to influence the judge.
In reality, the only reason they removed the buttons was because both prosecutors wanted to have them as mementos, Dusek said.
"They walk out of that courtroom without their badges and they get blistered on the radio that night," he said.
Dusek also revealed some statements he said Westerfield made at various points during the trial.
At the start of the trial, just after the prosecution had finished its opening statements, Westerfield was being led down a hallway when he turned to a bailiff and said, "They may as well send me to (San) Quentin right now."
During the penalty phase of the case, when Westerfield's lawyers called friends and family members to the witness stand in an effort to save their client's life, Westerfield looked at his lawyers with a confused expression on his face when one woman approached the stand.
"Who's that?" he asked.
"It's your aunt," his lawyers informed him.
Yesterday, neither Steven Feldman nor Robert Boyce, Westerfield's two main lawyers, returned phone calls seeking comment.
At one point during the presentation, a questioner asked Dusek what he thought about Feldman, whose hyperactive theatrics became well-known to everyone who followed the case.
He called Feldman "a very good attorney." Citing ethics guidelines, Dusek wouldn't comment on a report in the Union-Tribune that Westerfield's lawyers had been trying in February to broker a plea whereby their client would reveal the location of the girl's body in exchange for a life sentence rather than the death penalty.
"He promised a vigorous defense," Dusek said of Feldman. "He did not say his guy was innocent."
He called Feldman "a very good attorney." Citing ethics guidelines, Dusek wouldn't comment on a report in the Union-Tribune that Westerfield's lawyers had been trying in February to broker a plea whereby their client would reveal the location of the girl's body in exchange for a life sentence rather than the death penalty.
That is way too funny. If it were really true he would have confirmed it.
"He promised a vigorous defense," Dusek said of Feldman. "He did not say his guy was innocent."
Actually this is what Feldman said on 6/4 in the first afternoon session:
13 THE SCIENCE, THE SCIENCE IS GOING TO COME TO MR.
14 WESTERFIELD'S RESCUE, BECAUSE THE CRIME SCENE -- I'M SORRY, THE
15 RECOVERY SITE, LAW ENFORCEMENT COLLECTED UP AS MUCH AS IT COULD,
16 AND YOU'RE GOING TO HEAR THE RESULTS. AND WHEN YOU HEAR THOSE
17 RESULTS, YOU'RE GOING TO BE CONVINCED BEYOND ANY DOUBT THAT IT
18 WAS IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE FOR DAVID WESTERFIELD TO HAVE DUMPED
19 DANIELLE VAN DAM IN THAT LOCATION. THE EVIDENCE WILL SHOW
20 BEYOND DOUBT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM TO HAVE PLACED HER THERE.
21 THEIR EVIDENCE.
22 SO WE HAVE DOUBTS. WE HAVE DOUBTS AS TO CAUSE OF
23 DEATH. WE HAVE DOUBTS AS TO THE IDENTITY OF DANIELLE VAN DAM'S
24 KILLER. WE HAVE DOUBTS AS TO WHO LEFT HER WHERE SHE RESIDED,
25 WHERE SHE REMAINED, AND WE HAVE DOUBTS AS TO WHO TOOK HER.
26 THANK YOU.
Dusek received alot of help from the Chat Rooms, is my guess.
The blurb about the marks on her arm were highly misleading. He knows darn well what else they could have been. He should have been honest and started with DW breaking up metal objects trying to dig himself out of the sand, where they were absolutely positive he had buried Danielle.
Other than than...Dusek leaves me ill.
sw
Did you notice--Feldman hasn't denied the plea dealings in the works. Dusek cannot therefore confirm them as it would be unethical. You may argue that Dusek wishes to be coy about the story to keep it alive, however, if the story were untrue there is nothing to stop Feldman and the other attorneys from setting the record straight.
And as your transcript excerpts show, Dusek is correct. Feldman never said his client was innocent. He argued that DW couldn't have dumped the body (charming) and urged the jury that there were doubts.
This may be old news to you, but I find it interesting. Quite interesting.
"Who's that?" he asked.
"It's your aunt," his lawyers informed him.
Hmmm, blueberry aunt?
Who's that?" he asked. "It's your aunt," his lawyers informed him.
Unless it's taped,straight from DW's mouth, I don't believe anything the prosecution puts out about what DW said. Remember the statesments contributed to DW while riding in the desert with Ott & Keyser? Never taped, but put out for public consumption as the truth. All these little tidbits prove nothing about Dw's guilt or innocence.
The bugs don't lie but the jurors believe they do. Yeah.......
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