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Frustrated Prosecutor Dusek Swats At Final Bug Expert: Westerfield's Soon Will BUG The Jury....
Court TV ^ | August 2, 2002 | Harriet Ryan

Posted on 08/01/2002 10:25:00 PM PDT by FresnoDA

Frustrated prosecutor swats at final bug expert

Photo
David Westerfield, seated in court Thursday, faces the death penalty if convicted in the slaying of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

SAN DIEGO — David Westerfield was sitting in the defendant's chair, but forensic entomology was on trial Thursday.

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek, whose seemingly unshakeable case against Westerfield for the murder of Danielle van Dam has been jostled by this tiny, somewhat obscure scientific field, poured out his frustration on the last of three insect experts to testify for the defense.

Like his colleagues before him, forensic entomologist Robert Hall of the University of Missouri told jurors that the age of bugs decomposing Danielle's remains suggests Westerfield could not have dumped the 7-year-old's body along a roadside last February.

Dusek, with sighs, long stares at the ceiling and a tone that often mixed disgust with disbelief, railed against Hall's methods and the inexact nature of the field, in which experts given the same bug samples and weather data can differ in their conclusions by days and even weeks.

In one exchange, Dusek asked bitterly, "If you give an X-ray of a suspected broken arm to four qualified experts, would you expect them all to read it the same?"

"I don't know. I'm not a radiologist," replied Hall, whose mild-manner and stammering answers contrasted sharply with the prosecutor's intensity.

Three of the nine certified forensic entomologists in North America have testified in the case, as well as a local expert who is well-respected but not certified. They each offered slightly different ranges for the first arrival of insects at the death scene. Most placed them in mid-February.

"How can everyone come to different numbers in your field?" Dusek demanded.

Hall said "biological variation" in the insects led to some differences in results, but he claimed there was an overwhelming and unusual "concordance" among the experts that Danielle's body was first infested in mid-February, when Westerfield has an air-tight alibi.

"My conclusion would be the estimates are more consistent than inconsistent," said Hall.

"Are you saying close enough for a murder case?" Dusek shot back

"No — ," Hall uttered before Judge William Mudd ordered him not to answer the question further.

Some of the jurors, who have heard days of testimony about maggots, blowflies and puparia, seemed bored by the exchange while others continued taking detailed notes. One male juror seemed to sympathize with Dusek and shook him head in agreement as the prosecutor became impatient with Hall's long-winded answers.

Hall may be the final witness the panel hears. Westerfield's lead attorney, Steven Feldman, said the defense will decide this weekend whether to call one more witness, a forensic anthropologist to testify briefly about the time of death issue. If the defense does not call that expert, lawyers will deliver closing arguments Tuesday. If they do, he will testify Tuesday and arguments will begin Wednesday morning.

Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer who lived two doors from the van Dam family in the upper middle class suburb of Sabre Springs, faces the death penalty if convicted. Someone snatched Danielle from her canopy bed during the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found her body Feb. 27 on the trash-strewn roadway about 25 miles from her house. Her body was too badly decomposed to determine when or how she died, but prosecutors theorize Westerfield raped and suffocated her and then dumped her body during a meandering 560-mile road trip in his recreational vehicle the weekend after her disappearance.

The trial initially focused on significant trace evidence implicating Westerfield, including Danielle's blood, fingerprints and hair inside his RV, and on child pornography on his computers. But the insect testimony has dominated the later part of the trial. Dusek called his own bug expert Tuesday, but that entomologist made basic math errors in his calculations and ultimately gave findings that did not neatly fit the prosecution's theory.

Hall estimated that the first flies colonized Danielle's body, a process that can happen within minutes or hours of death, occurred between Feb. 12 and Feb. 23. Police began round-the-clock surveillance of Westerfield Feb. 5.

Hall also dismissed the prosecutor's suggestion hot, dry weather in February quickly mummified the exterior of Danielle's body, making it initially inhospitable to bugs. A forensic anthropologist testified for the prosecution last week that the flies and maggots may only have arrived after scavenger animals opened her body, skewing the insect evidence found at the scene.

Hall, however, said such a scenario was unheard of in forensic entomology.

"I'd expect fly activity to occur almost as soon as the body presented itself," said Hall, whose father, also an entomologist, wrote the textbook "Blowflies of North America. "

"Partial mummification has little or no effect on blowfly colonization," he added.

During his cross-examination, Dusek alternated between dismissing the field outright and delving into the most minute details of forensic entomologist's work. He quizzed Hall about each of the different formulas the scientist had merged to determine the growth rate of maggots and pointed out that one approach, when taken alone, indicated Danielle's body could have been dumped in early February when Westerfield's whereabouts are unaccounted.

Hall acknowledged Dusek was right, but said taking into account the other data sets yielded the most accurate result.

Dusek also grilled Hall about the lack of insect activity in the head area. Hall and the other entomologists said bugs are usually drawn first to the ears, eyes, and mouth, but Danielle's remains showed infestation primarily in the chest cavity. The prosecution contends this supports their mummification theory, and Hall admitted he could not explain why the insects stayed clear of the head.

Westerfield seemed to follow the testimony intently, leaning close as his defense lawyers conferred on questions for Hall. Brenda and Damon van Dam, Danielle's parents, sat in what have become their usual seats in the last row of the small courtroom.



TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: bugguys; daniellevandam; davidwesterfield
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To: bvw
They had a PR firm at that time. They had a speech writer in essence. It's just about Brenda. Did you see when she made the morning show circuit with Jahi Turner's mother? That was something.
581 posted on 08/03/2002 9:30:31 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: nycgal
Hi nycgal,if I were the son I would stand up for my Father,he might die.
582 posted on 08/03/2002 9:30:41 PM PDT by fatima
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To: fatima
But the DA's computer expert proved that he was lying.
583 posted on 08/03/2002 9:31:21 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: JudyB1938
We all know good hearts on the boards-:)))
584 posted on 08/03/2002 9:33:35 PM PDT by fatima
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To: fatima
Depends on what the DA is telling him. They've certainly been less than truthful.
585 posted on 08/03/2002 9:39:34 PM PDT by Jaded
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To: JudyB1938
BTW, some of that stuff where Westerfield is accused of lying, he could have just forgot, couldn't he?

Well, I am re-reading his interview with Det. Redden. It is really most interesting, and the details that he lies about he tends to emphasize.

The detail I was referring to is that the police came to his house 2/4 in the a.m. and left his house to go check out the MH storage site. Westerfield was left at home and able to go out if he wanted to and he evidently did. I posted earlier on the thread from Det. Keene's testimony that they returned to DW's house about 12:30 and DW returned a few minutes later. I wanted to see what time he took the black clothes to the drycleaners. Looks like it was at 1:40---shortly after the police left the second time. This according to the drycleaning clerk.

So I was just wondering where he went between 11:50 and 12:30.

586 posted on 08/03/2002 9:42:23 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: Krodg
I think the quote in this article is really strange. It almost sounds like she knows what happened and things got out of hand.

"My biggest hope is for someone to realize right now this has gotten big and they made a big mistake and let my daughter walk away," Brenda van Dam said Thursday on ABC's "Good Morning America."

This quote seems to mean that with the huge media attention maybe someone who saw something will give a clue. She talks about someone letting her daughter walk away.

587 posted on 08/03/2002 9:45:44 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: JudyB1938
Well if the judge knows they lied, why aren't they going to prosecute for perjury!?

The judge may know they have been untruthful as in their statements are not consistant or they have discredited themselves on the stand. I belive for purjury you have to testify under oath one way and then under oath testify in contradiction to the first testimony. I'll have to look it up again.
It definately shows that someone coached the VD's in their testimony because in jury instructions it says to not judge testimony a person gives as false if they say that they do not have recollection of specific facts because memory of witnesses tends to blur after time.
So if I say well I really don't recall but I might have said this or that the jury can't fault any of my statements if it does come back that I did in fact state it. Most people unless represented by a lawyer would not testify as DVD and BVD did, hell it sounded like they were the defendents for cryin' out loud with all the "I can't recall" and "I don't recall saying that." To the most minor questions.

588 posted on 08/03/2002 9:46:58 PM PDT by alexandria
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To: cyncooper
Keene and Parga followed DW to the MH. They left at the same time but they took different directions back to his house. He arrived a few minutes after the cops.
589 posted on 08/03/2002 9:48:34 PM PDT by Krodg
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To: Jaded
Sorry,can you explain what you meant.
590 posted on 08/03/2002 9:49:36 PM PDT by fatima
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To: alexandria
Wouldn't they be under oath at the peliminary hearing?
591 posted on 08/03/2002 9:50:59 PM PDT by Krodg
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To: Krodg
Yes, of course and if they did perjure themselves on the stand I would have to bet Feldman would have definately brought it up and the judge would have to strike the entire testimony.
That is why as I said VD's used the "I don't recall" statement over and over. That way Feldman had to "refresh" their memory by showing them their statements probably from pretrial testimony.
If I was a juror I would be definately doubtful as to their truthfulness because usually if you are being truthful when you say or do something you don't have to be as careful about "getting it wrong" when asked about what you said in your past statements.
592 posted on 08/03/2002 10:12:12 PM PDT by alexandria
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To: alexandria; Jaded; Krodg; John Jamieson
Found this URl on crime scene processing procedures.
I tried a count to see how many steps SDPD skipped/missed but lost track, too sleepy I guess. Nite! ;o)
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/handbook/scene1.htm#Release
593 posted on 08/03/2002 10:21:20 PM PDT by alexandria
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To: Krodg
Keene and Parga followed DW to the MH. They left at the same time but they took different directions back to his house. He arrived a few minutes after the cops.

Not at the time I am referring to. I posted this earlier on this thread. From Det. Keene ("that location" is DW's house):

Q. AND YOU LEFT THAT LOCATION AND THE DEFENDANT AT ABOUT WHAT TIME?

A. YOU'RE TALKING LEFT SKYRIDGE?

Q. YES.

A. AT APPROXIMATELY 11:50.

Q. AT 11:50 THE DEFENDANT WAS ABLE TO GO ANYWHERE HE WANTED TO AT THAT POINT?

A. THAT'S CORRECT.

MR. FELDMAN: BEYOND THE SCOPE, OBJECTION.

THE COURT: OVERRULED. THE ANSWER IS GOING TO STAND

BY MR. DUSEK:

Q.HE COULD GET ANYTHING HE WANTED TO EAT AT THAT TIME IF HE SO CHOSE?

A. CORRECT.

Q. THE NEXT TIME YOU CONTACTED HIM WAS BACK AT HIS HOUSE?

A. CORRECT.

Q. AT ABOUT WHAT TIME?

A. IT TOOK US APPROXIMATELY 20 MINUTES, 20, 25 MINUTES TO DRIVE BACK TO HIS HOUSE, AND I THINK HE ARRIVED WITHIN A FEW MINUTES AFTER WE DID.

End Excerpt

594 posted on 08/03/2002 10:32:03 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper
Not at the time I am referring to. I posted this earlier on this thread. From Det. Keene ("that location" is DW's house):

Q. AND YOU LEFT THAT LOCATION AND THE DEFENDANT AT ABOUT WHAT TIME?
A. YOU'RE TALKING LEFT SKYRIDGE?
Q. YES.
A. AT APPROXIMATELY 11:50.

Uhmm "that location" is Skyridge Rd in Poway where DW stored his motorhome.

595 posted on 08/03/2002 10:39:19 PM PDT by dread78645
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To: cyncooper
that is just REALLY REALLY weird cyn. Humans could smell if they crawled..but DOGS either couldn't smell anything or the handlers did watch for reactions? There is something not right about that witness and whoever else was involved. I must be missing something.
596 posted on 08/03/2002 11:04:23 PM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: JudyB1938
I couldn't find addresses but the San Diego guy would have been about 25 miles away, and the Poway guy just a few miles. He certainly would have known all about Dad's too.
597 posted on 08/03/2002 11:18:04 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
One would hope so, but then again anyone involved is going to have a lot to hide.
598 posted on 08/03/2002 11:21:10 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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To: dread78645
Thanks, had to go back to Keene's original testimony (this excerpt is from a later date when he was recalled) to get that. It wasn't clear from the later date testimony. At least not clear to me!
599 posted on 08/03/2002 11:23:29 PM PDT by cyncooper
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To: cyncooper
Westerfield has NOT testified under oath.

The police interview is totally one sided and not controlled. You can't say he left anything out, because he was constantly interrupted and you only heard 5% of it.

Even the part you heard was highly edited per Dusek.
600 posted on 08/03/2002 11:26:18 PM PDT by John Jamieson
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