July 1, 2002
The judge and attorneys in closed-door hears in the David Westerfield trial have resumed their work at 1 p.m., following a lunch break.
A closed-door hearing in the murder trial was set to discuss a number of issues, including whether prosecutors will be allowed to call one more witness before concluding their case-in-chief. Westerfield, 50, is charged with kidnapping, murder and misdemeanor possession of child pornography in the disappearance and killing of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. The self-employed design engineer could get the death penalty if convicted of the felony charges.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd told defense attorney Steven Feldman to be ready to call his first witness tomorrow. The attorney said he could be done with his case by July 15.
Feldman told the judge that he would call a forensic entomologist to the stand if prosecutors don't.
The specialist -- who studies the interaction between insects and cadavers -- could be called on to pinpoint the time of Danielle's death.
In his opening statement, Feldman said the child's nude body could have been placed off a road in Dehesa as late as Feb. 16, a dozen days after his client came under 24-hour surveillance by law enforcement.
Prosecutors theorize that Westerfield killed the 7-year-old and dumped her body at the East County site shortly after she disappeared Feb. 2. Volunteer searchers found the girl's decomposing body on Feb. 27.
Westerfield was arrested Feb. 22.
A volunteer handler testified last week that two search dogs alerted several times while sniffing in Westerfield's motorhome four days after the victim was reported missing.
Jim Frazee, who helps the San Diego Sheriff's Department, said his dogs searched the 1997 Southwind motorhome Feb. 6 at a vehicle storage facility on Aero Drive.
The first dog, Hopi, was sent in to search specifically for Danielle's scent, Frazee said. Hopi went into the galley area, the witness said, ``and turned around immediately and came back.''
Frazee explained earlier that Hopi was trained to return to his handler as soon as he found a scent. Hopi was sent back inside several minutes later. ``He jumped up on the sofa on the driver's side,'' Frazee testified, and remained there about five seconds.
His other dog, Cielo, showed considerable interest in an exterior storage compartment behind the passenger-side door, Frazee said.
Cielo, trained to find human remains and bodily fluids, sniffed a shovel and lawn furniture in the compartment for about 15 seconds, according to Frazee.
Frazee said that when he tried to take Cielo to another compartment, the dog sat down and barked, which is his alert signal.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Robert Boyce, Frazee conceded that he did not report the dogs' reactions because his supervisor was watching them.
Mitchell Holland, the laboratory director of the Bode Technology Group, said a blood stain from the motorhome carpet and a hair found in the bathroom sink were compared to a known sample from the 7-year-old victim.
Regarding the hair, Holland said the chances are ``one in 25 quadrillion'' of selecting a person at random from the Caucasian population who would have the same DNA.
When asked about the blood stain, Holland told prosecutor George ``Woody'' Clarke that the chances were ``one in 660 quadrillion'' of selecting a person at random from the Caucasian population who would have the same DNA.
``Is this an example where samples match?'' Clarke asked.
``Yes, it is,'' Holland answered.
The expert testified that he performed mitochondrial DNA testing -- different from ``nuclear'' DNA testing -- on hairs found on clothing in Westerfield's washing machine, dryer and sheets from his master bedroom in Sabre Springs.
Holland said he could not exclude Danielle van Dam as the donor of the hairs in question.
Police computer expert James Watkins completed his testimony by saying that 85 sexually oriented computer images of underage females were found in Westerfield's home.
The prosecution believes the sexually oriented material involving underage females is evidence of motive.
Watkins said the images were among at least 8,000 deemed pornographic.
Many of the photos were of large-breasted women, the expert said.
He said a total of 100,000 images were found on the computer, but many were simply icons and arrows that make operating systems work.
There is some discussion on this board about who might have been meeting behind those closed doors. More to think about.
Misleading? Overkill? Say it isn't so. They keep throwing this number out.... get over it, it doesn't apply the correct number is 8000. If you must use them both use them in the same sentence. Quit spinning.
Miz, thanks for posting this article. I had to rant. You know as well as I do, this rant in an e-mail would be ignored. These people make me nuts. Sorry, it's from the Soviet Union Tribune, that 'splains it.
I am having a great deal of difficulty understanding this...What is wrong with this picture?
sw