Posted on 07/03/2002 3:36:43 PM PDT by FresnoDA
David A. Westerfield, 50, is charged with kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography. Prosecutors have said the 80 or so images of child pornography taken from Westerfield's home indicate sexual interest in children.Defense attorneys are trying to show that the defendant is not responsible for the pornographic images -- including those of young children -- found on his computer equipment.
David A. Westerfield, a 50-year-old self-employed design engineer, is on trial for the kidnapping and murder of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.
Lawson told jurors that he examined copies of hard drives, zip disks and compact disks made by police and took numerous screen captures -- essentially photographs of what came up on the computer monitor at a given time.
Defense attorney Steven Feldman asked Lawson if there was a theme to the animations.
"A considerable number of the screen prints showed bondage -- where women were tied in ropes," Lawson said.
A screen print of an e-mail to a DNWesthotmail.com, as quoted by Lawson, said: "Thanks for joining anime.com."
Lawson also confirmed screen prints the defense entered into evidence last week, that a computer in the office of Westerfield's house was used to access pornography on Feb. 4 at 4:47 p.m., when the defendant was busy with detectives.
Feldman mentioned last week's suggestion that the clock on the computer may have been doctored.
"Did you see any evidence that that happened on any of the computers you examined?" Feldman asked.
"No, I did not," Lawson answered. He said there's usually signs when a clock has been tampered with, such as files being accessed before they were created. Nothing like that was apparent on Westerfield's computers, he said.
Tuesday, San Diego police Detective Johnny Keene testified that he collected Westerfield from his Sabre Springs home that Monday around 3:40 p.m. and took him to the Northeastern substation in Rancho Penasquitos. The defendant remained there until approximately 11:30 p.m.
Is this Ott and Keyser?
That would be so great!
A: BECAUSE OF THE BLONDE HAIR. THE REASON, THE FACT THAT WE WERE SEARCHING FOR A GIRL WITH BLONDE HAIR. AND I ALSO NOTICED THE EARRING. HER TEETH STRUCTURE LOOKED A LOT LIKE THE PHOTO. SHE HAD A GAP IN HER TEETH AND RESEMBLED THE MISSING PERSONS PHOTO.
Her two front teeth were missing, the two next to those were missing prior, and one was missing from next to the missing one. (??)
Pretty darn big gap.
28 A. THEY WERE ABLE TO GO BACK IN IN THE MORNING TO TAKE SHOWERS.
2 Q. DO YOU KNOW WHETHER OR NOT THE POLICE RELEASED
3 THEIR HOME TO THE VAN DAMS?
4 A. I DON'T KNOW EXACTLY WHEN THAT HAPPENED, BUT AT
5 SOME POINT I KNOW THAT IT DID, BUT I DON'T KNOW WHEN.
6 Q. HOW DO YOU KNOW IT HAPPENED?
7 A. THERE WAS A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS WHO WERE ABLE TO
8 GO INTO THE HOUSE TO CLEAN UP THE FINGERPRINT DUST THAT HAD BEEN
9 LEFT.
10 Q. DID YOU HEAR ANY DISCUSSION BETWEEN THE POLICE
11 OFFICERS AND DAMON VAN DAM REGARDING THE ABILITY TO GO BACK INTO
12 THE HOME?
13 A. DAMON ASKED SPECIFICALLY ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU
14 COLLECTED EVERYTHING YOU NEED AND THAT WE CAN GO BACK IN?
A. HE TOLD THE PEOPLE WHO WERE CLEANING THE HOUSE
28 "DON'T TOUCH DANIELLE'S ROOM. LEAVE IT CLOSED ANYWAYS. DON'T CLEAN IN THERE."
2 Q. THE PEOPLE HE WAS TELLING WERE WHOM, GENERAL
3 CATEGORY?
4 A. POSSIBLY NEIGHBORS, POSSIBLY A CHURCH GROUP, I'M
5 NOT SURE.
Q. DID YOU SEE WHETHER OR NOT ANY PART OF THE HOUSE
16 WAS SEALED UP?
17 A. YES.
18 Q. WHAT DID YOU SEE?
19 A. THERE WAS A BABY GATE OR DOG -- THEY USED IT FOR
20 THE DOG -- ACROSS HER DOOR AND HER DOOR WAS SHUT.
21 Q. WHOSE DOOR?
22 A. DANIELLE'S.
But then she was upstairs too if she saw this so she could have tossed it in??
This has been discussed before, and is a big possibility.
Westerfield's son was there at his dad's house at some point. A couple of days ago a neighbor testified they saw him looking at all the confusion in the neighborhood from outside his father's house.
Two things could be true. 1) the searcher who found her was correct. Her teeth were still there, but perhaps loose. 2) The searcher was wrong.
Since he was the first to find her, and he took pictures before everyone had gotten there, he could prove that he saw her teeth, or he would've realized he was mistaken. Maybe they fell out in transport because they were loose from "suffocation" or decomposition, or something. I'm not sure. How can someone mistake a gap from the missing flyers with 2 missing front teeth? Someone is wrong here. I wonder what the pictures prior to the LEO's arrival show.
I wonder if Feldman will call back fiber people to support some theories of his own.
The orange fiber on her necklace could have come from the cookie sale. Those kids were not the type to stand still. Out to the pool (could DW have had his green jacket on the back of a chair poolside?), around the living/dining/kitchen area (afghans, orange hearthside rug, orange stuffed animal in a corner?), perhaps upstairs (DW hasn't lied about stuff, Mommie Dearest has told as little truth as she thought she could get away with).
Will Feldman track down testimony about BVDs sweater? What if Danielle was badly hurt after the partiers returned home and BVD held her to help or comfort her? Wouldn't that put a lot of red fibers from a hypothetical sweater on Danielle? Those Eyelash Yarn fuzzy sweaters are a biggie in the winter around the holidays. Maybe that's the sort of red, 'wanna pet it' sweater she was wearing.....
If DW was invited for a 'private' one-on-one party out in the truck sometime during the evening, that would account for a possible transfer of blue gray fibers. Does/did BVD keep a blanket in the back seat? But I suspect he would have 'fessed up about that (or bragged?). Wonder what Denise was wearing.....
What if she was wearing an outfit that was blue/gray? She was dancing and rubbing against DW. She could have helped hold or comfort Danielle if she was hurt. I won't even speculate about how or why she could have been hurt. But that is much more plausible than Stealth Ninja Dave.
I agree with whoever said the blood in the MH must have been very old. The dogs never found it. I want to see if Feldman will have Danielle L. testify about what she did and who she hung out with in the neighborhood...
She doesn't look like a kid who was bathed too often, and in the winter, a fair-haired/fair-skinned child would have dry skin if she bathed or showered every day. A knot of hair could have held such a fiber from Wednesday to Friday.
Good catch. Wonder if Feldman will tell us about DW's gardening activities......
Would you really need an ex, when you have Diane Halfman as your very good friend?
When a person is killed, the bladder releases its contents. If she was killed in DW's house, something should have been soaked with it. He washed his bed linens, but his mattress was apparently dry.
Again, there should have been a lot of urine somewhere, no matter which scenario you choose.
So. Where is it? Not at DW's house. Not in his motorhome. Maybe in Danielle's bedroom, but they're blaming that on Layla. Dollars to donuts the carpet wasn't tested.
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