[vacrn]

I agree that it'll be a heck of a poker game. Feldman is forcing the prosecution to organize their facts fast. Given the public's outrage at the parents, the speedier the trial the better for the defense to present either reasonable doubt or to introduce third party culpability.

[FresnoDA]

Trial Date Set In Van Dam Murder Case-Online Video Available

No Change Of Venue Requested At Brief Hearing

 

POSTED: 8:36 a.m. PST March 28, 2002

UPDATED: 2:46 p.m. PST March 28, 2002

SAN DIEGO -- A San Diego man accused of murdering a little girl who lived two doors away from him and dumping her body in East County will go to trial on May 17 on charges of murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography, a judge ruled Thursday afternoon.

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	Arraignment In Van Dam Case

David Westerfield, 50, is accused of murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. At a brief hearing, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His lawyer did not ask the judge to move the trial out of San Diego, but he could do so at a later time.

Westerfield, who is being held without bail, was arrested in late March after police received the results of DNA analysis from blood stains found on Westerfield's clothing and inside his motor home. Investigators said that the tests showed the blood was Danielle's.

Brenda and Damon van Dam reported their second-grader missing from the second-floor bedroom of their Sabre Springs home the morning of Feb. 2. Her nude body was found off a rural two-lane road east of El Cajon on Feb. 27 by volunteer searchers. The San Diego County medical examiner was unable to determine the cause of death because the body was too decomposed. Police identified Westerfield after they learned that he left the neighborhood for a weekend outing that included a journey to the beach, the desert and back to the beach. During a three-day preliminary hearing earlier this month, detectives testified that Westerfield's explanation of the trip had a number of inconsistencies and he was unusually cooperative during searches of his home and vehicles.

A San Diego police fingerprint examiner testified that a fingerprint lifted from a cabinet above a bed in Westerfield's motorhome matched prints he took from the dead girl's hands. But the technician admitted to Westerfield's attorney that he could not say when the print had been made.

The child pornography charges stem from images that police found while searching the computer drives and disks from Westerfield's computers. While that charge is a misdemeanor, Assistant District Attorney Jeff Dusek said that it would support the prosecution theory that Westerfield kidnapped Danielle for sexual purposes.

The district attorney's office has not yet announced whether it will seek the death penalty if Westerfield is found guilty of murder.