Judge Allows Danielle's Dad Back In Court: (Damon was banned for MAD-DOGGING Westerfield!)

North County Times-San Diego ^ | July 13, 2002 | Kimberly Epler

[FresnoDA]

Judge allows Danielle's dad back in court

KIMBERLY EPLER
Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO ---- The father of 7-year-old murder victim Danielle van Dam will be allowed to attend the remaining days of her accused murderer's trial, Judge William Mudd ruled Thursday.

But he warned Damon van Dam that one more incident will result in him being banned from the courthouse.

Two weeks ago, Judge Mudd deemed Damon van Dam a "security risk" for repeatedly staring down his daughter's accused murderer, David Westerfield, in courtroom hallways despite several warnings from sheriff's deputies and prosecutors.

Mudd then barred Damon van Dam from the third floor of the downtown San Diego courthouse where Westerfield's emotionally charged trial on charges he kidnapped and murdered Danielle is being held.

On Thursday, an attorney for the van Dam family requested that Damon van Dam be allowed back in the courtroom so he could provide emotional support to his wife, Brenda van Dam, and dispel any jury speculation that his absence meant he didn't care about the trial or that he had something to hide.

The van Dams were present at the hearing, but did not address the court.

Mudd said he believed Damon van Dam has had time to think about his actions and told him that security officials were willing to give him another chance.

"If I get one report of one incident, I will ban you from the courthouse," Mudd told van Dam.

Mudd also cautioned the couple that closing arguments in the case may push them to the limits of what they can handle. The prosecution has indicted it intends to use photos of Danielle's decomposing body while presenting its argument that Westerfield molested the second-grader before she was suffocated and her nude body dumped along a rural road.

Danielle disappeared from her second-story bedroom sometime after her father tucked her into bed on Feb. 1. The next morning she was gone. Westerfield was arrested for the crime five days before her body was discovered by search volunteers on Feb. 27.

The medical examiner has testified that her body was too badly decomposed to determine time of death or whether she was sexually assaulted.

The defense is likely to attack the van Dams' integrity and argue their lifestyle choices ---- including the van Dams' admitted drug use and previous sexual relations with other couples ---- put their children at risk. The van Dams also have two sons.

Prosecutors and the defense attorney have made it their practice to notify the judge before showing jurors graphic photographs of Danielle's body during the six-week trial so the van Dams could be asked to leave the courtroom.

Mudd said he expects the van Dams to leave if any part of the trial becomes too much for them.

"I don't think anybody is downplaying the emotion that both Mr. and Mrs. van Dam are going through," Mudd said.

Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman, said Westerfield did not object to Damon van Dam returning to the courtroom, but there still were security concerns. Feldman said Damon van Dam was "mad-dogging" the defense team, or shooting dirty looks at the attorneys.

Feldman said the van Dams have been "verbally attacking" potential buyers who are looking at Westerfield's Sabre Springs home, which is two doors down from their house. Westerfield signed the house over to his attorneys.

Feldman also accused Brenda van Dam of muttering a curse word at one of Westerfield's friends who testified earlier this week.

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek told Mudd that Brenda van Dam denies making any such comment and a victim witness advocate who accompanies her each day backs up her account.

Testimony in the Westerfield trial is on hold until July 22 when Mudd returns from a vacation. At Thursday's hearing, Feldman said he expects the defense will take two or three days more before resting its case. Prosecutors may then present rebuttal witnesses before closing arguments begin sometime in late July or early August.

 

Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.

7/12/02

[Freedom2specul8]

Dems you're back! Sounds like you made use of your time in the most bestest way! Good to see your smiling face again.

"I am still wondering how this leaker knew some of the "inside information", that the VD's had not yet revealed to LE. IMO, the leaker was somehow "close" to this close knit group of friends, tho not necessarily "part" of the group. "

Valid points and I know exactly what you mean...theirjustdue rightly suggested it was a higher up leader or officer...but they do have transcribers...someone has to type out reports..and it's not the officers themselves--could have been a grandmother with grandkids who disapproves of the van dam lifestyle. Whoever it was had a bias against the vandams, Rick Roberts is the root cause of us not knowing the answers to some of the questions. If he was more ethical, he would have been more balanced, and reserved, but that doesn't create healthy bonus checks and new advertising accounts.

Ballard...that doesn't sound like a common name, what do you think? It makes sense that they could be related..

You wrote "If she was going to be questioned, don't ya think she would have called someone she knew in LE, in order to "know how to act" "
Maybe their "legal staff advisor" would? Or do you mean informally, like a possible brother...so she'll protect the vd's?

[JudyB1938]

You and Lawgirl will both be in my prayers for your upcoming exams.

[Freedom2specul8]

The best of luck to ya then..but to me, it's a major feat to do what you've done. That's awesome..

[Freedom2specul8]

Scratch the legal staff advisor comment, I was thinking the vd's friend whats her face who use to work on SDPD..sorry

[pyx]

Many thread-readers seem to be concerned about not knowing the proceedures for court and the law as it is written for their state. It is to you, that I write this recommendation for your consideration.

Your legislators, federal, state and municipal can and do most assuredly rely on one thing;

YOUR IGNORANCE

Your ignorance of what it is they do or say in public meetings as your representitive. They calculate that you are far too busy to expend the time to keep track of what they do. They know that few can expend the time and expense of digging into what laws they pass and resolutions made in public meetings by having to go to city hall or to the State capitol.

Some of your representitives may actually be seriously attempting to represent your interests. However, the reality of it is that your representitive is far more likely to be looking after HIS or HER OWN INTERESTS.

All over America, whether its municipal, state or federal, it seems its always the same people and/or their family members running for public office. Representitive offices are handed down to children. Its almost as though lineage is a requirement for public office. If this continues, America could very well end up with a PEERAGE. The very thing for which America's Founding Fathers risked their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to fight against.

One of the reasons for the myasthma America now finds itself in is IGNORANCE.

We don't know. We don't know what our elected representitives are doing. We don't know what laws they are passing or what laws are already on the books. We don't know the minutes of their meetings. We invest far too much trust in people who have time and again proven themselves to be completely untrustworthy.

There is a solution in my opinion, and its a reasonable and cost-effective one. On a municipal level, it would be suitable for all towns and cities with populations over 10,000 people.

That solution is for you to work diligently to pass a state and municiple law to make it become punishable by law (a felony) if ALL state and municipal laws and public meeting minutes are not published online in plain ASCII text or STANDARD HTML format in a timely fashon on web servers which are not permitted to log any visitor or viewer information.

The reason for the anonymity is to protect the citizen's rights. Being tracked by server logging is something one might expect in communist China. Server logging of visitors wishing to read laws and public meetings minutes for your state or municipality is not acceptable in America. In this day and age, in most reasonably sized municipalties and likely in all State legislatures all laws and public meeting minutes are already electronically transcribed.

This recommendation attempts to transcend any and all political boundaries of people who wish to reside in representitive democracy. Our Constitution guarantees us a Republican form of government. We should ensure that same guarantee is available to our children, our grandchildren and future generations.

Being able to access what your municipal and state legislators do in legislative chambers or in public meetings will ensure that their actions are accountable to any member of the public who wishes to inform him or herself.

This may be done already in your municipality and all laws, procedures and minutes of public meetings are electronically transcribed. If they are not, lobby to ensure they are and are kept in a STANDARDIZED format such as plain ASCII or STANDARD HTML which does not require ANY third party encoding or decoding. Above all else, ensure the copyright on published information ensures and protects your freedom to do with the information what you wish.

So I would ask any reader if it does not exist already, lobby your state and municipal bodies to pass a law that ensures that any and all existing and future laws and public meeting be made available in pure ASCII text or in STANDARD HTML format online and that public notification be made to announce the URL of that unrestricted location.

If your state or municipal laws, procedures and public meeting minutes are already online in a STANDARDIZED format such as pure ASCII or STANDARD HTML, you should inform yourself of where they are and make sure others in your community know as well.

Don't let your legislators keep you ignorant ! Demand accountability ! Insist on LAWS, MINUTES, AND PROCEEDURES ONLINE.

OK... now that I've got that off my chest, I feel better.

[Spunky]

Rheo state's: "Trials would never end if each side could keep bringing in more witnesses or experts.The prosecution had it's chance to call witnesses or experts....now they only get to crossexam the defense witnesses.

There is such a thing as REBUTTAL before the end of the trial. Case inpoint below.

Microsoft trial: Rebuttal witnesses named; AOL exec to be grilled

by Jay Greene Seattle Times technology reporter When the Microsoft trial resumes after a long recess, it will feel a lot like old times. The software giant and the federal government yesterday submitted their lists of three witnesses each to rebut testimony by the other side. Of the six witnesses to be called, four have already testified during the trial, which began in October and is expected to resume this month after a long recess.

[Freedom2specul8]

It would be a 1 in a what chance of them just "catching" a guy who has child porn and danielles blood, print, fiber, hair, dog hairs. (everybody's dad, uncle and brother has porn) How many other neighbors houses was she in? Will feldman provide future witnesses that can prove that it was common for her to bleed drops of blood randomly in neighbors houses, auto's, suvs and motorhomes etc? If not, he darn well should have done that if he's going to say it was cuz she was in his house or MH. Will her hair be in their masterbedrooms too? How much of layla's hair is in neighborhood houses or vehices? What would tape lifts reveal?

We had a guy on the radio this morning that said if a defendant told his defense atty he's innocent or not guilty of these charges...the attorney will act accordingly.. For example, If he told feldman that he did it, following the rules, Feldman will NOT stand in front of the jury and say DW did NOT do it. I can't remember whether Feldman said to the jury that his client is innocent during opening statements?

We have a guy on trial for contacting women via the internet..he was into bondage. He'd use them, kill them and then stuff their bodies, including a child and her mom into 55 gallon drums and 'stored them' in his pond and an area storage business. (Ucansee, was it a pond or lake? I think it was the pond where his trailor was?) He's pretty much toast. There are numerous cases where one thinks "I hope he's not guilty" or "he can't be guilty" or "he has to be guilty". This case is of course not like the serial killer who was into bondage..the evidence is smaller in size and because of publicity and internet sleuths..we have questions and it's not easy to say "he's gotta be guilty or he's gotta be innocent". (thank God they found Danielle's body because it did reveal tons of information)

To be honest about the people on these threads..not society in general (thinking about what mizs just wrote).....the constant posting about sex swaps, the encyclopedia posts about swinging etc., and all the speculations about what could have happened between dvd and danielle leaves others with the same sense of disbelief as some of you have. You obviously know that..but I would like more honesty amongst those few, (3-4) who consider themselves to be the "Know =it= alls, and everyone else knows nothing and must be liberals (clintonese tactics as I've said a 100 times--it's a big injustice in and of itself)". Talk about being completely closed minded. I understand the lack of complete faith in the justice system (Randy Weaver and waco come to mind as partial causes of the complete lack of faith and trust) I do NOT understand the inability to allow for different opinions and interpretations during discussion.

So, we have on these threads questions, the majority of posters have tolerance for different interpretations and we have different conclusions, interpretations and tactics. That's normal, so i don't see a problem. We're not all braindead..the threads are evidence of CREATING and thinking..minus the garbage in and garbage out crappola.

[Freedom2specul8]

"snip

that any and all existing and future laws and public meeting be made available in pure ASCII text or in STANDARD HTML format online and that public notification be made to announce the URL of that unrestricted location

Snip

That solution is for you to work diligently to pass a state and municiple law to make it become punishable by law (a felony) if ALL state and municipal laws and public meeting minutes are not published online in plain ASCII text or STANDARD HTML format in a timely fashon on web servers which are not permitted to log any visitor or viewer information.

Snip

If your state or municipal laws, procedures and public meeting minutes are already online in a STANDARDIZED format such as pure ASCII or STANDARD HTML, you should inform yourself of where they are and make sure others in your community know as well.

Bravo and well said.

[Freedom2specul8]

It didn't dawn on me that someone might think there would not be actual rebuttals.Great point you brought that up!! I noticed 2 of the 6 had not testified before and that's a fed court case.

[Freedom2specul8]

Thanks to "cookiedough
" from the elizabeth smart threads..

click link for full article..
http://www.ndaa.org/publications/newsletters/apri_update_vol_12_no_10_1999.html

At the Hands of a Stranger: Child Abduction

by Susan S. Kreston, Senior Attorney
National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse
Child Abduction/Sexual Exploitation Unit

Every year there are estimated to be over 100,000 attempted abductions of children by non-family members in the United States.1 The National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children indicates the number of successful attempts by non-family members to be between 3,200 and 4,600.2 Some of these children are victims of an acquaintance abduction while others fall prey to stranger abduction. Acquaintance abductions are perpetrated by individuals known to the child (friends, neighbors, etc.) but where the abductor has no legal relationship to the child. These abductions involve the coerced and/or unauthorized taking of a child into a building or vehicle, or for a distance of more than 20 feet; the detention of a child for more than one hour; or the luring of a child for purposes of committing another crime.3 Many short term abductions that take place in the course of a sexual assault are counted in this group. It is believed that this number is an underestimation, as many sexual assaults are not reported to law enforcement, thereby lowering the number of reported kidnappings attendant to the assault.4

snip

The most common device used in attempted kidnappings was inviting a child to get into a car.11 Other lures that are commonly used involve requests for assistance, invitations to see pets or requests to help look for them, claiming that an emergency has happened, name recognition of the victim, an authority figure (such as a police officer or firefighter) telling the child to accompany him/her, and computer solicitation for meetings.12

snip
1. Assess the case and take all missing children reports seriously. Speed is of the essence. Remember the victim has a three hour life expectancy in a stranger abduction case, and that there is typically a two hour delay before the police are informed that the child is missing. Use the child's age, zone of safety (how far form home is normal and appropriate) for his or her developmental age, circumstances surrounding the child's disappearance, and the child's history to help determine whether this is a kidnapping or runaway situation. The following questions may help in making this assessment:

Has the child ever run away or threatened to run away from home before?

Are any of the child's clothes or favorite possessions missing?

Is money missing?

Has the child recently been depressed or withdrawn?

Have the child's grades in school recently fallen?

Are there unhappy circumstances at home?

Does the child have new friends of whom the parent(s) don't approve?

If the answers are generally negative, proceed under the assumption it is a kidnapping.

It should be stressed that while the extreme youth of a child should always act as an accelerant to action, even teenagers are kidnapped. Age of the child is not determinant of the type of event that has occurred.

SNIP

[Freedom2specul8]

http://www.childalert.org/statistics.htm

Statistics

Missing Children Reports Made	Percent
Immediately	19%
Within 1 Hour	25%
Within 2 Hours	40%
Within 4.5 Hours	68%
Within 24 Hours	86%
More than 24 Hours	99%

When Abducted Children Were KILLED	Percent
Within 1 Hour	44%
Within 3 Hours	74%
Within 7 Days	91%
Within 30 Days	100%

It has been documented that 22 percent of the victims were still alive at the time that they were reported missing but even more alarming is that 42 percent had already been killed BEFORE they were even reported missing.

These statistics clearly substantiate the need for change and how important the Abduction Central Alert (ACA) software program is in assisting the police and 911.

[alexandria]

No it wasn't an error. Several of us listened to it when it came out, the same day as a matter of fact.
I knew I wasn't hearing things. I was going from the tape of the 911 call I heard not a transcript.
Also, how has the 911 tape been altered? It definately has been because when a few weeks ago someone asked, "did you hear BVD say had instead of has green eyes..." I went back and listened to the tape three times and it did sound like she said "had". And the 60 lbs. was definately not there.

[Henrietta]

Will feldman provide future witnesses that can prove that it was common for her to bleed drops of blood randomly in neighbors houses, auto's, suvs and motorhomes etc?

Kim, it's really frustrating that you keep posting stuff that has not been borne out by the evidence presented. For example, there was no blood found in DW's SUV or house. One tiny drop of Danielle's DNA-laden material of unknown provenance (could have been blood, they don't know for sure) was found on DW's jacket. One tiny (1/4") drop of blood was found in DW's MH.

[Henrietta]

Thanks Spunky. That's helpful!

[Politicalmom]

Not to mention, it has already been testified that she had frequent nose bleeds.

[mommya]

Kim - those are great finds and wonderful posts. I was wondering if there were any kind of statistics regarding this very issue - interval of time before child reported missing - and you have saved me some searching - thanks.

I want you to know that I will now think differently should I find myself in a similar situation - with a missing child (heaven forbid) - seeing the stats for how long an abducted child is usually alive is truly frightening.

However....It does support my original belief - that most people would take longer to report her missing. I know it's not wise - but it is normal.

"there is typically a two hour delay before the police are informed that the child is missing."

Thanks again for posting that valuable information.

[Rheo]

Thanks Spunky

The original argument was that the prosecution can't bring in new witnesses to testify to something new..that wasn't presented in their case or the defenses....without re-opening their case.

The rebuttal witnesses have to testify to something that has already been presented, correct?...or am I still writing this incorrectly from what I mean to say?

[Freedom2specul8]

If feldman could find other neighbors who might have danielle's blood in ther homes, cars, suv, mh etc, it will back up his case..(not friends that she regularly visited of course) Not everyone has a MH but I would venture to guess that everyone in that neighborhood has a vehicle...and I want to know if feldman questioned neighbors and checked for random layla hairs, Danielle hairs and/or blood, DNA etc.. using the same standard tape lift test with similar if not the same criminalists..

[Freedom2specul8]

Mommya, I'm glad they helped you..it was quite a shock for me to see that parents wait THAT LONG!! I can see 30-45 minutes MAYBE..I guess I could be considered over-protective at times..but gee whiz... I've always lived in a nice neighborhood...but that doesn't mean we can let our guards down.

[JudyB1938]

The problem with reporting older children is that the police often require a 24-hour waiting period before they will take action. In the meantime, if it's an abduction, that could be too late.