POSTED: 6:58 a.m. PDT July 22, 2002
UPDATED: 2:28 p.m. PDT July 22, 2002
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.
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.
The State of Kalifornia paid Mitchell Holland of Bodie Technology $50,000 for the exact same testimony that the local lab provided.
Faulkner is a local.
Don't forget about Court TV. Those folks are amazing.
It's more like {Insert random ex-Gator QB here} tossing a short pass to {Insert random ex-Gator WR here} on a crossing pattern. Go Skins!
I can't believe I have to root for all these Gators. And Steve Superior. At least they'll be wearing the right colors now.
Tell me about the violent kiddie rape videos, how it's all just a "coincidence". Like OJ. (And he got off too.)
I am getting out of here.
LOT's MORE ADDITIONS TO THE Glossary. YOU ALL SHOULD BE PROUD!!!!!
OFFICIAL DW TRIAL THREAD GLOSSARY
150-QUADTRILLION-TO-ONE= Proof that Danielle was an Alien whose DNA could not match any individual of the human population on 25 million earth-like planets
ASSJACKALS=close relative of the Jackass...a person who spends too much time complaining about other people.
BARBED= Having reached the point of being too hot to handle for either the prosecution OR the defense.
BEETLEMANIA= resulting frenzy of hard-shelled insects when their party is moved to another location and postponed for another two weeks.
BUGOUT= When the first entomology forensics expert hired and normally used by the Prosecution is used to support the defense. As a result, the Prosecution goes out and hires another bug guy from far away that will testify the way he is told.
CHAMELEON-FIBER= a "dull orange" fiber that perfectly matches a "bright orange" fiber when viewed through the world's finest laboratory instruments.
DISTURBEDJACKAL= has to disrupt the ongoing discussion with pointless, idiotic and smartass remarks. His panties are probably in a wad 24/7 and his momma didn't teach him better.
DUSEKED= to have your fragile house of prosecutorial cards collapse when your witness is FELDMANIZED.
DUSEK’S MADNESS= the affliction someone has who knowingly attempts to send an innocent man to the death chamber in spite of glaring exculpatory evidence.
FAULKERNIZED= a natural process whereby maggots destroy a month's worth of court testimony in two hours.
FELDMANIZED - Judicially castrated; having reduced a reasonably intelligent witness to a blithering blob with the coherence of Rain Man and the believability of x42; usually accompanied by rhythmic thumping of DA's head on table. See DUSEKED.
FIRECRACKERS = Posters on a thread that appear as: A bunch of noise and sparks, a little fire, but mostly smoke, and then after a while, they are gone.
FISHES AND LOAVES PIZZA= A seeming unending supply of pizza. Can be bought at NOON on a Friday, and it will feed a family of 5, then will feed the same family of 5 + 2 more guests until 8:30pm, then will feed Mom,Dad, and four guests around 2am Saturday Morning.
GRACEFULL= full of self-importance (as in Nancy Grace), to the great annoyance of others
HELLOCINATING= the Swing Set's delusional belief that everyone they met wanted to come home with them.
HOSED=being subjected to 24 hour surveillance due to unrolled hose in yard.
HTML CODE SHRIEKING - repeated use of large, colorful fonts in posts. To the annoyance of some, the amusement of others, and the bafflement of newbies.
INSECTOPHILE - To be conversant in life cycles and mating of obscure insects, sprinkled with multi-syllabic terms from college level biology and meteorology. Caused by prolonged exposure to a BUG GUY.
THE IMMACULATE ABDUCTION= The kidnapping of Danielle Van Dam by an unknown (Alias SUPER NINJA DAVE), who broke into a locked house, which had alarms, and a dog, and a father and three children inside. He kidnapped the young female, while drunk, carried her out of the house, flew her to his motorhome (see caped outfit), and murdered her. While in the house, he left no prints, no DNA, no hairs, no fibers, not one piece of evidence he was ever there, and neither the dog, the father, nor the two other children ever noticed anyone had been in their house and walked past their open bedroom doors.
JACKASSES="the tendency to tell every little thing about oneself that very, very few really care to hear, and do it repeatedly."
MAGNETOMANIAC= A suspect who devises theories of how the "immaculate abduction" took place.
PIZZA-EATERS: Usually a group of 5 or more of guests and/or family members that is customarily needed to eat a neverending pizza. See: FISHES AND LOAVES PIZZA
PIZZA-PARTY = After coming home from the bar at 2am with friends, new friends, total strangers, you head to the garage for PIZZA. (PIZZA is AKA drugs, sex)
PREMATURE ACCUSATION=An arrest by police of a suspect before they have done investigative work on all of the evidence which might indicate which suspect is the most likely perpetrator.
SCAPECOAT= the jacket owned by DW with Danielle's tiny spot of DNA
SIX-PACK= PIZZA-EATERS all in one bed.
SLUTJACKALS=(1)a bisexually aggressive female type species, with out scruples, restraint, or moral fiber. Willing to settle for anything that satisfies basal desires, and in any way considered momentarily convenient.(2)Masters of deceit, sinister, cold-hearted, savage creatures which prey upon ambushing unsuspecting neighbors.
SWING-SET= For those who don't like playing in the sand box. Usually a set of six, who share the set and enjoy highs and lows.
SWINGER-SIX =Brenda, Barbara, Denise, Larry, Mo and Curly (AKA PIZZA-EATERS)
THREADJACKALS= Those that get on the threads only for an hour or so, and without any knowledge of the facts of the discussion, proceed to tell everyone else (THREADHOUNDS) how wrong they are, how rude they are, how badly they treat posters like themselves(FIRECRACKERS)
THE NEVER-ENDING-JOINT= A rolled cigarette of marijuana (wackyweed) that can be smoked by 4 people at 830pm , then smoked by 4 or more people several times in the parking lot of a bar, then can still be smoked by six people in a garage , at 2 in the morning. (Save the roach!)
THREADHOUND= Someone who dominates the threads all day, and howls at anyone that won’t agree with them, because they think they know more than anyone else. .
VAN DAM DAMN VAN = a blue van used in Damon Van Dam's wild ride through all the probable dump sites for Danielle's body on the weekend of Feb 16th. Although Damon does not report having found the body that weekend, the flys did. Now missing in action.
VAN-DAMNED-IF-I-KNOW: A poster who joins mid-thread and mid-trial and has less than a thimbleful of information, but spouts off anyway.
WILD BUG CHASE=Going through a series of BUG EXPERTS, one after another, questioning them in endless circles, in an attempt to get them confused.
AND THE NEWEST ADDITIONS:
FELDMAN FOR DUMMIES=The art of understanding how defense doesn't deny anything, doesn't deny the blood, hair, fiber and child porn..but spends his time deflecting it towards someone else.
BUGOLOGIST=hound: a person who is an amateur entomologist who is convinced that the bugs have stated that DW is innocent regardless of blood, fibers, hair and child porn.
THREAD BANG = A GROUP OR GANG of 6 or more THREADJACKALS, in an organized attack and posting via the pile on method...accomplished by singling out a small number of posters, and focusing on mundane misinformation....IE: Underwear vs. Jogging Shorts!
DRAMAQUEENJACKAL= A person who either over-dramatizes the subject, or falsely accuses someone else of lying and INTENT is never proven by the dramaqueenjackal.. They ironically confuse lying, with being mistaken. They assume they can read into the hearts and minds of seriously dedicated followers of the PEOPLE VS WESTERFIELD case.
DAMNEDTHREADJACKAL=a hybrid phenomenon that is made up of a THREADJACKAL and a VAN-DAMNED-IF-I-KNOW within the same person.
'Fess up. What did you do? Did you make a disparaging comment about a woman't ability to drive a stick shift? : )
No....I guess that wasn't you....