Westerfield attorney's begin defense
Posted on 07/02/2002 6:10:56 PM PDT by FresnoDA
Westerfield attorney's begin defense
|
|
|
July 2, 2002 A recovery dog behaved normally during an inspection of the motor home of murder defendant David Westerfield, a police investigator testified at the outset of the defendant's case this afternoon. Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday morning against the man accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam, but the judge said there is an unspecified witness the prosecution may call before the trial ends. Attorneys for Westerfield began calling defense witnesses this afternoon. Dog's behavior recounted "The dog went around the motor home with Mr. Frazee in close attendance," the officer said. "The dog examined each of the lower equipment bays on the motor home, again with Mr. Frazee in close attendance and that is all I can recall of my observing." Frazee has previously testified that his dog "alerted" to the possible scent of a cadaver on the motor home. Under cross examination by prosector Jeff Dusek, the investigator testified that he had no formal training in dog handling. Neighbors testify No witnesses have recalled seeing the defendant do that on the weekend in Febuary that the victim, Danielle van Dam, disappeared. Westerfield parked his motor home around the corner from his home as television news crews invaded the neighborhood to report on the well-publized search for the child Feb. 2, and returned without it on Feb. 4, after embarking on a rambling journey around San Diego and Imperial counties. Software enginer Mark Roehr, who lives across the street from Westerfield, testified that he and his wife Janet have socialized with Westerfield over the last four years. Roehr said the defendant would park his motor home in front of his home for a period of time ranging anywhere from a day to several days. Roehr agreed under questioning from Boyce, that Sabre Springs was a family neighborhood where a range of school-age children could be seen walking its streets. Roehr said he found Westerfield's motor home unlocked at one time. Prosecutors have presented forensice evidence that blood and hair from the victim was found in the motor home. The Roehrs returned to the Sabre Springs neighborhood around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 after a day of house-hunting to learn of Danielle's disappearance, according to the testimony. Westerfield appeared moments later in his motor home. Roehr said his neighbor was unable to get to his home because of the presence of the news media, and because authorities had taped off certain parts of the neighborhood. "He pulled up on Briar Leafe toward Mountain Pass road then gave me a sign like 'what's going on?' " Roehr said. "Rather than try to explain through the window of the motor home, I just pointed him down the street toward Mountain Pass to find a place to park." Under cross examination from Dusek, Roehr said that it had been several months since Westerfield had brought his motor home into the neighborhood. He also said that he had never seen school-age children in the motor home. The couple had been in the neighborhood around 10:30 a.m. the morning of the girl's disappearance, but at the time had noticed nothing unusual, Roehr said, under the prosecutor's questioning. Westerfield was not seen in the neighborhood then, Roehr said. Roehr also said he never checked the motor home's door daily to see if it was locked. "Did it appear that when the motor home would be brought into the neighborhood it was in preparation for a trip?" asked Dusek. "Typically, yes," Roehr said. "Why do you say that?" "Because I know that's what he does. He comes in, he cleans the windows, gets it ready -- because it's stored some place where it gets dirty. He gets it prepared." The prosecutor noted that it appeared to be "a ritual" when Westerfield was planning for a trip." On most occasions, Roehr said, Westerfield would be accompanied by his son, or a girlfriend. 'Helpful and friendly' Under questioning from Dusek, she testified that she had never been in the upstairs part of Westerfield's home, or his office. She too recalled seeing Westerfield's motor home arrive on that Saturday afternoon, but admitted to Dusek that it wasn't typical to see him in the motor home alone. Typically, she said, someone drove with him in a car to assist in picking up and dropping off the motor home from storage. "Did he have anyone with him this day," said Dusek. "No," she replied. Focus on hose: Prosecutors have made much of a garden hose being left out in front of the defendant's home on the weekend the victim disappeared and he left on the trip in his motor home. "Was it unsual for Mr. Westerfield to leave his hose unraveled on the front lawn?" asked Boyce. "I don't think so," Hung said. "You've seen it like that before." "Yes I have." Hung also verified that the motor home had been left in the neighborhood and that children were also seen in the vicinity. Another defense witness shared little more with the jury than his name and title before being dismissed. Boyce asked Richard Maler, a San Diego police robbery detective, if he had interviewed Keith Stone on Feb 2. Stone, a construction project manager, was with Brenda van Dam and two of her friends the night before the victim vanished. The interview took place at a police substation. But once Boyce asked Maler if Stone had told him where he had been that night, prosecutor Dusek raised an objection that led to a lengthy sidebar discussion between the judge and attorneys. When it ended, the witness was excused without a public explanation. The day's final witness was police detective Johnny Keene, who recounted the times he contacted Westerfield on Monday Feb. 4, upon his return to the neighborhood. His first contact was around 9:30 that morning he said, under questioning from defense attorney Steven Feldman, and lasted until around noon. There was a period of time when Westerfield accompanied them to an inspection of the motorhome on Skyridge Road. The defense attorney appeared irritated when Dusek produced a photograph that showed Keene and other authorities looking through Westerfield's garage, with the defendant present. The photograph, taken sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m., was apparently introduced by Dusek to show the investigator was wearing gloves when he was going through the garage. It appeared to be the first time Westerfield's defense attorney had seen the rather sizeable photograph. "We see a man inside of his house," Feldman said, holding up the photograph for jurors to see. "Who's that?" After Keene identified him as a police sergeant, Feldman noted the man was standing in the area of the washer-dryer. "Do you see any sweat on Mr. Westerfield's armpits," the defense attorney said. "Not in that photo." Previously, authorities have testified Westerfield was sweating profusely when they contacted him, though the weather was relatively cool. After the jury was excused for the day, Feldman complained that he had not been previously provided a copy of the photo. Prosecutors rested their case Westerfield is accused of sneaking into the van Dam's Sabre Springs house on Feb. 2 and abducting Danielle, then killing her and dumping her body off rural Dehesa Road near El Cajon. Today was the 15th day of testimony in the case and the 17th overall day of court activity since the trial began on June 4. Judge William Mudd told jurors before the start of a noon lunch break that an additional prosecution witness had not been able to develop his or her testimony due to the speed with which the trial began and that prosecutors might call that witness "if and when that witness becomes relevant." Dog evidenceLawyers spent much of Tuesday morning revisiting the testimony of a dog handler who said his dog "alerted" to the possible scent of a cadaver on Westerfield's motor home in a police impound yard on Feb. 6.Canine handler Jim Frazee initially testified on Wednesday, June 26. Testimony didn't resume until today because jurors toured the motor home Wednesday afternoon and lawyers for both sides met with the judge to discuss witnesses and related legal issues on Thursday and Monday. There is usually no court activity on Fridays. Though his dog, Cielo, sat down, looked at him and barked after sniffing a storage compartment, Frazee admitted he wasn't sure the dog had had a valid reaction until he learned on Feb. 22 that Westerfield had been arrested and a blood stain had been found in the vehicle. The dog didn't give an "alert" after it was allowed to sniff a shovel and lawn chair stored in the compartment and failed to react after a second trip around the motor home, Frazee said. "'I didn' t know what to make of what Cielo did and left the scene wondering,'" Frazee said, reading from a Feb. 22 e-mail he had sent to friends about the incident. Both Cielo and Frazee's other search-and-rescue dog, Hopi, had failed to react during a previous inspection of the motor home at its storage area on Feb. 4. A defense attorney for Westerfield asked Frazee if he knew he had the nickname "180-Frank." "You have that because when you and your dog search in one direction, everyone goes in the other direction," Robert Boyce said. "I've never heard that," Frazee replied. Another dog handler, Rosemary Redditt, testified Tuesday morning that she saw Cielo's behavior at the motor home on Feb. 6 and had no question that the dog had actually given an alert. Other developmentsAnimal DNA analyst Joy Halverson testified that dog hairs found on Westerfield's laundry and in his motor home could have come from the van Dam family dog, Layla.Westerfield's lead defense attorney, Steven Feldman, questioned Halverson's credentials and methods, noting that her interpretation of the DNA evidence changed between her first report, a follow-up report and a presentation in the courtroom. There won't be any court activity on Thursday, due to the Independence Day holiday, or on Friday. Mudd told jurors he might have to change his rule against court activity on Fridays and hold a session on Friday, July 12. Mudd has said he plans to take July 15-19 off for his wedding anniversary.
|
This whole pj thing is weird now...were the blood cuff ones on the floor from the night before??
There were a pair of jeans, purple/blue shirt, underwear and those pj's....where was the outfit she had on that day?
It has been speculated that Damon was the perp for whatever reason. He certainly had the opportunity, 4 hours alone. IMO, Brenda may suspect but she wasn't involved.
Is it possible that the ones BvD was holding were in fact Danielle's, and that she was taken out of the house already nude?
Possibly could have been.
Wondering why the perp didn't take the blankets with when he scooped her up?
Restrain her...keep her from awakening from the sudden cold (3 in the morning)...keep DNA from possibly falling onto the bed, etc....oh, yeah...we have unidentifable DNA on the blanket..DW excluded.
Who in the world could have been in her room, touched her desk and not be on the parents list of knowns??
I completely agree. It seems like they focused on him and then ignored any evidence that would not point to him, and tried to make a big deal out of stuff that is completely innocuous, like bleach on a shopping list and a garden hose left out on the lawn.
I know lots of people on this board probably disagree with me, and that's okay, so please don't flame.
Didn't someone yesterday testify that the MH was sometimes left out in front of DW's house for several days before or after a trip? If this is so, I find it completely reasonable that the neighbor kids had gone inside to check it out (you know how kids are), and that would explain the handprint, the hair, and the blood (kids always seem to have little cuts and scrapes).
The prosecution didn't make it clear on how he got her out of the house, did he take her to his house and kill her, did he drive around with her, did he have her body in the MH when he went to get his wallet??? I have alot of questions.
I have alot of those same questions. It seems to me that when a murder is committed, it's pretty hard to hide evidence thereof. Things get bloody, little clues get left everywhere. The presence of a few hairs from the family dog is not something I find particularly persuasive. He could have picked up the hairs from his own driveway (hairs blow around, you know?) and tracked them all over his house, and the MH. It isn't as if the prosecution introduced evidence of a big ol' hair ball, or something!
Although that would have been amusing...HAIR BALL INCOMING!
I pinged you to another thread...sw
OK. NO problem. You have stated this. You are an ill-informed casual watcher, who mostly is going by the testimony of the person that was drinking,doing drugs while her child was in danger, and has repeatedly lied to the press, the police, and in court. No wonder you believe what you do!
I believe that has been brought up and discussed as one of the myriads of possibilities. The obvious response to your well described idea is this:
Then why is there absolutely no evidence of DW ever having been in the VD house?
So, as I said before, since you are so obviously smarter than anyone else on this planet, if you are arrested and have to go to court, make sure you don't hire a lawyer.
Your lawyer gets paid whether he wins or loses.
If you feel that way, you must not have any faith in a lawyer's abilities in court.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
