[BunnySlippers]

....but the Van Dams life style is going to make it very difficult to convict him.

I think Westerfield is as guilty as can be. The motorhome was loaded with more of her DNA than they previously let us know. If Westerfield did this he should be punished for his crime to the fullest extent. The parents may be slimeballs but the judge has said he will severely limit the defense's attempts to turn this into a trial about the parent's lifestyle. And I agree with him.

[John Jamieson]

Did you watch today? I think the judge understands that their life style leads to lots of "reasonable doubt" questions; he was pretty open to the questioning and Mr Van Dam handled it very poorly with his indignation and no regrets. If Mrs. Van Dam does the same thing in the next few days (It's hard to use the terms Mr. and Mrs. in this case) the jury is going to start asking lots of soul searching questions of themselves.

If a couple is this amoral, could they also be into incest and sexual child abuse? What about their drug dealing friends? any perverts there? How hard would it be to plant evidence in the RV? Are the other children in danger?

[Shermy]

I agree. The parents are irrelevant and whether they were intoxicated or whatever is not the cause of the crime.

Bad things happen in the most alert of situations. Here's a story from nearby LA. A boy drowns in a pool at a birthday party with 15 children around plus 10 adults watching them.

Boy's death ruled accidental drowning

[Southflanknorthpawsis]

The parents may be slimeballs but the judge has said he will severely limit the defense's attempts to turn this into a trial about the parent's lifestyle.

Uh.......I think it's a little too late for that. My guess is that their lifestyle is about all the jurors and observers remember about today's trial.