Posted on 01/08/2003 9:24:19 AM PST by TomB
In a videotaped interrogation with San Diego police detectives four days after Danielle van Dam was kidnapped, an exhausted David Westerfield says "my life is over," seemingly coming close to an admission that he murdered his 7-year-old neighbor.
"As far as I'm concerned my life is over, the life that I had, the life that I was living is over," Westerfield says in the interrogation conducted the evening of Feb. 5, 2002. Danielle was last seen the night of Feb. 1.
"But you can't blame anyone but yourself, Dave," answers one of the police detectives.
"And I have no problem with that," Westerfield replies.
In the tapes released Tuesday, Westerfield admits "unusual" sexual encounters with his wife, denies anything improper about his alleged use of binoculars to watch neighbors and says the child pornography found on his computer was simply something he downloaded along with a lot of other pornographic images and that he had no sexual interest in children.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd agreed Monday to unseal the videotape along with hundreds of pages of transcripts, documents and recordings in the Westerfield case, as well as transcripts of police interrogations and court hearings conducted in secret.
Some of the material audiotape and videotape of Westerfield being interrogated during the early stages of the investigation was released Tuesday afternoon.
The remainder of the material, which ranges from transcripts of closed-door court hearings to motions regarding potential evidence, will be released Monday, Mudd ruled.
The ruling Monday came three days after Mudd sentenced the former design engineer to death for kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, his neighbor in Sabre Springs.
Monday's court hearing came in response to a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune, which has been seeking access to the information for months. The San Diego-based 4th District Court of Appeal has ruled that Mudd must release the information.
The San Diego chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists made a donation to the legal costs.
Westerfield, who attended Monday's hearing, is scheduled to be moved within days to death row at San Quentin State Prison outside San Francisco.
During earlier court appearances, Westerfield was always dressed in civilian attire, but he appeared in court Monday in a green jail jumpsuit. He sat in a holding area so he couldn't be filmed by a television camera.
Are not police officers under oath during a hearing? Aren't they under oath pretty much all the time as a consequence of being an officer of the law?
I am not telling anyone what is the law here, I am asking. Just want it cleared up.
I am talking about the video of Ott and Keyser asking him to tell where Danielle's body is.
No, the questions and answers I am referring to were not in the context of DNA and other samples.
But since I have no problem answering questions posed to me, here you go.
He was aquitted by a jury who thought it easier to aquit than to deliberate over the Christmas holidays.
How do you know that is why they acquitted him? Did the jurors state to the media that was their reason?
Do you think that it is okay that he is getting away with murder?
Legally, due to the double jeopardy rule, he cannot be tried again, as you say. It is unfortunate,but that is the law. The law is there for a reason, and again, the "better for one guilty......" thing applies.
Do you think that it is okay that he is getting away with murder?
No, I do not think it is OK. The people on the jury need to be visited by the family of that girlfriend, doncha think? Of course it is morally wrong that he get away with it. But it is the fault of the CITIZENS, the JURY, and the Judge had the ability to overturn the verdict if he knew that is why they acquitted (note aquittal / has a 'c' in it).
The word Acquitted is probably in that law book you have.
"If you think what goes on in COURT has anything to do with what is RIGHT or FAIR, you have a lot to learn". That is FROM A LAWYER's mouth. Not Mine.
Investigators looking for a missing 7-year-old girl now believe the second-grader was kidnapped from her home, and yesterday they conducted a rare search using police dogs targeting all 184 residences in the child's neighborhood.
Michael Ebert, a lawyer in the appellate division of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office and an expert in search-and-seizure issues, said forcing residents to submit to a search of their homes may cross constitutional boundaries.
Police said they hoped residents would let them in voluntarily. Ebert said officers would need to obtain search warrants for those who balk.
Police can search a home without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe that someone inside the home is in immediate danger.
David Westerfield, a friend of the van Dam family who lives a few doors down, said his house was one of the first police dogs searched.
If the public won't stand up for their own rights, then the police would obviously believe they could violate the rights of a "potential suspect".
Which they did, to the collective yawn of most of San Diego.
I was NOT saying that the family should drop everything and forget her killer. They still have the ability and right to SUE that person. Since they now have PROOF, I would think they would succeed.
What I was ANSWERING was your question about did I think it was right he 'got away with it'. My answer was in that context and referred to being put in jail, and possibly executed.
You said nothing about his family or even if she had one.
Here you go trying to get around things, and discuss things you didn't bring up as if it were my fault.
I said legally that he got away with it. (as far as criminal court)
I said that morally it was wrong.
So, are you saying that the family, somehow having this information that the jury decided to acquit to get XMAS SHOPPING done, should not be upset with the jury for total perversion of the JURY CONCEPT? You think that is OK? What if it was your daughter and the JURY acquitted just for convenience sake? Who would you blame for letting him go free? ME?
The family could go after both. There I think we might agree!
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