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Prosecutor: Westerfield Guilty 'Beyond Possible Doubt'(Many Still Find Van Dam's Culpable)
Court TV ^ | August 7, 2002 | Harriet Ryan

Posted on 08/06/2002 8:53:49 PM PDT by FresnoDA

Prosecutor: Westerfield guilty 'beyond possible doubt'

Photo
Lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek traced the fingerprint, blood and fiber evidence linking defendant David Westerfield to a murdered girl.

SAN DIEGO — Calling the murder of Danielle van Dam an "evil, evil crime" that shattered notions of suburban safety, a prosecutor urged jurors Tuesday to convict her neighbor, David Westerfield, of capital charges.

Before a courtroom filled to capacity for closing arguments, prosecutor Jeff Dusek said the 50-year-old engineer snuck into the second-grader's bedroom last February, snatched her from her canopy bed, killed her and then "dumped this 7-year-old child naked in the dirt like trash for animals to devour."

"He's guilty of these crimes. He's guilty of the ultimate evil. He's guilty to the core," Dusek told jurors at the end of a closing studded with drama despite its three-and-a-half-hour length.

Dusek shouted and jabbed his finger at the defense table when he discussed Westerfield and the child pornography the prosecution says reveals a motive in the killing. But when he mentioned Danielle's death, his voice dropped to a whisper, forcing jurors to lean forward when he said, for example, of the moments before her killing, "This was not an easy time. This was not fast."

 

Westerfield listened to the prosecutor's closing argument Tuesday.

At one point, he slammed his hand again and again on the jury box rail to simulate, he said, Danielle's head striking Westerfield's headboard as he raped her. The image was too much for Brenda van Dam, Danielle's mother. She leapt up from her seat at the back of the courtroom and ran to the door in tears.

Westerfield's lawyer, Steven Feldman, began his closing late Tuesday afternoon. He is to conclude Wednesday morning and then Dusek will have one final opportunity to convince the panel to convict Westerfield of felony murder, kidnapping and child pornography charges.

The six women and six men who have heard evidence in the two-month long trial appeared to pay close attention to Dusek's summation, which focused on the forensic evidence connecting Westerfield to Danielle's disappearance and problems with his alibi for the weekend she vanished.

A spot of her blood on a jacket Westerfield took to the dry cleaners, Dusek said, "in itself tells you he's guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. That alone. But it doesn't stop there."

He also listed fiber, fingerprint and hair evidence linking Westerfield to Danielle and said, "all of it comes back to his lap." Of two blond strands found in the defendant's recreational vehicle and genetically matched to Danielle, he said, "Proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Proof beyond a possible doubt."

Dusek pointed to an autopsy photo showing Danielle's badly decomposed remains and ticked off the fiber and hair evidence technicians gleaned from her body.

"From Danielle herself, she helps to solve this case," he said.

Westerfield gazed straight ahead, and in the back row of the courtroom, Brenda and Damon van Dam held hands and stared at the floor. A row in front of them and three seats to their right, Westerfield's sister, who was attending the trial for the first time and was in the company of her husband and son, stared at the image.

Dusek also attacked Westerfield's claim that he spent the weekend Danielle vanished on a 560-mile solo road trip in his recreational vehicle.

"He gives us a bogus story that just doesn't wash," said Dusek, referring to his account of driving from his home to the beach then to the desert then to another part of the desert before returning to the beach.

He said Westerfield spent that weekend sexually assaulting Danielle and then after killing her, searching for a place to dump her body.

The prosecutor listed other potential suspects, including the van Dams, their friends, Westerfield's teenage son and even "the bogeyman," but said each was investigated and cleared.

He criticized what he said were defense attempts to implicate Westerfield's son, Neal, in the crime and said testimony about the van Dam's risque sex life, which included swinging, was irrelevant.

"All the sex, the alcohol, who's doing this, who's doing that. That's got nothing to do with her kidnapping," Dusek said.

With Westerfield's mug shot projected on the courtroom wall next to a passport photo of Danielle taken the day she vanished, Dusek said, "I think at times we've lost track of the other person. We've lost track of Danielle, what happened to her, what he did to her."

The prosecutor downplayed bug evidence presented by the defense suggesting Westerfield was under surveillance when Danielle's body was dumped and therefore couldn't have been responsible.

"Everyone's different, has a different estimation, approximation, some might even say guess," said Dusek. He added, "This is not an exact science. This is not DNA."

The prosecutor told jurors repeatedly that he did not have to prove to them why Westerfield killed Danielle, only that he did, but he said he was certain jurors wanted to know, "Why would a regular, normal 50-year-old guy kidnap and kill a 7-year-old child?"

There was no answer, he said, just another question. Pointing to print outs of some 85 images of child pornography found on computers and discs in Westerfield's home, Dusek said, "Why would a normal 50-year-old guy have pictures of young naked girls?"

With some of the images of elementary-school aged girls, naked and exposing their genitals, flashing on the courtroom wall behind him, Dusek pointed at Westerfield and said, "These are his fantasies."

Westerfield stared toward the empty witness stand, never looking at the photos.

Dusek acknowledged that "if (Westerfield) is the guy, that destroys all our senses of protection."

"That's the scariest part — he was a normal guy down the street," said Dusek.

Defense lawyer Feldman promised jurors the heart of his argument Wednesday, but in a little more than an hour before the panel, he seemed to be hoping for a hung jury. He presented jurors with a list of "Jury Responsibilities," several of which seemed aimed at encouraging any panelist for acquittal not to cave to pressure from other jurors.

One "responsibility" read "All of you have the right to have your feelings respected."

Just before court broke for the day, Feldman held up a blank piece of posterboard and said, "This is the only evidence they have of David Westerfield in the van Dam residence."

He suggested the van Dam's swinging lifestyle endangered their children.

"You don't know what pervert is coming in the door when you're in the bar, drunk, making invites," he said.

 
Comprehensive case coverage


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To: shezza
When did the evidence get there, beyond a reasonable doubt? And finally (writes: Time of Death, underlines it).
581 posted on 08/07/2002 2:52:50 PM PDT by shezza
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To: shezza
This has been an extraordinary experience. it's been hard, emotional, intense, at times overwhelming. The tension, the pain, is coming your way. You are the conscience of the community. YOu save us from lynchings. You protect us. Thank you.

END

break to set up for Dusek's rebuttal.

582 posted on 08/07/2002 2:54:13 PM PDT by shezza
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To: nycgal
Let us know the minute you hear anything!
583 posted on 08/07/2002 2:55:05 PM PDT by shezza
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To: connectthedots
Awesome! Are you going to law school now, or are you already admitted to practice in WA? I've done some suing of the govt on behalf of firearms rights, and it's hard to find a judge who will even uphold the law in this state. The bench is infested with pro-government scum who refuse to follow the law -- David Schuman on the Court of Appeals is one of the worst.
584 posted on 08/07/2002 2:56:14 PM PDT by Henrietta
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FWIW, an explanation for the late arival of bugs occured to me and if it is true would make the death even more gruesome.

The theory is that Danielle wasn't dead when left but was in a coma and it took her several days being exposed to elements and without food to die.

585 posted on 08/07/2002 2:56:56 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
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To: shezza
false alarm
586 posted on 08/07/2002 2:58:25 PM PDT by It's me
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To: shezza
Ya know, I don't think I have the stomach or the will to do Dusek's rebuttal. Could somebody take over the running commentary while I go find my family? Hubby took the kids to the park while I was obsessed with the closing arguments! Thanks.
587 posted on 08/07/2002 2:58:28 PM PDT by shezza
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To: shezza
Shezza, you really have done a wonderful job. Sometimes I can get more out of what they're saying by reading than by listening to it. At least after today you can have a break!!
588 posted on 08/07/2002 2:59:12 PM PDT by MagnoliaMS
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To: shezza
Turns out it was a false alarm. There was some kind of exercise taking place nearby. Couldn't make out who was involved. Apparently there was a microphone there that somehow transmitted a sound, to speakers by the courthouse, that sounded like gunshots. Weird.
589 posted on 08/07/2002 2:59:45 PM PDT by nycgal
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To: VRWC_minion
insects will lay eggs on the living as well as the dead
590 posted on 08/07/2002 2:59:46 PM PDT by CAPPSMADNESS
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To: Henrietta
Who said you had to go to law school to be an attorney in the State of Oregon?
591 posted on 08/07/2002 3:00:51 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: shezza
Thanks for a job well done, we really appreciate some one who gives their all, take your break, I could care less what he has to say.
592 posted on 08/07/2002 3:00:59 PM PDT by calawah98
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To: All
You are Juror # 5, you have sat all day, listening to Feldman.

You have been undecided, back and forth.

You have been helped or agaitated at Feldman's presentation?

Has he solidified your stance, or....

Has he reminded you of the school yard bully?

*******************************************************

I am asking this, because of the demenor of the man, and wondering if juror's who had thought all along that Westerfield was guilty, has been swayed to Not guilty by Feldman...or....that Feldman had caused me to re-think, but lost me in the shouting and theatrics. (I know you can't be a good juror if you do this...but I believe it is possible for a couple of jurors to face this. ) thanks.

593 posted on 08/07/2002 3:01:51 PM PDT by Neenah
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To: MagnoliaMS; HoneyBoo
Judge Mudd does appear as if there's something in the air that smells bad.
594 posted on 08/07/2002 3:01:53 PM PDT by I. Ben Hurt
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To: Eva
When I spent years living throughout SE Asia, it was the "norm" to see a dead body on the streets or sidewalks. They all died from natural causes. Sometimes someone would place a newspaper over a body, until the city sent someone out to do pick up. And the flies!? eeewwww.
595 posted on 08/07/2002 3:03:53 PM PDT by the Deejay
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To: connectthedots
You don't; we have a program where you can apprentice for a certain number of years with a licensed attorney. Is that what you are doing?
596 posted on 08/07/2002 3:04:01 PM PDT by Henrietta
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To: calawah98
Thanks. I'm off to the park. Read y'all when I get back.
597 posted on 08/07/2002 3:04:34 PM PDT by shezza
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To: UCANSEE2
You mean hypothesis ?

Yep! that is what I meant. Blush! Blush!

598 posted on 08/07/2002 3:04:41 PM PDT by Spunky
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To: I. Ben Hurt
He smells an aquittal. There is nothing he can do now to avoid it. Feldman knows he has this case won on the merits and Mudd knows the jury isn't buy the B.S. from Dusek.
599 posted on 08/07/2002 3:06:28 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: nycgal
IT WAS A TRAINING TAPE. NO ONE WAS SHOT
600 posted on 08/07/2002 3:07:29 PM PDT by Spunky
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