Posted on 03/01/2002 7:36:24 AM PST by FresnoDA
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:01 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
Their emotions seem to have an on and off switch and it just doesn't ring sincere........and the story doesn't seem to have yet been fully told.
If being cynical is a crime, I'm guilty.
Danielle Murder Shocker-Was Suspect Mom's Lover'
Headline in THE GLOBE. (Along with Gary Condids motorcycle sex life pictures.)
It's called "contributory negligence", a well established legal concept where percentages of responsibility is routinely apportioned. For example, if parents have a picnic on the side of the freeway, and then leave their toddlers while they go off picking berries or making whoopy in the forest, they can't blame only the children or the driver if one of them is run over.
I for one do not condemn them. I do however question their commitment to the child.
For instance, If I were to come strolling in from a night out, among the first things I would do would be to check in on the children. Regardless of who was charged with watching them, I would check to see if all was well and the kids were sleeping. Why did no one do this until 9:30 the next morning? Was mom a little too horny to get rolling with whomever she dragged in from the bar to stop and check on the kids? Makes me wonder.
'A trial dog': Defense attorney in girl's kidnapping case is widely respected for his relentless legal tactics |
February 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."
Well, let's just say that there are parents who do "sell" their children for pornography, etc. My guess is that they are of the LIBERAL persuasion. If you have another theory, I'd love to hear it.
Apparently it was NOT in plain view since they had already searched the area once to no avail. I think he thought he had picked a pretty good hiding place. I also believe Westerfield did not anticipate such a big reaction to this crime and did not anticipate such an extensive search. Look how long they searched without finding her. I think he probably thought that if the site was ever discovered, it would be much later on when there would be only scattered bones left.
She was an unguarded lamb, and finally an observant wolf snatched her while her shepherds were off screwing ewes in the next pasture, which the Mensa IQ wolf carefully noted they did every day.
As I recall, Monica Lewinsky's mother was proud as a peacock that her daughter was carrying on an adulterous affair with IX42, and I also seem to recall that Chandra Levy's aunt didn't exactly scold her for carrying on an adulterous affair with the congressman from California.
The speculation and rumor-mongering regarding this horrific story does not reflect well onto this website, jmho...
Their daughter is dead; they may or may not have contributed in some manner. Your post seemed to suggest that they are faking their grief. I don't think this is the case.
Well, so much for Larry Flynt and his "defense" of the First Amendment </gag>
Do you leave your children for 11 hours unchecked while you smoke dope locked in your garage with strangers?
I live in San Diego, the amount and detail of the "rumors" (which the Van Dams take care to avoid, parry and NEVER DENY while they hide behind a PR firm) is ten fold over what is reported nationally.
No, the legacy is that an innocent child has been brutally murdered and you guys (the parents) will have to live with the thought that you might have been responsible for bringing the murderer into your home as a result of your chosen "lifestyle". Poor little Danielle didn't stand a chance. She's in God's loving arms now. That's the only comforting thought in this whole disgusting ordeal.
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