VAN DAM MURDER VERDICT [VERDICT IN: GUILTY!]

ABC radio

[wallcrawlr]

I just heard this at noon.

[marajade]

You know it doesn't even matter really what case he's been a juror on before or not... What does matter is what this jury heard and how they came to the conclusions they made... Even though I disagree with the OJ outcome, I cannot fault the jury.

[Steve0113]

See post #462.

[FreeTheHostages]

Hmm, well, I do fault the OJ jury in the sense that I think they were quite wrong. But juries rarely are in big criminal cases. Murder has the way of focussing the minds of even the silliest jurors. A lot of what's going on in this thread are flights of fancy that, if one had to focus on a real body and a real murder case, might be extinguished by the cold sober reality.

[marajade]

see post 481.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

irregardless, defined at dictionary.com

I guess I misunderstimated the dumbing down of America. (Apologies to Pres. Bush).

[strela]

The jury's guilty verdict makes sense on the facts. The protestors on this thread who say "an innocent man was railroaded," do not make sense.

Put that statement up in lights, bold type. It never ceases to amaze me that a few ragtag Freepers somehow manage to defend a consumer of child porn and now a convicted murderer.

Hope Westerfield has his order in for a Nomex lining for his coffin. He'll need it in (hopefully) only a few years.

[Freedom2specul8]

"There have been hundreds of lurkers on this site reading the posts everyday like myself, finally we can expose ourself without getting flamed (wink wink). I'm glad the jury came back with the guilty verdict, my thanks to ~Kim4VRWC's~ for hanging in there and taking all the heat for us..."

Oh it wasn't just me taking heat..most just left after spending days or weeks... too many to list..there are many still taking heat in the backroom.

[arm958]

Even though I disagree with the OJ outcome, I cannot fault the jury.

Oh, I can. Anyone who fell for Johnny Cochrane's nonsense deserves to be faulted till it hurts.

[lawdude]

End of story. Next case. I suppose that's difficult for a defense attorney to understand.

That would be hard for anyone to understand.

Did you set in on the trial and listen to all evidence? If not, then you base your DECISION on a small set of evidence. Judgement must be made on all the facts and evidence presented. If you did set on the jury, I apologise.

[Steve0113]

Agreed. It has nothing to do with this case.

[shezza]

If Danielle was in his house while she was alive, why didn't Westfield present testimony to that fact? He didn't because he couldn't.

What? Did you even watch any of the trial? Of course Danielle was in his house when she was alive...she went in there to sell Girl Scout cookies a couple of days before she disappeared (as per her own mother's testimony) and was meandering/playing all over the house for about 20 minutes while her mom chatted with Westerfield.

[FreeTheHostages]

Ken, some of this is a legislative problem. On the federal level, Congress has passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act and a few other statutes a while back that have the effect of making death penalty appeals on the federal level more streamlined.

The reality is that a lot of families don't care much about life in jail vs. death. But federal prosecutors under the new statutes are supposed to take family wishes into account for sentencing, and so are judges. So for those families that really do want the death penalty, and that's important to them, in death-eligible cases, who knows, who can put a price on peace of mind? Everyone grieves differently and some people really do have peace of mind knowing that the person who snuffed out their loved one is dead.

[justshe]

As someone who has peripherally been following the trial, and have seen the posts on THIS thread about how, if we want to know anything, we should go back and read the threads, I just want you to know that it is YOUR kind of post that has kept many of us OFF the DW/VD threads:

No, you're ignorant because you got all of your information from the 6pm news.

Baaaaaa...baaaaaaaa!

Good little sheep.

Thank you for confirming our decision. I have my opinion about this verdict. I just wanted to let YOU know why many avoided these threads like the plague.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Ask me and I'll tell you that the parents have suffered more than westerfield ever will. I hope they'll be able to smoke some pot to dampen their pain.

Amen, Grunt. Bravo Zulu.

[Types_with_Fist]

If there were anywhere I'd want to select a jury pool from it WOULD have been free republic, but you guys are really scaring me now.

Yes. Some of the response here is sickening. The Westerfield defenders always say the same thing, "If you had been following the case like I have..." Well, I have been following the case the whole way and I think he did it. I think it was also proved he did it. But, the defenders here believe everyone is wrong including the jury.

My only question is: When did NAMBLA infiltrate FReep?

[marajade]

"Did you set in on the trial and listen to all evidence? If not, then you base your DECISION on a small set of evidence. Judgement must be made on all the facts and evidence presented. If you did set on the jury, I apologise."

This is what I've been trying to state all along in this thread and seemed to be getting creamed for it... Thanks...

[P-Marlowe]

it's not over yet..

IT IS OVER! GET USED TO IT.

I do a lot of appellate work. The odds of this getting overturned on appeal are about the same as my odds of winning the lottery this week. And I'm not going to buy a ticket.

[FreeTheHostages]

It never ceases to amaze me that a few ragtag Freepers somehow manage to defend a consumer of child porn and now a convicted murderer

Here here, but it bears repeating: some of these names singing songs of innocence are names I just don't recognize. Not sure they're all really Freepers.

[marajade]

She went upstairs to the defendant's head of his bed and placed her fingerprints there? If so, why didn't Westerfield get on the stand to provide this as evidence in sworn testimony?

[shezza]