Posted on 04/25/2002 9:15:24 AM PDT by FresnoDA
By J. Harry Jones
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 25, 2002
A San Diego Superior Court hearing has been scheduled for 9 a.m. today for David Westerfield, the Sabre Springs man accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.
The attorneys involved in the case are prohibited from discussing it because of a gag order, but it is possible that prosecutors will announce whether they will seek the death penalty against the self-employed engineer.
His attorneys have insisted on Westerfield's right to a speedy trial, which is scheduled to begin May 17. He is being held in County Jail without bail.
After Westerfield's arrest Feb. 22, prosecutors filed special allegations in the case, accusing him of committing murder during a kidnapping, which gives them the option of seeking his execution if convicted.
District Attorney Paul Pfingst has a protocol on reaching a decision that usually takes several months; the case is reviewed by a panel of senior prosecutors. Defense attorneys also have the option of meeting with Pfingst.
It has been just over two months since the charges against Westerfield were brought, and because of the gag order it has not been possible to determine whether the panel made a recommendation or if Westerfield's attorneys met with Pfingst.
The district attorney makes the final decision. If he chooses not to seek the death penalty, Westerfield would face a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.
Danielle's family lived two doors from Westerfield. Her parents reported her missing Feb. 2, and police quickly focused on Westerfield as the prime suspect.
Prosecutors said DNA testing proved that blood found on some of Westerfield's clothing and in his motor home was Danielle's.
Volunteer searchers found the girl's body Feb. 27 east of El Cajon in a stand of oak trees just off Dehesa Road. The cause of death has not been determined because of decomposition of the body, officials said.
BTW, how in the world could Brenda not remember if she danced with Westerfield or not?
Answer: Brenda doesn't really know if there are witnesses who can swear they saw her dancing with DW, so she says "I can't recall"...works like a charm everytime.
sw
FLAMIN Fres, Your constant attempts to bait me and others into flame wars are so pathetic.....and we see right through your pseudo apologies. You act like a teenager..irrational and argumentative. If ya don't like me dude, stop reading my posts..
Jaded: From Friar's post,
"Why did the accused, a highly intelligent man, a man who had no criminal record, other than a D.U.I., suddenly become a violent predator? " This is not unusual...for sexual predators.
"Police actually find the body days prior to making an arrest, but are unable to extract any valuable evidence from it. They are able to extract some DNA from the body, for future use. They leave the body where they found it, because they want to set this thing up correctly. First, they will arrest the neighbor, even though they have no body, in order to convince the people that he is so guilty they need no body, and to rivet the peoples’ attention to the case once again. "
That's pretty far fetched...but so is every other theory!
http://64.225.95.82/dcf/vanDam/66.html
WITH REGARD TO THE UNDERWEAR, if you want to use the following unofficial transcripts
I am going back to see why it came up in relation to search for Danielle's body. Seems he had something to do with the Danielle Recovery Center.
Also that woman friend (retired policewoman) of Brenda's was appointed to head the Danielle Recovery Center just prior to her body being found.
Just coincidences, I suppose.
Jaded: From Friar's post,
http://64.225.95.82/dcf/vanDam/66.html
MORE EXCERPTS
But Libby said the family's expenses have been limited because of numerous donations, from fliers to cremation fees. So far, the van Dams have spent $4,200 of the donations to buy banners, posters and buttons. And they are writing a $5,000 check to the Laura Recovery Center, which coordinated the search for Danielle.
After Danielle's parents realized she wasn't in her bed the morning of Feb. 2, people began donating money to cover search expenses. Libby tried to open an account at Wells Fargo on behalf of the van Dams.
But the account had to be set up by a nonprofit organization, and a family friend who attends Community Bible Church in Scripps Ranch asked the pastor if the church would sponsor the account. Even though the van Dams aren't members of his congregation, the Rev. Barry Minkow agreed. Minkow, who was convicted of securities and bank fraud in the late 1980s and served a 71/2-year prison sentence, doesn't have access to the van Dam account, church treasurer Bruce Brown said.
Brown said he is the only person who can withdraw money from the account, taking requests for checks directly from Libby, who acts on the van Dams' behalf.
OH YEAH, here he is. And he apparently is an RV SALESMAN in CALIFORNIA ! Another coincidence of no importance.
22 Q. Did you have occasion to obtain any underwear
23 from that bedroom?
24 A. Yes, I did.
25 Q. Can you describe the circumstances of that
26 collection?
27 A. Yes. I collected it and placed it in a bag and
28 labeled the bag.
p385
1 Q. Let's talk a little bit if you could. Where did
2 you collect it from?
3 A. They were in the bedroom, in the pink bedroom
4 over in the corner near the closet in the dresser.
5 Q. Why did you collect that underwear?
6 A. Well, because they were reportedly the last
7 clothes that the victim had worn.
8 Q. Can you describe the underwear for us?
9 A. They're predominantly white with some sort of a
10 pattern, Haines her way, size 8, children's underwear.
11 Q. Could you determine, for example, if they were a
12 boy's underwear or a girl's underwear?
13 A. They were a girl's underwear.
So, this means in addition to being drunk, out-of-shape, and STEALTH, DW knew which drawers were which in her dresser where he stashed the panties. All this after he undressed, raped, redressed, reundressed, dressed again and Stealthly sneaked back out? The pedophile/sexual predator line is a VERY HARD SELL.
Transcripts
1 Q. Let's talk a little bit if you could. Where did
2 you collect it from?
3 A. They were in the bedroom, in the pink bedroom
4 over in the corner near the closet in the dresser.
26 A. There were stains in the crotch area.
Posted by ~Kim4VRWC's~ to spectre On News/Activism Apr 29 12:27 PM #182 of 372 Just because you guys discussed the underwear at great length doesn't mean I did, (I didn't) or read it (I didn't). I was NOT being sarcastic. Life too busy to do that Spec.Gotta go for real now.
Maybe it wasn't clear enough for you, but what i meant was...I didn't read what YOU GUYS wrote about it...
Jaded, when spec and MizS wrote the following: Posted by MizSterious to ~Kim4VRWC's~ On News/Activism Apr 29 12:30 PM #183 of 372 "where does it say there was a heavy discharge?" With all due respect, Kim, READ THE BLEEPING TRANSCRIPTPosted by spectre and mizsterious wrote the following:
to ~Kim4VRWC's~ On News/Activism Apr 29 12:19 PM #180 of 372 Things like stained underwear being removed from a dresser drawer is serious business.
That was the first time I have EVER read it was IN the drawer....amd the discharge was Heavy.
3 commonly be a collection point for biological material. In 4 particular, on this there was a yellowish stain that was5 observed on the inside crotch area of the underwear. It
6 would be a natural area where drainage would occur from a
7 vaginal area.
Sounds like a urine stain to me...never thought otherwise before...
Copy of court transcripts. (I can give you the URL).
3 A. They were in the bedroom, in the pink bedroom 4 over in the corner near the closet in the dresser.
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