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To: Defiant
It's easy, really. Here's how:

Are you familiar with the phrase "lies, damned lies and statistics"? You can prove anything you want, especially if you set up a few "straw men" in the process. A few examples:

To be nice, say it's 1 in 3, even though we all know it's the kind of thing he would do maybe once every 500 visits.

So, even though people who know him and have travelled with him have testified that he would leave the doors of the motorhome unlocked (security system off, of course) while he had the motorhome near his place, in order to load it up, clean it, etc, you think (or rather, would like us to believe) that he would only do such a thing "maybe once every 500 visits".

By the way, I LOVE that phrase "we all know". It's just like Det. Parga saying (on the stand) "Well, everybody knows that you don't leave your hose out on the lawn!" But I digress.

The chance that the Van Dams tracked that many dog hairs from their cookie visit into the Westerfield house is pretty small

Really? Are you at all aware of how much short-haired dogs shed - especially dogs that are, in their owners' own words, "neglected"? So you've got 3 people from a dog-owning family, 2 of which are kids (who wrestle with dogs far more than an adult would) - and you still think there wouldn't be any transference into DW's house? That the probability "in the real world" would be "in the thousands"? In the "real world", people who own short-haired dogs/cats take their pets with them (unless they brush off their clothing) everywhere they go.

Just to make sure you understand this concept, think of it this way: People don't wear their shoes in their own homes (generally). If they have pets, hairs stick to their socks, a situation made worse by static electricity. If they enter another person's home, and politely remove their shoes, they're going to leave pet hair on the other person's carpet. Once it's in the house, that hair can blow wherever it wants, thanks to forced air heating. This works with fibres as well, except that, in this "real world" case, the fibres will stick to the homeowner's socks, and be transferred into his laundry.

And, we haven't even gotten into all the lies

I don't see how the Van Dam's testimony applies in this situation. Unless you'd like to inform us all about "all the lies" that DW told. I'll wait.

"...odd behavior..."

Subjective. Define "odd behavior". I consider the fact that a huge majority of people would rather let the media do their thinking for them to be "odd behavior".

"...disappearing clothing..."

Which disappearing clothing? Please, go to the trial transcripts and post for us which items of clothing are missing.

Now, here's a 10-point question for you: What is the probability of a drunk, sweaty man entering another person's house, being in the home for approximately one hour (open door discovered at 1:45 am, open door discovered at 3:00 am), and not leaving a trace of DNA, fibre or fingerprints?

Thanks for playing, Lestrade.
77 posted on 07/15/2002 12:20:52 PM PDT by NatureGirl
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To: NatureGirl
Great post Naturegirl!
79 posted on 07/15/2002 12:26:11 PM PDT by Rheo
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