Barb Easton next witness in the Van Dam Murder Case!!

Union Trib ^ | June 11, 2002 | Kristen Green

[Jaded]

Really? Judge Mudd said he was guilty? Mudd didn't do the PH, it was Ronald Domnitz.

[pinz-n-needlez]

I agree that the parents friends have a lot to be desired, but I'm sure you can imagine that's it is probably more common than you or I would have thought.

I don't disagree with your statement. :-) Danielle's murder is awful.

In the spirit of responding to this case as it unfolds, as an at-home juror, I can't shake the feeling that an innocent man has been set up by a group of adult brats who should know better than to do half the stuff that they admit to in court. Heaven knows what they do that they've lied about in court!

The awfulness of Danielle's death is magnified by the fact that DW stands to get the DEATH PENALTY! (ahem, excuse the scream.)

If this were a 12-20-years case, I could be more tolerant of the VD-brats. But they are giggling and playing semantics after they sicced the cops on a guy who could be dead if they're successful.

I'll eat my words if Feldman doesn't knock down the rest of the evidence as he has so far, but another death isn't the answer to the VD-brats' 'lifestyle errors.'

IMHO. (I'm not yelling at you, Kim, and thank you for the opportunity to express my thoughts at what I am seeing, listening to and reading about this case.)

[Jaded]

Apparently Garry Harvey did too. He must be...creepy. Sheesh.

[Rheo]

Do we know that they did not check the van??..how are they cleared without all things being investigated, especially as the family as the 1st suspect and dad being the last one to see her?

don't suppose their are documents or statements that LEO has put out stating what was done to clear?

[Rheo]

Another good post!

[Jaded]

No there's nothing wrong with creating sympathy for the victim. OTOH, this woman apparently has difficulty with facts and a flair for drama. What am I saying? We, here at FR, could smoke her in both the fact and drama departments. She's just a shill and a well paid one at that. There's no accountability in the media anyway.

[Jaded]

Maybe it's in Keene's notes....

[Freedom2specul8]

I protest.. there was nothing wrong with that thread!!!

[Freedom2specul8]

I give up...there was no flaming going on the new thread..this is awful.

[Dante3]

Certainly parents with children should get a list of sex offenders in their area. Do most communities have this information available?

[bvw]

Yeah, what is up, this is like those photo retouchings under Stalin, where all references to the existance of purged people was eliminated from the official records.

Although I think the pro-gun stuff was kiss up.

[bonfire]

My community does and I check the list for new updates about once a month. Yesterday I just found out my former neighbor is a felon.....his probation officer came around looking for him. My neighbor is the Leasing Manager in our towns largest car dealership. Who knew?? Pays to be extra vigilant especially with your children.

[Valpal1]

Possible explainations to be offered by the defense:

1. Kids played in the RV while mommy did the nasty with Westerfield.

The defense will never imply a relationship with Brenda, Mr. Westerfield statements to the police contradict such a thing, plus it only adds an additional revenge motive (and the 2nd most common reason men kill children is revenge against the mother) They will not go there. They will simply maintain that the physical evidence of Danielle's presence in the MH was from an unknown, unsupervised playtime.

2. (PH Docs) They don't have Danielle's unique DNA patterns. They're using mitocondrial DNA (same as Brenda's) and/or a mix of assumed mommy and daddy's. The have since performed better tests. The mitocondrial tests were done before they had a body, yet they felt they hand sufficient to arrest their suspect. The defense refused samples to do their own testing and indicated they will not argue the DNA evidence (motion to compel discovery). My take is that they will acknowledge the presence of Danielle in the MH, but attempt to explain it as having come from playing in there. I think this is why the hair cut timeline has become such an issue.

BTW, did I hear Mr. Westerfield say to the press that things were quiet in the neighborhood when he came home at 3-3:30? Yet he told police he left Dad's 10:30ish and went home to bed and stayed inside (asleep)until the following morning.

[Politicalmom]

Whichever witch was on this morning actually said "The defense admitted they probably would not be recalling the VDs, so they will be allowed in the courtroom now." Which is NOT what happened.

Please, somebody, tell me these women are NOT attorneys.... It seems like CTV is going out of its way to put stupid, ill informed, over-emotional women on, while the men at least have some common sense. Looks VERY bad for our gender, ladies.

[Valpal1]

Garry Harvey testified to the search of his home/property with dogs and helicopters. They did not ask about his computers. Seems clear that acquaintances of Westerfield were thoroughly searched.

Did they ask Rich, Kieth or Denise about searches? I've only read through June 10th and haven seen such.

Frustrating when they don't ask the questions I want asked!

[Rheo]

I haven't heard about any searches on the pizza gang and really would like to know too.

Sounds like Danielle L might be testifying today...she has been seen in the courthouse.

[theirjustdue]

"This is the same judge Mudd who said he believes the evidence indicates guilt.

Kim, you've said this on many occasions and you've been told that his use of "guilt" was in terms of "seeing enough likely guilt to take it to trial".

If he publicly states he finds the defendant guilty, he is prejudiced as a judge (to the extreme) and the case very likely gets thrown out. At the very least Feldman ask for and gets a new judge before trial begins.

[Jaded]

Ya know one of the things that troubles me is Why such intense spin all around? Why the disinformation? Why the leaks? If prosecution has such a great case why not let the evidence speak for itself?

I find this situation reminiscent of when Monica first came up, so to speak. The full Clinton entourage was parked on the WH lawn reciting platitudes about their friend Bill and the evil VRWC. The only thing that was missing was for them to hold hands and sing. The full press followed suit.... IMO, that's almost what this trial feels like. The underlying currents are too bizarre.

[Rheo]

shoot...I'm posting on the other thread.

[Valpal1]

The LEO don't usually release information about what they've done to clear others in an investigation and all the reports and documented interviews are protected by CA privacy laws and can only be released to the defense or the courts, or to the person(s) in the report or interview. They can't just publish them, espicially when there is a gag order.