Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Last updated at 10:59:39 AM PT
By BEN FOX
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
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| Defendant David Westerfield, the man accused of killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, listens in court as defense attorney Steven Feldman makes his closing argument, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2002, during Westerfield's murder trial in San Diego. Feldman, challenged the prosecution's theory, holding up a blank poster board to underscore that there is no physical evidence showing Westerfield was in the van Dam home. (AP Photo/Dan Trevan, Pool) |
SAN DIEGO -- The trial of the man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam neared its finish Wednesday with the defense saying there is no evidence the suspect was ever in the victim's home.
Prosecutors trying David Westerfield have relied on circumstantial evidence and made guesses in forming their theory of February's kidnapping, defense attorney Steven Feldman said in his closing argument.
"They have to stretch. There's too many holes. There's no smoking gun," he said.
Prosecutors, however, have said Danielle's fingerprints, hair and blood were found in Westerfield's motor home and on one of his jackets. The jury could begin deliberations later Wednesday.
Danielle was last seen when her father put her to bed on Feb. 1. After a massive volunteer search, her nude body was found Feb. 27 along a rural road east of San Diego.
Westerfield, a 50-year-old engineer, is charged with kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography. He could face the death penalty if convicted of killing the girl who lived two houses away.
Feldman said no fingerprints or other traces of his 6-foot-2 client were found in the van Dam home. Westerfield had never been in the two-story home and had no one way of knowing how to move through it in the dark, he said.
The defense also suggested that the lifestyle of the girl's parents, which included drug use and spouse swapping, might have exposed her to strangers who could have harmed her.
Damon and Brenda van Dam testified that they had smoked marijuana the night of their daughter's disappearance and had, in the past, had sex with another couple.
"If you engage in sex and drug behavior ... who are you inviting into your home?" Feldman said during his statement Tuesday. "When you invite the world in you don't know what you bring."
Prosecutor Jeff Dusek told jurors that there was no doubt Westerfield killed the girl. He said Danielle's fingerprints, hair and blood were discovered in Westerfield's motor home and on a jacket he took to a dry cleaner two days after she disappeared.
"He's guilty to the core," Dusek said Tuesday.
For the first time, Dusek also outlined how authorities believe the crime was carried out. He said Westerfield crept into the van Dam home and may have lurked in the girl's darkened bedroom for an hour before abducting her.
Dusek said authorities believe Westerfield left a neighborhood bar where he had seen Danielle's mother and, acting out his sexual fantasies, sneaked into the van Dams' house through an unlocked door at the side of the garage.
Danielle, her father and two brothers were asleep but a short time later the mother and some friends arrived.
"He gets penned in and hides somewhere, probably in her room," Dusek told jurors. "The bottom line is, though, he did it."
Westerfield took the girl to his home and then on a trip in his motor home, the prosecutor said. Dusek speculated that Danielle was killed in the motor home, although authorities have not been able to determine how she died.