Posted on 08/13/2002 10:12:33 PM PDT by FresnoDA
SIGNONSANDIEGO STAFF
and WIRE SERVICES
August 13, 2002
The fourth day of deliberations in the David Westerfield trial has ended with no conclusion by the jury. The jury will resume deliberations Wednesday morning at the San Diego County Courthouse. Earleir today, jurors asked to hear Westerfield's only recorded explanation of what he was doing the weekend 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was kidnapped.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd said he was granting a request from the jury for a tape recording and transcript of the taped interview Westerfield gave to police interrogation specialist Paul Redden on Feb. 4, two days after Danielle's disappearance.
During the interview, Westerfield makes a reference to "we" as he describes his meandering trip through San Diego and Imperial counties on Feb. 2 and Feb. 3.
"The little place we, we were at was just a little small turnoff-type place," Westerfield said.
Westerfield, 50, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder, kidnapping and a special circumstance allegation that the killing of Danielle van Dam occurred during the commission of kidnapping.
He is also accused of the misdemeanor possession of child pornography.
Jurors are in their fourth day of deliberations.
Mudd's disclosure came during a 10 a.m. open hearing on a request from KFMB-AM 760 to let River Stillwood, an assistant radio producer for talk show host Rick Roberts, back into the courtroom to cover the trial.
"She's out and will remain out and will not be permitted in for any live proceedings... because she is the representative of an individual who takes great glee and delight shoving it in this court's face," Mudd said.
Mudd ejected Stillwood from the courtroom on Thursday after asking her to tell him who told Roberts about the details of a Wednesday exchange between Mudd and the attorneys in the case during a sealed hearing.
Stillwood told Mudd that she didn't know who gave Roberts the information. On the air, Roberts later said he had received a call from a source in the courthouse.
The court is conducting an internal investigation, but cannot compel Roberts and Stillwood to name their source, Mudd said.
Stillwood can still sit in the pressroom and watch the video feed of any court activity, Mudd said.
KFMB was welcome to send someone else to sit in the courtroom, so long as the person was representing the radio station and not Roberts, he said.
KFMB's attorney Joann Rezzo argued that the disclosure did not violate the defendant's right to a fair trial. She also argued that Stillwood didn't give him "the source of the leak" because she didn't know who it was.
Before Mudd made his ruling, he invited comments from prosecutor Jeff Dusek, who managed only a wry remark.
"My inclination is to comment, but on advice of counsel, I I will submit," Dusek said, gesturing to his fellow prosecutor, Woody Clarke.
Defense attorney Robert Boyce told Mudd he was concerned about the integrity of proceedings. "They broadcast it, they knew what they were doing," Boyce said.
He called it "just another effort to sensationalize these proceedings."
Mudd told the media attorneys he welcomed the opportunity to make a "full and complete record" of his decision to eject Stillwood.
In his comments, Mudd made it clear he was still angry with KFMB television's decision to include a high school yearbook photo of Neal Westerfield during a telecast of the son of the defendant's testimony. Mudd had ordered that no television or print images of the adult, who is now 19, be transmitted.
The judge's inclination was to ban both the station's radio and TV representatives from the trial.
"Frankly, they seem to be the two networks in this community that just don't seem to get it," he said.
However, after his wife advised him to "sleep in it, " he gave the matter "serious thought," Mudd said.
He quoted a line from a Supreme Court decision in 1976 involving a press restraint issue in Nebraska.
" The extraordinary protections afforded by the First Amendment carry with them something in the nature of a fiduciary duty to exercise the protected rights responsibly--a duty widely acknowledged but not always observed by editors and publishers," Mudd said. "It is not asking too much to suggest that those who exercise First Amendment rights in newspapers or broadcasting enterprises direct some effort to protect the rights of an accused to a fair trial by unbiased jurors. "
Mudd said he was troubled by the host's decision to broadcast the information, knowing it was from a closed hearing.
The judge wasn't impressed by the host's justification that the general public was already aware of the issue, and that Stillwood was ignorant of the source.
He said the host wasn't conducting a search for the truth, but a grab for ratings. He also took the opportunity to lash out at "idiots from LA talk stations," who broadcast an afternoon program from a media compound outside the County courthouse. He said the members of the talk station were "acting like teen-agers" in front of the courthouse.
The judge acknowledged he could not control such behavior but could control his own courtroom.
The judge said officials from KFMB must be taking "great glee in shoving it in this court's face."
Fred D'Ambrosi, news director for KFMB-TV and Radio, said his television station showed only a high school yearbook photo of Westerfield's son.
"We didn't shoot him in court, which was the judge's order," D'Ambrosi said.
Regarding River Stillwood, D'Ambrosi said the issue was important because of the First Amendment and a free press. He added that he was not in charge of the Rick Roberts program.
"We're just trying to report the news and uphold the First Amendment," D'Ambrosi said. "If (Mudd) can ban River Stillwood, he can ban anybody." The news director suggested that the judge was angry because he didn't like the story that was reported.
D'Ambrosi said he had never spoken to Mudd, and called his reading of the situation "totally inaccurate."
Mudd said he had done a 180-degree turnaround on the issue of allowing cameras and reporters in the courtroom since deciding to allow Court TV to cover the trial live.
I agree to both.
I've never heard of him before...but as someone has previously noted, he sounds like a career politician - someone who follows the polls and media to form his conclusions.
If so, that's a hellava far cry from "accusing Neal of the crime", as Doosuk said to the jury.
Good Point!! Well said, and all that.
WELCOME 'kerensky' to the threads. Great post and idea about the PJ's you had !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For those that missed it:
Here's another thing. Danielle was wearing pajamas when she left the house. Brenda said she bought an identical set of pajamas for Danielle's sleep over guest that was still in Danielle's room. Given that the two sets are identical, fibers identical to the second set should be in DW's house, SUV and motor home. If these fibers were not found, DW is not guilty.
69 posted on 8/14/02 7:46 AM Pacific by Kerensky
GOLDEN COMMENTS
convicted felons can't vote unless their rights have been restored or they are democrats
by rolling_stone
"Well, EXCUSE me, Mr. Feldman, what's a couple of math errors? We have a dead child, a beautiful little girl, brutally murdered by a monster, deposited like TRASH, on the side of the road, and YOU'RE concerned with MATH?!" "Give me a BREAK"
! by spectre (sw)
I find it interesting that those without a political agenda ALL FIND HIM NOT GUILTY
by mouser
Best case scenario is a hung jury.
And you hear thunder before you see the lightning ?
up is down --war is peace. What color is the sky on your planet ?
by dread78645
"A Fly Lie for the prosecution."
by dread78645
Bottom line is, Dusek should not have reopened his taken this case. If they really wanted a conviction, I don't know why Dusek was selected. Maybe he IS the sacrificial lamb after all.
by Southflanknorthpawsis
sshhh i'm hunting wabbits
by countess
Looks to me like some people have had to resort to grasping at fibers.
by bolthead
William Wallace suffered less than Goff did today.
by John Jamieson
That goofy mascot of the SD Padres has long orange fibers all over it...maybe Mudd did it.
by demsux
(AND MY FAVORITE, by JUDGE MUDD)
THE COURT: WE DEFINITELY HAVE ADMITTED UNTRUTHFULNESSES .
by Karson
Thanks for pointing that out! It's an interesting coincidence..but everything has to have a margin of error...I'd say at least 3-4 days give or take.. (in danielle's case anyway)
By ~Kim4VRWC's~
"I have plotted the data here in 4 dimensions, using time, temperature, dewpoint, and solar insolance, using a 5 sigma probablity matrix and 16 polynominal regression analysis. I gathered weather data from three geometrically obtuse locations using GPS and NWS data, corrected for distance and wind direction, velocity, and turbulance. Using the exact altitude of the Dehesa location, we can see here that the first 2 duds were right."
by John Jamieson
Judge Mudd just announced that he will sequester the jury...
AFTER THE TRIAL HAS ENDED AND MR. WESTERFIELD HAS BEEN CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO DEATH BY LETHAL INJECTION.
by basscleff
The end justifies the medians.
by shezza
Everyone likes the bugs better than the lawyers.
by VRWC_minion
Did you hear that? Judge told the jury to NOT form an opinion..
by ~Kim4VRWC's~
Bug guy #945 just agreed with the other 943 and said time of dead was around feb 12 give or take 2-3 days.
Feldman had a knock out
Dusek had a melt down
We lost our appetites
Dusek believes this case lives or dies on the bug evidence.
Westerfield walks broke
Killer is still on the loose
hows that
by basscleff
No one can write fiction stranger than this case.... Reports of dogs fainting from bleach in the garage, searchers are drawn to an area by the stench of a roadkill dog, but no one smells a 2 to 4 to 6 weeks (choose your entomologist)dead body have eaten, with a thriving maggot mass. A single man has pictures of naked women on his computer and deleted (did I understand that correctly?) animated child porn files on his computer. Folks are calling for his head, but feel buckets of sympathy for a mother of young children trolling for sluts to come to her home for a night of orgies. ala Mr. Traficant: Beam me up! I'm trying really hard not to be sarcastic, but this is sheer lunacy! 855 posted on 8/1/02 7:49 PM Pacific by pinz-n-needlez I have my own reasons for believing he is innocent. Since I believe he is innocent, I see certain things in that context. Mudd's increasingly blatant bias upsets me. Please: the fingerprint proves the kidnapping which in turn proves everything else. He could make his instructions shorter, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, go into that room, write the word 'guilty' on a piece of paper, come back and hand it to the baliff." by Yeti
Dusek was done after 15 minutes, and was finished by lunchtime. All he has to do now is stop speaking. By connectthedots
AND YET MUDD IGNORES THEM. WHY WHY WHY ?
'Cuz they can't watch CourtTV if they're sequestered? Do I get a prize? by small_l_libertarian
As far as I can see in the course of marching Westerfield up the great steps of the Aztlan altar of human sacrifice the whole case is thus: Westerfield is said to have had child porn so therefore he is guilty and while our limited human imaginations and our human technical abilities are unable to detemine in any reasonable way how he did it, where he did it, and how he was able to drop her body off on 16 February while accompanied by the whole of the overtime-drawing staff of the SDPD detetctive squad, yet the child porn evidence is so compelling that it alone means he did it, even though it isn't child porn by legal definition and the cartoons that got everybody's dander up is more likely his son's.
And furthermore for the sake of protecting the privacy of our precious drug-selling little league coaches, doobie-loving airline stewardesses, child-abandoning gay-bar visiting mommies, and polyamorous daddies, not only must we not investiagte them, but we must get this human sacrifice to the altar and sacrificed at the soonest possible moment, all else be damned.
AND THE LATEST ONES
by bvw
the state did not come anywhere close to proving that he did.
I think the State's case stops at the van Dam's door. They have not presented a shred of anything that places DW in the home or an indication that he abducted Danielle.
Kidnapping must be proven or murder can't be. Has kidnapping been proven?
IMO, Jeff Dusek suggesting that we just have to believe that he got into the house undetected and got her out of the house somehow is asking way too much. It is the key to everything they claim happened subsequently and the key doesn't fit the lock. by Southflanknorthpawsis
The bugs have more credibility than most of the witnesses in this case. by tunneldiver
Dusek's theory used a lot of 'missing' evidence.
There was the blood all over the 'missing boots'.
There was the blood all over the 'missing comforter'
There was the 'missing blue blanket' that Danielle was wrapped in to keep the bugs from getting to her.
There was the 'missing orange UFO' that left orange fibers all over DW's house and Danielle's body.
There was the 'missing blue/grey UFO' that left blue/grey fibers on Danielle's body and in DW's MH.
There was a missing breifcase with that had a million dollars in it, that police still refuse to return to me.
There is the 'missing' NASA Spacesuit that DW used to enter the VD home.
Seriously, Prosecution/LE's theorized all kinds of things and then searched for the evidence to prove it. Apparently, when they couldn't find the evidence they needed, they either faked it, or declared it missing. by UCANSEE2
Those dry cleaning reciepts have 3 different times on them and the computer was up and down. Maybe DW only went once, and maybe he wasn't naked, and maybe the clerk has the mind of a potato chip. by John Jamieson
I hear Friday night's feature at Dad's is "Romancing the Stoned." by shezza
ah you saw that too... the second feature being SWINGSHIFT by basscleff
The last feature is hopefully "It's a Bug's Life"! by bvw
Not to worry, around here someone will correct you even if you are right. by dread78645
Amazing you have the abililty to sum up someone based on their personal opinion on this case. Truly incredible.
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