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Judge Mudd Says Sequestering Of Jury Possible: Van Dam case has jurors facing more Mad-Dawgging!!
Union Trib ^
| July 30, 3002
| Alex Roth
Posted on 07/30/2002 7:13:26 AM PDT by FresnoDA
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 30, 2002
The judge in the David Westerfield trial rejected another defense request to sequester the jury but said he still considers it "a possible option."
Superior Court Judge William Mudd said he didn't think it was necessary at the moment but has asked the county to prepare "a back-up contingency plan" just in case.
Westerfield's lawyers have asked several times for jury sequestration, and they renewed their request yesterday. Lead defense lawyer Steven Feldman said he worried that the jury might be affected by the publicity in the Samantha Runnion kidnap-murder case in Orange County.
Feldman cited comments made by Samantha's mother about Alejandro Avila, the man charged with kidnapping and killing the 5-year-old girl. In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Erin Runnion blamed her daughter's death on a jury that acquitted Avila of child molestation charges two years ago.
Feldman said he worried that jurors in the Westerfield case might hear about the interview and feel pressured to convict his client, who is charged with kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam of Sabre Springs.
The judge said he would remind jurors about news coverage they should avoid. He also said he talked to them about sequestration last week after receiving reports that someone in the media followed some of the jurors to their cars and wrote down their license plates.
"They're a hearty group and they didn't appear to be intimidated by what occurred, and I continue to believe in their integrity," the judge said yesterday.
With the trial in recess for a day, lawyers spent yesterday discussing legal instructions to give to the jury before they begin deliberations. It seems likely that testimony will continue into next week.
Prosecutors are expected to finish their rebuttal evidence today, at which point the defense will put on evidence to rebut the prosecution's rebuttal. One possible defense witness probably won't be called until Monday, Feldman told the judge yesterday.
TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: 180frank; danielle; kidnapping; molestation; threadjackals; vandam; westerfield
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To: John Jamieson
sorry JJ, it's really hard to type this..feldie is talkin too fast for me to follow. :(
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Delta of 25C = delta of 45F.
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
In his research, he's seen a 2 1/2 day delay when the body was wrapped in 2 layers of blankets. In order to validate this they would need proof that she was wrapped in blankets. Do we have any ?
To: VRWC_minion
Hey Minnie......your guy isn't lookin' so good.
To: bvw
If you all are watching..please fillin blanks. (insert here)
Dusek is easier lemmeeee tell ya. Must be that slow talk thing.
To: John Jamieson
If only he hadn't written that book!
546
posted on
07/30/2002 2:22:53 PM PDT
by
gigi
To: gigi
Bet he's thinking the same thing! "Oh, if only I hadn't written that book..."
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Feldman is hard to watch, for me, at least on the telly -- in person it could be different. He moves like he speaks.
548
posted on
07/30/2002 2:24:20 PM PDT
by
bvw
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
He's going a mile a minute alright.
He's got a lot of material to cover to turn this guy into complete Maggot Jello.
To: UCANSEE2
That was an example of something witness has seen. IMHO Feldie is trying to deflect from Goff's friend..the mummy guys who insinuated that her skin could have been mummified within 24 hrs. Feldi is a fast talker..but will he be able to make the jury forget all the other stuff? (a blanket or covering wouldn't be needed to prevent infestation if the skin wasn't broken until a small animal broke it open.
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I know. Her body was protected by a small nuclear-powered defense shield like the robots in Star Wars. It's nuclear battery only lasted about 2 weeks. Then, the insects had free run.
To: John Jamieson
gross JJ!
That book he rightly explained was not written for bugology students. IMHO Feldie was not able to prove to the jury that the average reader of that book was misled.
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Danielle was mummified in 24 hours but wasn't completely mummified 4 to 6 weeks later? This guy needs to make up his mind.
To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Pardon? He was given numbers and stuff by Dusek. Faulkner's (the original Dusek boy) notes and tests and things. And Haskell's too. Prolly Roddy's and the ME's as well.
554
posted on
07/30/2002 2:28:28 PM PDT
by
Jaded
To: bvw
You'd think the guy's adrenal glands would be drained by now...
To: UCANSEE2
Noppers. Maybe that's were the orange fiber came from on the 9th.
556
posted on
07/30/2002 2:29:50 PM PDT
by
Jaded
To: All
So, Goff says the body had been there since about Feb. 9th.
To: Jaded
Goes back to what I said. He is basing his conclusions on the science/research/investigation done by other experts. Then trying to claim the other experts science is no good.
ERGO his conclusions are NO GOOD.
To: Jaded
I couldn't type it all but it sounded like that feldman was trying to get witness to agree that another source for weather temps would have been more accurate.
To: UCANSEE2
LOL. Stealth Ninja Dave fer ya.
560
posted on
07/30/2002 2:31:48 PM PDT
by
Jaded
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