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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???

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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
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To: shezza
MOre email being accessed later in the evening at hotmail@msn.com. Can't tell from IE file list. Can tell from his screen prints.
621 posted on 07/03/2002 2:59:37 PM PDT by shezza
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To: shezza
piggeshause? The VD's have a website?
622 posted on 07/03/2002 3:00:01 PM PDT by Jrabbit
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To: shezza
appears someone ws accessing hotmail email....can't tell if clicked on links....on his screen prints he can tell.....the states stuff doesn't sound as accurate.

Nodding heads...going to break. til 3:15

623 posted on 07/03/2002 3:00:03 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: shezza
Jurors nodding off (zzzzzzzz). Good time for afternoon break. Back in session in 15 minutes.
624 posted on 07/03/2002 3:00:16 PM PDT by shezza
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To: Jaded
Remember that the VD's stories have conflicts starting with the pizza they had after Damon got home from work. (he said it was leftover from noon, Brenda said she just went and got it. Maybe it just tasted like leftover to Damon.)

THen Damon and Brenda and Denise and Barb have different stories concerning Denise/Barb's arrival at the VD house before heading to Dad's.

Maybe Danielle was gone by then.

625 posted on 07/03/2002 3:01:46 PM PDT by UCANSEE2
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To: Rheo
So maybe DW really was doing stuff on the computer later - like he said he was?
626 posted on 07/03/2002 3:01:59 PM PDT by mommya
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To: Rheo
I'm not sure I understood all that. In fact, I'm sure I did NOT understand all that! Are they intimating that the lists provided by the DA's office are misleading or incomplete or altered? Are they implying that the hard disk copies he received to evaluate were not exactly representative of what was on DW's computers? It was over my head!
627 posted on 07/03/2002 3:02:22 PM PDT by shezza
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To: Jrabbit
Thats FUNNY!
628 posted on 07/03/2002 3:03:09 PM PDT by gigi
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To: mommya
Feldma was doing his defense surprise....the prosecution put into exhibit (crossexam based on #158) a report that they did.....says can't show if links in email clicked on and such.....Feldman knows apparentely that they did not use Encase and the other program to show accurate details like the witness.....I believe he just neutered the prosecution's cross exam......or, I am way off base.
629 posted on 07/03/2002 3:03:53 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: mommya
That's why the idea of Fuhrman, et al planting evidence on OJ was so ridiculous. They would risk the Death Penalty, by joining in a conspiracy with fellow officers they met, for the first time, on the scene that night????? And they didn't even know if OJ was in the state at the time!!! Dream JURY!
630 posted on 07/03/2002 3:04:11 PM PDT by Donzerly lights
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To: shezza
I think you got the same thing I did.
631 posted on 07/03/2002 3:04:41 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: gigi
Well, you're right. Profiler is on CTV. Prior to that they had fifteen minutes of yakking Catherine Crier, then fifteen minutes of covering the Smart kidnapping.
632 posted on 07/03/2002 3:04:53 PM PDT by shezza
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To: shezza
If this is a defense witness - doesn't the defense have to turn all of its stuff over to the pros.? If the state has incomplete stuff regarding this guys stuff - isn't that bad for the defense?
633 posted on 07/03/2002 3:05:17 PM PDT by mommya
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To: Rheo
OK - I think I've got it.
634 posted on 07/03/2002 3:06:41 PM PDT by mommya
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To: mommya
The state tried to do a fancy report...but they didn't use the forensic software that the witness did so it is not accurate......correct me if I'm wrong here.
635 posted on 07/03/2002 3:06:52 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: mommya
Just when you think you got it....someone is going to tell us that I am completely wrong....prepare to be debriefed!
636 posted on 07/03/2002 3:07:41 PM PDT by Rheo
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To: Donzerly lights
In CA, if LE is found guilty of contributing false evidence, they can be sentenced to the same punishment as one found guilty of the crime to which they contributed the false evidence.

If what I think about some of the forensic evidence is true, there might be a few law enforcement people with a lot to lose on this case. We already saw a pic of a sweat-free Westerfield while the police were searching his place. Sweaty Dave was part of the circumstantial evidence submitted by the prosecution.

637 posted on 07/03/2002 3:07:44 PM PDT by Yeti
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To: mommya
I think the DA provided their own list that DID NOT show the mysterious Stealth Ninja Dave surfing on his home computer while he was at the police station being questioned because it would indicate that someone other than DW surfed porn. I'm not sure they got the screen shot documents. They're supposed to, but maybe they're trying to suppress any information that might vindicate ol SND.
638 posted on 07/03/2002 3:07:59 PM PDT by shezza
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To: dread78645
Or they just realised DW may get an acquittal and want to look like they were on that side of the fence. Just a thought ...

More than just thought. You can bet the producer saw the obvious, just like everyone else. The prosecution's case falling apart like a melting snowcone.

Quickly they grabbed another announcer (it would be to obvious to try and have the same airhead suddenly change her tune), and went on the defense.

THey don't care whether DW did it or not, they care only about ratings. When attacking DW gave them ratings, they stuck with it. Now that their dog won't bark, they got a new dog!

639 posted on 07/03/2002 3:08:29 PM PDT by UCANSEE2
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To: UCANSEE2
Now that their dog won't bark, they got a new dog!

where is Layla???

640 posted on 07/03/2002 3:11:42 PM PDT by Rheo
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