By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERFebruary 23, 2002 Fellow lawyers tend to make references to dogs when they talk about criminal defense attorney Steven Feldman. They call him a "pit bull" or "a trial dog," or they compare him to a dog with a bone. They mean these things as a compliment – for the most part. Feldman is the attorney for David Westerfield, the self-employed Sabre Springs engineer who was arrested yesterday in the disappearance of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. A former University of California Berkeley student activist, Feldman has a reputation as one of the most tenacious and talented criminal defense attorneys in San Diego. His colleagues in the legal community talk about his relentless work habits, his withering cross-examinations and his obsessive attention to detail. Although Westerfield remains something of an enigma, most San Diego lawyers say he appears to have excellent judgment when it comes to choosing legal representation. Feldman has become a familiar face on the evening news in the weeks since he was hired by Westerfield, who lives near the missing girl's family and whose house has been searched by police. The attorney has developed a regular routine of giving exasperated no-comments to the throng of reporters as he scurries to his car and slams the door. He didn't return several phone calls seeking comment for this story. "If you're in a murder trial with him, you're in a war," said San Diego prosecutor Garland Peed, who heads the district attorney's gang unit. "If you underestimate him or are unprepared, he will hand you your head on a platter." San Diego defense lawyer Kerry Steigerwalt, who has handled several high-profile murder cases, called Feldman "tireless." "No one who is a client of Steve Feldman can complain that they have a lawyer who isn't aggressive," Steigerwalt said. Feldman's confrontational style can get on his opponents' nerves. Prosecutor Richard McCue said Feldman comes across as "a noisy, aggressive guy" and "a jerk." He tends to raise objections at a rapid-fire pace and isn't willing to concede even the most minor point. "He can be annoying in the courtroom, there's no question about it," said San Diego prosecutor Gregg McClain, who heads the district attorney's economic fraud division. "There are no easy points. Every point is difficult. He's going to argue every objection to the hilt. He's going to take every witness to task." Feldman has been practicing law in San Diego for more than two decades and has handled a number of high-profile cases. In the early 1980s he earned an acquittal in the case of a man who had spent more than five years in jail awaiting trial on charges of killing a Los Angeles jeweler at a Calexico motel. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, and Feldman's work in the case earned him a public-service award from the San Diego criminal defense bar. In 1991, in another murder case, a jury acquitted Feldman's client after deliberating only 25 minutes. His former law partner, Elisabeth Semel, said Feldman has a knack for becoming a quick expert on the highly technical scientific issues at the heart of many murder cases. He is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable criminal defense attorneys in the country in the area of the science related to time of death, Semel said. Semel, who heads the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley's law school, said she once watched Feldman reduce a police officer to tears during a relentless cross-examination. "He's always, always 10 steps ahead of whomever he's examining on the witness stand," she said. A 1973 graduate of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, Feldman is married to a schoolteacher and has two children. While some prosecutors might find his personality grating, many of them also say they enjoy competing against him in court. San Diego prosecutor McClain said, "His job is to make our life difficult, and he excels at it." |
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