Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Westerfield Defense Begins Presenting Its Case: (Dusek stumbles to the finish line) July 3, 2002
KFMB ^ | July 3, 2002 | KFMB

Posted on 07/03/2002 6:41:25 AM PDT by FresnoDA

WAS IT ENOUGH???

alt

Westerfield Defense Begins Presenting Its Case

Defendants Neighbors Testify On RV And Children

 

POSTED: 12:06 p.m. PDT July 2, 2002Photo
UPDATED: 6:43 p.m. PDT July 2, 2002
SAN DIEGO -- The defense in the David Westerfield murder trial began presenting its case Tuesday. The defendant's neighbors testified Westerfield did not follow his typical routine with his motorhome the weekend 7-year-old Danielle van Dam disappeared.

Janet Roehr, who lives across the street from Westerfield in Sabre Springs, said Westerfield typically left the 35-foot motorhome at his house overnight before leaving for a trip.

He usually unloaded and cleaned it at home following a trip, she said, and normally had someone help him.

Roehr said she only saw the 1997 Southwind for a few minutes the afternoon after the girl was discovered to be missing from the neighborhood. She didn't see it again.

Her husband, Mark, testified he did not see the motorhome the day before.

The testimony likely did not help the defense case, which began directly after the midday lunch break. Three witnesses took the stand in the morning before the prosecution rested.

Janet Roehr said she saw the youngest child of Brenda and Damon van Dam chase a ball across the street just two weeks ago.

"Did you see the parents anywhere?" defense attorney Robert Boyce asked.

"No, I didn't," Roehr answered. She said that she had to leave her house and help the boy back across the street.

The van Dams testified earlier in the trial that they kept their children under tight rein, able to play alone along the sidewalk near their house but never across the street.

The defense has portrayed Sabre Springs as a family neighborhood filled with children.

Under cross-examination by Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek, both Roehrs said they never saw young children in the defendant's motorhome.

Westerfield, a 50-year-old self-employed design engineer, could be sentenced to death if convicted of kidnapping and murdering the second-grader, who lived down the street from his home.

He also faces misdemeanor possession of child pornography charges.

Westerfield's next-door neighbor, Paul Hung, testified that he saw the defendant's motorhome parked near Westerfield's home about 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, the day Danielle turned up missing.

"I saw the motorhome parked on the side (of the house)," Hung said. "No, I didn't see David that morning."

Hung testified that a half-hour later, the motorhome was gone.

That night, Westerfield was not around as searchers combed the area around the van Dam home, Hung testified.

Detective Johnny Keene was recalled to the stand and told Dusek that Westerfield was questioned the morning of Feb. 4 and again that afternoon and night.

In between, the defendant was free to do what he wanted, Keene testified.

Defense attorneys have alleged that Westerfield -- even though he wasn't under arrest -- couldn't leave and hadn't eaten when he spoke to authorities.

The final prosecution witness, Dr. Joy Halverson, of Quest-Gen Forensics in Davis, testified that the mitochondrial DNA found in four of five hair samples could have come from Layla, the van Dam family's dog.

Halverson said she found a complete match in two samples. She also said she found nothing to exclude the canine as a source for the hair.

Two samples with the full match came from Westerfield's motorhome, according to a chart prepared by the prosecution. One was in the hallway carpet, the other on a bathmat.

The evidence gave the prosecution another link between Westerfield and the slain youngster, who was found dead east of El Cajon on Feb. 27.

Last week, another DNA expert, Holly Ernst of UC Davis, said she was unable to get results from the samples that she could reproduce.

Halverson, though, said Layla's DNA sequence was found in 23 of 267 dogs in her database, or one in nearly 12.

Those numbers, though, are where she ran into trouble in cross-examination by defense attorney Steven Feldman.

Halverson admitted a mathematical error when she narrowed the field in her database from 358 dogs to 267. She said she filed an amended report. The chart shown to jurors gave a third set of numbers.

"Is it good science to make a mathematical error three times in the same data set?" Feldman asked.

Halverson called it human error.

Earlier, a volunteer dog handler testified that he sent an e-mail saying he "was bursting with pride" on the day Westerfield was arrested in connection with Danielle's disappearance.

Jim Frazee, who volunteers with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, sent the e-mail to three friends on Feb. 22 -- 16 days after his dogs examined Westerfield's motorhome at an impound lot on Aero Drive.

Frazee testified last week that one of the dogs, Cielo, gave an alert signal at the door to an exterior storage compartment on the passenger side of the vehicle while searching for the child's remains.

Under cross-examination by Boyce today, Frazee said he did not mention the alert in a report he filed because police investigators asked for the results to remain confidential.  Jim Frazee

"On Feb. 6, you don't recall telling anyone what the dog found?" Boyce asked.

"I don't recall what I told them," Frazee said.

The defense concentrated on the fact that, with no other report filed, the only evidence of Cielo's alert came from the e-mail after the defendant's arrest.

Boyce quoted Frazee's e-mail, which he said stated: "I wasn't sure, but I thought Cielo was giving his cadaver alert. I thought he may have been doing this just to please me. Today, however, came word of the suspect's arrest and that they found blood in the motorhome."

Frazee said the arrest raised his confidence in Cielo's finding.

Frazee's supervisor, reserve sheriff's Lt. Rosemary Redditt, said she watched Cielo's search of the outside of the motorhome and had no trouble recognizing the dog's alert at the storage door.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: 180frank; vandam; westerfield
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 561-580581-600601-620 ... 721-728 next last
To: shezza
The aspect of real age and consent?
581 posted on 07/03/2002 2:42:11 PM PDT by mommya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 578 | View Replies]

To: Henrietta
It is strange, isn't it, that they didn't seem to consider the DvD as a suspect at all when no one can account for his whereabouts that night

Brenda fingered DW. She didn't want PDvD to be a suspect 'cause then she'd lose the family breadwinner.

582 posted on 07/03/2002 2:42:42 PM PDT by nycgal
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 451 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Catherine Crier is yakking over all the CTV court testimony. (What does the C in CTV stand for??)
583 posted on 07/03/2002 2:42:44 PM PDT by shezza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 578 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Feldman brought up the name "Armstrong"...the judge interrupted mid-sentence.
584 posted on 07/03/2002 2:42:50 PM PDT by Helen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 578 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Doesn't know if Neil knows DW's SS#..NO.....any reason why the owner of the computer would have to use someone elses SS# on a computer...sustained.....bring ing up Armstrong.....dusek...strong objection.....approach the bench!
585 posted on 07/03/2002 2:42:53 PM PDT by Rheo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 578 | View Replies]

To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
If your argument is that since it is in his house on computers that he has paid for, that it's his no matter who's logged on at any given time, then it's not ridiculous. It's been proven to be Neal's. The porn argument has fizzled.
586 posted on 07/03/2002 2:43:22 PM PDT by Jaded
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 577 | View Replies]

To: Helen
I think Judge Mudd is getting a headache and a bit testy now!
587 posted on 07/03/2002 2:43:39 PM PDT by Rheo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 584 | View Replies]

To: Rheo
Whose Armstrong?
588 posted on 07/03/2002 2:44:36 PM PDT by mommya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 585 | View Replies]

To: Rheo
Whose Armstrong?
589 posted on 07/03/2002 2:44:36 PM PDT by mommya
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 585 | View Replies]

To: shezza
When CDs are copied to a hard drive, it will change the date of the folder to the current date that the CD is being copied. True for many of the folders on the hd.
590 posted on 07/03/2002 2:44:38 PM PDT by shezza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 583 | View Replies]

To: Rheo
Amstrong said he saw no child porno.
591 posted on 07/03/2002 2:44:39 PM PDT by John Jamieson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 585 | View Replies]

To: Rheo
They all seem to be testy!
592 posted on 07/03/2002 2:45:24 PM PDT by Helen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 587 | View Replies]

To: mommya
Armstrong is the detective who said no pre-pubescent porn
593 posted on 07/03/2002 2:45:25 PM PDT by Rheo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 588 | View Replies]

To: mommya
SDPD who testified at PH and said there was no child porn.
594 posted on 07/03/2002 2:45:33 PM PDT by Jaded
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 589 | View Replies]

To: Henrietta
I used to have a friend who was into that stuff. I loved using the term "JAPanimation," just to annoy him. (And everybody called his comics "funny books.")
595 posted on 07/03/2002 2:46:02 PM PDT by TN Republican
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 239 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Discussing CD writing software - Adaptec. Can you create a label to say anything you want it to? As you're creating a cd, there is a menu that asks you to name it. Once the CD is named, it stays that name forever.
596 posted on 07/03/2002 2:46:34 PM PDT by shezza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 590 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Could create a CD that is named Specter design and you wouldn't know if that was created by David Westerfield. Is that correct?
597 posted on 07/03/2002 2:47:09 PM PDT by shezza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 596 | View Replies]

To: Rheo
he rec'd 6 hard drives....1 HD was pieces of loose media that came from CD's/zips.....changes dates of some folders and subfolders on CD when transferred to HD.....Feldman is making up good for cross.
598 posted on 07/03/2002 2:47:11 PM PDT by Rheo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 593 | View Replies]

To: shezza
Which side is questioning the witness now?
599 posted on 07/03/2002 2:47:31 PM PDT by Green
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 596 | View Replies]

To: shezza
(I think he's trying to show that since nobody knows where those hidden disks came from and that they were not fingerprinted, the images on those disks could have come from anywhere.)
600 posted on 07/03/2002 2:47:56 PM PDT by shezza
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 597 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 561-580581-600601-620 ... 721-728 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson