Posted on 07/22/2002 3:02:31 PM PDT by FresnoDA
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.
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.
Having used one you will find that its not possible to correlate the use of fuel to the distance driven. The variables of the generator for AC and other electric can't be factored.
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.
They should examine that fridge.
Courtney Love
I agree.
It will also be interesting if he does testify to see Dusek contradict his own attitude toward Haskell for examining Faulkner's work.
It seems like Goff will have even less independent areas from which to draw.
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.
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.
I have friends all over the county (El Cajon, La Mesa, Santee and so on). None of them think they live in the desert either.
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