2nd Bug Expert Bolsters Westerfield Defense: (Dusek Melting Down Before Juries Eyes!!)

SAN DIEGO -- The trial of David Westerfield resumed Monday with more testimony about insects, as defense lawyers tried to show that their client was not the person who dumped Danielle van Dam's body along a two-lane road in East County.

Before testimony began, Judge William Mudd warned jurors to ignore last week's murder of a young girl in nearby Orange County. Mudd said that the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion "bears no relation" to the trial of David Westerfield.

Westerfield's trial had been in recess since July 11 so the judge could take a previously scheduled vacation.

Westerfield, 50, lived two doors from Danielle, who vanished after her father put her to bed the night of Feb. 1. Searchers found the girl's nude body on Feb. 27 along a rural roadside east of San Diego.

Neal Haskell, forensic entomologist A forensic entomologist, testifying Monday for the defense, said Danielle's body could not have been dumped at the roadside before Feb. 12, according to his analysis of flies and larvae collected during an autopsy. The blow flies that were found on the body typically descend on a cadaver shortly after death, but it can take longer in cooler temperatures, entomologist Neal Haskell said. Based on his analysis of the temperatures in the area at the time, Haskell (pictured, right) put "the time of colonization" likely at Feb. 14 and no earlier than Feb. 12.

Prosecutors challenged the defense's weather data.

Haskell's testimony puts the time the body may have been dumped several days earlier than suggested by a previous defense witness, entomologist David Faulkner. The defense has seized upon the time of death, which could not be precisely determined, to suggest that the body was dumped at a time when Westerfield was under constant police surveillance.

Westerfield was put under observation soon after Danielle disappeared, according to police testimony. He was arrested on Feb. 22.

During Haskell's testimony about insects devouring Danielle's body, the girl's parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, stared at the floor as they sat in the back row of the courtroom. It is the first time that Damon van Dam has been in court since Judge William Mudd banned him from the proceedings almost a month ago as a security risk. Mudd restored his trial privileges just before going on vacation.

Lawyers for Westerfield have said they expect to offer two to three more days of testimony.

Was the defense lawyer under the same obligation to ignore and avoid investigating ?

NOPE.

By the time DW was allowed to even contact a lawyer, everyone in the neighborhood(with 1 or 2 possible exceptions) was being overwhelmed with the BIG CROWD of onlookers,gawkers, and the PRESS. Particularly the John and Ken show. They had already convicted DW on the spot.

This is my guess as to the status of things.

(1)Parents spoke to the cops, children weren't asked about the MH.

Since everyone believed the MEDIA and the COPS that DW was guilty, and this is such a HIGH PROFILE, HIGH EMOTION case, any child that could have said he was in the MH or he saw Danielle in the MH wouldn't be let NEAR ANY DEFENSE INVESTIGATOR by the parents no matter what.

Are you aware that the DEFENSE wanted to go to the VAN DAM home to do their own SEARCH, their own TESTS?

As defense, DO THEY HAVE THE RIGHT to do something like this, in the name of FAIR and EQUAL justice to defend their client? TO ensure a FAIR TRIAL?

ANSWER THAT ONE QUESTION, please.

Are you aware that the DEFENSE wanted to go to the VAN DAM home to do their own SEARCH, their own TESTS?

Did they get the oppurtuntity to state their reqeust to a judge ? Was the judge corrupt ?

I see no law restricting the defense lawyer from interviewing neighbors and using a subpoena.

Can you speculate why they didn't ? If this were you being accused would you allow your lawyer to not seek oput some kid that was in the RV or some parent that saw them ? The only reason I see that you don't is because you know the answer beforehand.

I'm speculating. My guess so far is that he will show why the process was slower in this case based on the weather conditions.

Actually all of the conditions that you infer, and Falkner considered all of them in his testimony and only changed the date at the DA's insistance due to the 4th sigma probability, would support a date after the 16th, not earlier. The conditions would speed up the life cycle, not retard it. We had a very mild February, more like Spring than Winter, and while it is technically a desert, it is a costal desert so forget the sand dunes you have in your mind and think more along the lines of a scrub brush area with lots of wildlife.

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2nd Bug Expert Bolsters Westerfield Defense

Expert Says Fly Infestations Show When Danielle's Body Was Dumped