The van Dams could possibly be culpable if they contributed to the negligence of their home and the safety of their children that evening. Their lies and cover-ups are pointing to them hiding "something", and it has nothing to do with their reputations, they were well known swingers.
Oh, Luis, there are people who lose custody of their children for doing less.
We seem to have different standards. I take care of my property and family and would never leave the keys in the ignition of my car or front door. Why not just post a sign "STEAL ME".
But back to the parents of the year. They have told so many different versions of what happened that evening that it all goes to their credibility, and you can bet the farm, the defense will bring it up.
What's worse, because of their own lies, they may actually lose the case against Westerfield, if he is the perp. Feldman will work his magic, starting with "the van Dams can't even tell time looking at a clock"...
sw
Pot...kettle...black.
"You fail to see that a person is "culpable" when his car gets stolen under the circumstances you describe? That is WHY the insurance company doesn't pay. Because you were dumb and dumber leaving your keys in the ignition."
I'm not the one failing to see the obvious here. You are confusing criminal law (murder, car theft) with civil law. We're not talking about Danielle's insurance policy here sw...do try to keep up.
The fact that you may have left your keys in your car may excuse the insurance company from paying you, primarily because it's spelled out in the agreement that you signed, but it has zero bearing on the criminal law aspect of the case. Your keys in the ignition does not equal to an open invitation to steal it, anymore than the fact that your front door is unlocked an invitation to rob your house.
If you don't believe me, next time that you see a car running unattended someplace, take it.
During your trial, plead not guilty and explain to the Judge and Jury that the car's keys were in the ignition, so it's not really your fault that the car was stolen.
Send me an e-mail with an address and your inmate number so that I can send you some smokes after the trial.
"The van Dams could possibly be culpable if they contributed to the negligence of their home and the safety of their children that evening."
I know that you and the rest of the gang here really wish this to be the case, but I don't think that this will hold water in a court of law.
Sure, the van Dams may have been "entertaining" in their garage with the door closed, whether the door was locked or not is quite irrelevant to the case, a locked door does not impede someone from hearing a noise, a close door does.
Still, all in all, regardless of they may have been doing in the garage, they were home, and from all accounts that I've read, there was at least one parent home all night.
Now, if the rumors of "swinging" turn out to be true, and even if they had been doing that on that particular night, it doesn't matter in the scheme of things; while swinging is immoral, it isn't illegal and in the eyes of the law, it is no different than if they had been playing cards in the garage.
"We seem to have different standards. I take care of my property and family and would never leave the keys in the ignition of my car or front door. Why not just post a sign "STEAL ME"."
You seem to think yourself infallible, and by extension your whole family, even if you did, and someone did steal your property, they are still guilty of a crime.
"They have told so many different versions of what happened that evening that it all goes to their credibility, and you can bet the farm, the defense will bring it up. "
They're not on trial here, the only thing that matters here is what happened to Danielle...that's the case...murder. And unless the defense sets out to somehow suggest that Damon or Brenda killed Danielle (BTW, you can't just throw that out there w/out any sort of evidence to obliterate the fact that Danielle's blood was found on Westerfield's clothes, and his vehicle) there's no way that simply saying "these people were negligent that night, so the defendant is somehow less culpable of killing the child", will save Westerfield's ass.