In taped interrogation, Westerfield tells police 'my life is over'

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | January 7, 2003

[wimpycat]

So what you're saying is, throughout this whole thing, throughout the whole interrogation process so far, this "innocent/framed/wrongly accused" man hasn't YET said he didn't do anything, hasn't proclaimed his innocence, agreed with the interrogators when they said his life is over by his own fault,etc.?

[Freedom2specul8]

We should create a thread and can only argue the opposite position on it. That'd be a hoot.

[Freedom2specul8]

Hey you don't think his atty advised him not to do ya? Hey, the atty can get fined or disbarred (I forget the exact consequence) if he says his client is innocent when he knows he's not.

[EllaMinnow]

That's what I'm saying.

[EllaMinnow]

I think wimpy is talking about during the interviews.

[Valpal1]

WRT, the plea bargain, the defense declined all samples of physical evidence to do independent testing re DNA, etc. Why do you suppose that is? Because they knew it would be a complete waste of defense resources, maybe?

I know UCANTSEEIT, but DW is guilty, the LE officers recognized it from his demeanor from day 1, just as they claimed to have, and the more they investigated him, the more obvious it became to them. Then they found blood/hair in the MH, later the body w/fibers all connecting DW to the murder victim and her to him.

Not even Feldman has the cajones to claim frame job or falsified evidence. Even now, he doesn't claim this, because he knows it was a clean bust and they got the right guy. Even now Feldman doesn't proclaim his clients innocence, only that his "rights" were violated by procedural mistakes. Let me tell you, that if Feldman thought his client was innocent, and was framed, there'd be a sight more fireworks on his part. He is not a legal slouch.

[Freedom2specul8]

Just thinking about this case, the only way I could argue the opposite side is if I pretended I was a defense atty...ignoring that he did it and just defend him. Cuz he's guilty!

[Freedom2specul8]

"I think wimpy is talking about during the interviews. "

Oh yeah..sorry wimpy..my mind went in fast forward mode. :-)

[Freedom2specul8]

Please post if you get transcripts..I have to sign off and rest. will try to check in later..

[wimpycat]

When the police were interrogating him, he didn't have access to his lawyer. His lawyer wasn't present, if he had, in fact, retained one at that point.

Even if he had one, what lawyer would tell him it's OK to talk to the police, but whatever you do, DON'T say you're innocent? He did a lot of talking during that interrogation...but from what I've seen, he never said he didn't have anything to do with Danielle's disappearance. He did a lot of talking, but didn't say he was innocent.

[Freedom2specul8]

You're right of course, I was being sarcastic a bit about the lawyer advising him to not say he's innocent. (I was thinking about when he did have an atty.)

I'm taking a break..have sat here too long and is gettin tired.. :)

[EllaMinnow]

I'm sorry I just referred to you as wimpy - I meant no disrespect. I was very fond of Popeye when I was little.

"I'll gladly pay you Wednesday for a hamburger today..."

[wimpycat]

Don't sweat it. My cat is named Wimpy, so it's just a name to me--I forget about what it means until some lamebrain makes a snide remark about it. I can tell the difference. :-)

[UCANSEE2]

Yea. The BASS PRO SHOPS were supposed to take over Bannister Mall. I guess the deal went south. Wonder what will happen now? I used to ride motorcycles all over that land. Then Harold part of it for the Highway (435), then sold the rest for BMALL. We even used to ride go-carts through the mines underneath. Even funnier is that the land where BMALL is used to have constant cave-ins due to the first owner of the mines robbing the ceilings. I guess they solved that problem before building over it.

Would be funny if it turned back to an open area like it was when I was young. Well, it was part farm, part wildgrowth.

[UCANSEE2]

Now that is a very interesting and intellectually stimulating challenge. Of course, that would eliminate about 99% of the current posters, don't you think?

[cyncooper]

Polygraph test starting now on RR.

[EllaMinnow]

First of 4...

[cyncooper]

First of 4...

I thought I heard RR say they gave him four polygraph tests, but thought I might have not heard that correctly.

Well, that's interesting. It was not a case of taking one test and declaring themselves satisfied that DW was being deceptive, is how I would interpret it.

[UCANSEE2]

Hi.

WRT, the plea bargain, the defense declined all samples of physical evidence to do independent testing re DNA, etc. Why do you suppose that is? Because they knew it would be a complete waste of defense resources, maybe?

The defense declined ALL SAMPLES to do independent testing. Were there not some samples that they could not get because they were destroyed in testing ? Were there not some that were so late in getting tested (due to rush to trial) that defense didn't get time to test them ?

I am not an expert on lawyers or Feldman specifically. I do know that lawyers make deals. They go like this..... Let us have this one, and we will let you have the others. This one is high profile and our whole department's reputation now rests on this case. It doesn't matter one damn bit if you are guilty or not. The lawyer agrees to 'throw the fight'. You can say it doesn't happen but I have personally seen it and had a friend whose had it happen to him.

There seem to be a lot of questions as to why Feldman did or didn't do certain things in this case. THROWING the fight is one possible explanation.

[cyncooper]

Redden is explaining to DW after their "dress rehearsal" of a polygraph that he always gives a minimum of two tests and he averages three tests.

As RR has revealed, he ultimately administered four tests to DW.