SAN DIEGO ---- The father of 7-year-old murder victim Danielle van Dam will be allowed to attend the remaining days of her accused murderer's trial, Judge William Mudd ruled Thursday. Posted on 07/13/2002 6:28:25 AM PDT by FresnoDA
SAN DIEGO ---- The father of 7-year-old murder victim Danielle van Dam will be allowed to attend the remaining days of her accused murderer's trial, Judge William Mudd ruled Thursday.
But he warned Damon van Dam that one more incident will result in him being banned from the courthouse.
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Two weeks ago, Judge Mudd deemed Damon van Dam a "security risk" for repeatedly staring down his daughter's accused murderer, David Westerfield, in courtroom hallways despite several warnings from sheriff's deputies and prosecutors.
Mudd then barred Damon van Dam from the third floor of the downtown San Diego courthouse where Westerfield's emotionally charged trial on charges he kidnapped and murdered Danielle is being held.
On Thursday, an attorney for the van Dam family requested that Damon van Dam be allowed back in the courtroom so he could provide emotional support to his wife, Brenda van Dam, and dispel any jury speculation that his absence meant he didn't care about the trial or that he had something to hide.
The van Dams were present at the hearing, but did not address the court.
Mudd said he believed Damon van Dam has had time to think about his actions and told him that security officials were willing to give him another chance.
"If I get one report of one incident, I will ban you from the courthouse," Mudd told van Dam.
Mudd also cautioned the couple that closing arguments in the case may push them to the limits of what they can handle. The prosecution has indicted it intends to use photos of Danielle's decomposing body while presenting its argument that Westerfield molested the second-grader before she was suffocated and her nude body dumped along a rural road.
Danielle disappeared from her second-story bedroom sometime after her father tucked her into bed on Feb. 1. The next morning she was gone. Westerfield was arrested for the crime five days before her body was discovered by search volunteers on Feb. 27.
The medical examiner has testified that her body was too badly decomposed to determine time of death or whether she was sexually assaulted.
The defense is likely to attack the van Dams' integrity and argue their lifestyle choices ---- including the van Dams' admitted drug use and previous sexual relations with other couples ---- put their children at risk. The van Dams also have two sons.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney have made it their practice to notify the judge before showing jurors graphic photographs of Danielle's body during the six-week trial so the van Dams could be asked to leave the courtroom.
Mudd said he expects the van Dams to leave if any part of the trial becomes too much for them.
"I don't think anybody is downplaying the emotion that both Mr. and Mrs. van Dam are going through," Mudd said.
Westerfield's attorney, Steven Feldman, said Westerfield did not object to Damon van Dam returning to the courtroom, but there still were security concerns. Feldman said Damon van Dam was "mad-dogging" the defense team, or shooting dirty looks at the attorneys.
Feldman said the van Dams have been "verbally attacking" potential buyers who are looking at Westerfield's Sabre Springs home, which is two doors down from their house. Westerfield signed the house over to his attorneys.
Feldman also accused Brenda van Dam of muttering a curse word at one of Westerfield's friends who testified earlier this week.
Prosecutor Jeff Dusek told Mudd that Brenda van Dam denies making any such comment and a victim witness advocate who accompanies her each day backs up her account.
Testimony in the Westerfield trial is on hold until July 22 when Mudd returns from a vacation. At Thursday's hearing, Feldman said he expects the defense will take two or three days more before resting its case. Prosecutors may then present rebuttal witnesses before closing arguments begin sometime in late July or early August.
Contact staff writer Kimberly Epler at (760) 739-6644 or kepler@nctimes.com.
7/12/02
I read on a posting the other day where Brenda had gone to be an advocate for the mother of the little black child who is missing. If Brenda's advocate is anything like Brenda is, she tells lies.
There was no objection from the prosecuter when it was said she had been harrassing potential buyers of Westerfields house.
Do you have a resource that you know this for sure? If so let me know and I shall say no more.
Because his blood was on it, too, and perhaps he didn't realize that Danielle had bled on it? Posters here keep emphasizing what a small spot it was (though there shouldn't be any spot at all), so maybe he thought the stains were all his.
The judge in the David Westerfield trial denied a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday to unseal more search-warrant documents in the case.
Superior Court Judge William Mudd said he was following the orders of the 4th District Court of Appeal, which he interpreted as permitting only some of the search warrants to be unsealed.
My hat's off to you.
This is from DVD's testimony on 6/5:
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A: WHEN HE HAD THAT SAND RAIL, I BELIEVE HE HAD A BAJA-TYPE BUG WHICH IS A VOLKSWAGEN WITH THE ENGINE EXPOSED AND, YOU KNOW, ENGINE EXPOSED AND EXHAUST COMES OUT THE BACK. AND IT WAS BLUE AND HAD THE CUT-OFF FENDERS. AND I THINK HE HAD AN OLDER PORSCHE CARRERA I THINK IT WAS. AND HE HAD A WINNEBAGO, BIG CAMPER WITH A TRAILER.
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DVD's memory of 4yrs ago is much better than recent events?
What in my post #124 was conspiratorial, Kim? I mentioned nothing about a conspiracy. One doesn't have to conspire to perform an incomplete investigation.
As far as "answers" go, I think it has been pretty well established in court, that the reasons given for getting a search warrant for DW, were (shall we say) heavily embellished. To that subject, I believe we have "answers".
Regarding your post, you haven't limited your post to proven fact. Who are you trying to kid? There is considerable speculation in your post. JMO, Kim, but I think you remove and edit thoughts, theories and speculation, such as those I just posed to you, simply because they don't fit your agenda. Again, JMO
Any clue WHY the secrecy ?
During a brief hearing Friday, Judge William Mudd told Guylyn Cummins, an attorney representing The San Diego Union-Tribune and other news media, that his reading of a 4th District Court of Appeal opinion -- ordering the release of certain documents -- didn't require turning over anything else.
Westerfield wasn't at the hearing.
Affidavits for five other search warrants were released Thursday. In one, Westerfield is quoted as saying the desert would be a "great place to dump a body" while showing police where he camped the weekend Danielle van Dam disappeared.
Later that day, when a detective said it would be nice to know where 7-year-old Danielle van Dam's body was, Westerfield told him to be patient and police "will get the information they need," the affidavit states.
When asked when that would be, Westerfield said it would be sooner than they think, according to the affidavit.
The affidavits were originally sealed at the request of police in early February and remained out of public scrutiny when defense attorneys filed suit.
The sworn statements were made available at the start of an 11-day break in Westerfield's trial. He is charged with kidnapping and murdering Danielle van Dam, who was reported missing from her Sabre Spring home Feb. 2.
Her body was found dumped along an rural road east of El Cajon Feb. 27.
In a telephone conversation with Superior Court Judge Cynthia Bashant, Detective Randy Alldredge said that when Westerfield was first contacted by police on Feb. 4, he mentioned an upcoming father-daughter dance Danielle was going to attend with her father, Damon.
He said he learned that from Brenda van Dam when they spoke at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse the night before the girl was discovered missing.
But Brenda van Dam did not tell police she talked to Westerfield about her daughter or a father-daughter dance, according to the detective. Alldredge said Brenda van Dam was later asked to confirm that she had not mentioned the dance, according to the affidavit.
"According to (Brenda) van Dam, the only persons who are aware of the dance are the immediate family members and one neighbor next door, not Westerfield," the affidavit quotes Alldredge as saying.
"Only Danielle van Dam could have told him about the daughter-father dance and only after she had been abducted," the affidavit stated.
That Feb. 4 telephone conversation helped support the first search of Westerfield's home, which occurred Feb. 5.
"SDPD officers are currently watching the (Westerfield) residence and motor home," Alldredge wrote. "I believe evidence will be destroyed if the warrant is not served tonight."
Detectives also wrote that Westerfield "matches FBI profiles regarding a possible suspect of an abduction" and that several strands of blond hair were found on the floor of his Toyota 4Runner.
Puh-leeze! If he KILLED her while wearing that jacket (or the jacket was somewhere blood could have splattered onto it) and then noticed there was BLOOD on it, wouldn't such a careful killer simply ASSUME it was HER blood or at the very least a combination of his and hers? Remember, this is a guy who the prosecution claims made gargantuan efforts to eliminate every bit of trace evidence he could -- I can't imagine why he would think it was his blood and HIS ONLY if there were ANY POSSIBLE way her blood could have gotten on it during the commission of a murder. If, on the other hand, Danielle DID get those few drops on it during the Girl-Scout cookie session or while playing in the motor home unbeknownst to him, Westerfield would have NO REASON to suspect it was anyone's blood other than his own (or perhaps an animal's if the guy ever went hunting or fishing, forgive me for not doing research on his outdoor sporting actvities!) and would naturally have no qualms about taking it to be cleaned. Just my opinion, of course....
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