Judge upholds death sentence in van Dam killing

CNN ^ | 1/1/03 | CNN

[SunStar]

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) --San Diego Superior Court Judge William Mudd on Friday refused to overturn a recommended death sentence for David Westerfield in the February murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

"The court finds that the weight of the evidence ... supports the jury's verdict of death," Mudd said.

[is_is]

And now they have to live with their mistakes for the rest of their lives.I for one will not dump on them.It is not up to me to judge them,and I will never blame them for what happened to their daughter.I do not condone the lifestyle they were living,and I'm not sure how much of it was blown out of proportion.I hope they can find some peace.

Well said......

[Hildy]

I know, just like the good old days, huh Kim??? It's still hard to believe that people are still saying that kind of crap. I'm not a big fan of victim's families being so public, but I'm not going to say I know what they're going through, either. I did, however, think Brenda's statement today was riveting.

[sharktrager]

What about the blood?

[Jaded]

Too true.

[ChemistCat]

That was kind. If there is a shred of caring-what-anyone-thinks left in the Van Damms, I know what you said would be comforting to them.

Remember the Smart family. No evidence they did anything wrong, but boy oh boy were they slammed for their lifestyle and mistakes. They don't even have the comfort of seeing their daughter's abductor pay for his crime. But they sure got dragged behind the media truck down a lot of nasty dirt road.

[HadEnough]

The endless appeals process, as well as, the endless publicity for these murderers in only about MONEY.

How many of the 600 murderers on California's death row have sufficient resources to hire a constant stream of leftist lawyers to defend them? Try none.

Well, if these maggots are able to continue to file their appeals, WHO is providing the legal aid...I am sure the gullible ole taxpayers are.

So...when one of these puss-wads gets executed, that's one less parasite client on the public dole, rather, one less parasitic lawyer soaking up the public legal aid funds.

So, even though the public wants to liquidate these murderers, the ABA and the Trial Lawyer's Association must follow their "consciences" and soak up the public's money!!

[wideawake]

I don't think anyone here denies that Westerfield is as guilty as sin and deserves to be put into the general population with a sign that says "CHILD MOLESTER" around his neck.

But, all I know is that when I was 7, and when my little sisters were 7, one place where you would NOT find my mother EVER is out at a bar getting drunk.

These parents were doing some pretty lousy parenting that night.

[cyncooper]

I don't think anyone here denies that Westerfield is as guilty as sin

Then you best think again. (If I may be so blunt)

[ChemistCat]

I think promiscuity is extremely dangerous behavior, but I sometimes think it is more common than virtuous, monogamous marriage. The Van Damms likely had absorbed what the media and college professors, etc, have been trying to feed all of us for so long. They absorbed a much lighter dose of the same poison that afflicted their daughter's killer. The antidote is moral absolutism--some THOU SHALT NOTs--and that is a cure distasteful to a large swath of our society.

Everyone wants to blame the parents because if it's even partially the parents' fault, even partially deserved, then whew, it can't happen to us. If it was just a random event or one evil person randomly targeting the child of good parents, wow, how scary.

Got news for you. Until we take back our streets from the liberals who, time after time, try to hamstring the VICTIMS and let the perps roam free, it CAN happen to any of us.

[wideawake]

Well, I don't deny it.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Brenda van Dam's sentencing statement -AP Breaking News
The Associated Press
(01-03) 14:18 PST (AP) -- Statement by Brenda van Dam at Friday's sentencing of David Westerfield, who killed her daughter, Danielle. In early November, I started wondering about how I was going to get through the holidays. And ...[snip]

[Freedom2specul8]

I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful and polite replies.. Wish you were around for the past year..we could have used ya!

[Freedom2specul8]

Thanks for your #77 post...

[Freedom2specul8]

Thank you for finding a copy of Brenda's statement for us. IT was heartbreaking to hear this morning..

[Delbert]

She was a beautiful little girl...hopefully Westy will get his death sentence injected anally , against his will. Evil Ba$tard

[IMHO]

You should be informed that Westerfeild was offering the detectives information regarding the location of her body in the pursuit of a plea-bargain.

This deal came to an end when the body was found without his assistance.

The whole trial was a sad farce, due to the fact that this offer could not be used as evidence, and that opened the possibility that people such as yourself would let the monster back out on the street.

[ChemistCat]

I was using that in an argument earlier, and was challenged to prove it, and can't find a source. Can you? I know I heard it from several major news sources during the immediate aftermath of the trial.

[Amore]

It came from anonymous police sources. As Dusek said, ethically, he cannot say anything about plea negotiations. But I still believe that if it was not true, Feldy could simply have said that the reports were untrue and that would not be an ethical violation (not that Feldy seems to care about ethics).

[bvw]

Has that innuendo become more that just rumor?

It was never unknown to the jury, at least by force of the media blitzkrieg given that this "privledged" info was carefully fed to that media. The media was always saying that "they" knew more on background than they could release ... that's a unfair bias for a defendant cannot challenge a claim that has not been upped into testimony or evidence.

By Justice, not all cases can be determined under due process and worse murderers than might be here let back on the street, for right -- else corrupts the system and lets worse happen later. "Innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt" is the standard, not less, and at times it seems a great burden but it still the golden standard.

A deeper trust in Providence could be had in San Diego, if they don't think Justice is served by it.

[Valpal1]

You will find those sources unacceptable to your challengers, because they are "unnamed" media sources.

Until or unless it comes from a named source privy to the case, they claim it is all spin and media hype.