The judge in the David Westerfield trial rejected another defense request to sequester the jury but said he still considers it "a possible option." 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.
Then I think I heard that his exhibits would not be put in evidence.
HELP ME OUT IF I AM WRONG IN WHAT I HEARD.
If you can prove how he dumped her body with Police following him, THen I say hang him.
From yesterday's hearing. Make of it what you will.:
MR. BOYCE: YOUR HONOR, THERE MAY BE A WITNESS COMING THAT MIGHT REQUIRE SPANISH-TO-ENGLISH TRANSLATION DEPENDING ON WHO THE PROSECUTION CALLS.
MR. DUSEK: I CAN'T REMEMBER WHO.
MR. BOYCE: HERNANDEZ.
MR. DUSEK: WE WILL MODIFY IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS.
THE COURT: IS THAT GOING TO HAPPEN SO WE NEED TO LET PEGGY KNOW SO THAT SHE CAN NOTIFY THE INTERPRETER STAFF?
MR. DUSEK: THAT SHOULD BE LATE TOMORROW AFTERNOON.
I am not sure what you are asking here.
My post basically said that Goff was saying he could not say for sure when the flies entered the body because of the ant population. (Indicating the ants carried of the maggots)
Feldman then asked him if he didn't rely on Haskell's report in order to make his calculations. Goff said he did. Haskell reported only seeing one ant, so there was not a colony of ants to carry off the maggots, like Goff tried to indicate and he knew that because he relied on Haskell's report.
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However, as a rebuttal witness for the prosecution, Goff also cast doubt on the earlier testimony for the defense of entomologist Neal Haskell, who said he doubted the child's body was available to insects before Feb. 14.
The defense has contended that there was no way Westerfield could have placed the victim's body where it was found in the East County community of Dehesa, because he was under close surveillance by police beginning Feb. 5.
The Sabre Springs second-grader was determined to be missing Feb. 2. Her body was found Feb. 27.
Goff said forensic entomology provides "estimates of what happened, a minimum amount of time insects were feeding on that body." He said determining a time of death was outside the area of expertise in the field.
Along those lines, Goff (pictured, right) testified that after receiving data from the prosecution, he estimated when insects would have entered the body by using temperature data from Singing Hills Country Club -- which is in the Dehesa Valley -- and Brown Field, which is farther away but provided more complete data.
Goff gave two variables on each.
"The body was available prior to the second of February" using the Singing Hills data, Goff testified, with an absolute minimum date of Feb. 12.
From Brown Field information, the body was found to be available to insects between Feb. 4 and Feb. 9.
"This is an estimate, OK?" Goff warned jurors. "We don't have a stopwatch. We're looking at plus or minus a day."
Goff explained that cold nighttime temperatures could retard the development of the flies, as could ants, which could add time to the estimate.
"Ants are very voracious predators," Goff said. "They can retard decomposition by taking away all of the eggs."
He said Haskell went wrong by adding a temperature from a mass of blow fly maggots in the body.
Goff said data on maggot mass temperatures was unsupported by previous studies.
"By doing this, he comes up with a shorter timeline," Goff said.
Westerfield, 50, is charged with murder, kidnapping and special circumstance allegations that could lead to the death penalty if he's convicted of killing his 7-year-old neighbor. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
Attorneys spent Monday crafting the jury instructions that Judge William Mudd will give the panel before it begins deliberations.
The final instructions will be discussed after closing arguments, which could happen next week after the defense presents its sur-rebuttal case.
Defense attorney Steven Feldman told the judge that he may call witnesses to rebut the testimony of Goff and Dr. William Rodriguez, who estimated last week that Danielle had been dead for four to six weeks before being found.
No, I really can't.
I can say there is REASONABLE DOUBT that he kidnapped her,killed her, or anything else.
I can say that it looks like POLICE allowed the real killer to get away.
I can say it looks like one of the other recent CHILD KILLER/RAPIST crews that live in the NEIGHBORHOOD might also have gotten Danielle and dumped her body just before being arrested.
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Gavel-to-gavel coverage of the David Westerfield trial will air live on NewsChannel 15 and will be live streamed on TheSanDiego Channel.com
