VAN DAM MURDER VERDICT [VERDICT IN: GUILTY!]

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[NautiNurse]

How did westerfield get Danielle from her bed to the RV?

I was never completely convinced he actually took her from her bed. Perhaps she was downstairs or even outside waiting for her mother to come home. Since the parents never peeked into her room, we will never know for certain--unless Westerfield confesses, oc.

[Freedom2specul8]

It's great to heave your input. I think I've seen those voice transcription machines used before.The court reporter had this little mask, a bit bigger than an oxygen mask, talking into it. Completely sound proof. Is that the machine you are referring to?

[FreeTheHostages]

[Posted by Irish to Arm958:] Maybe if you weren't "new to this thread" you would know some of the disturbing facts of this case, which have lead many of us to dispute the prosecution's theories. Why don't you educate yourself about the matter first before posting your opinion, since it is pretty much worthless if it is based only on feelings or what you've heard in the media.

Arm, promise me you won't even respond to this nonsense. There's so many things wrong with this I don't know where to start. But a tempting place might be the suggestion that only this band of conspiracy theorists here have the real truth and that unless you've read about all their brilliant detective work in many threads, you're not living on the same planet as they are.

Well, that much's for sure. Arm958, you and I do not live on the same planet as IrishRainey. But I have no regrets: I enjoy the weather on planet Earth.

[FreeTheHostages]

...some of the Westerfield supporters were so vitriolic it just didn't seem normal. Think about it: They were defending a monster in human flesh. They flippantly dismissed the torture and rape of children on the hours and HOURS of child pornography as trivial.

I like this posting. I would say most of the Westerfield supporters are fundamentally selfish and this is what I mean: they enjoy the kick of self-importance, self-aggrandizement, power, or whatever it is, in pretending that they're superdectives able to piece the veil of reality, and this mystery-novel joy of intrigue overwhelms any serious, sober compassion of the real family and the real little girl that would provide a ballast for just flights of fancy. The fact that they can think so fancifully indicates to me a moral failure: to them the crime is not really real, but just a play thing, and so they can gleefully overlook stuff.

I've said it before but I'll say it again: take heart, this is not the stuff juries are made of. Juries have to carry the weight, the cross if you will, of the actual crime. Especially in a murder case, they are rarely so selfish. Almost always when a jury votes not guilty in a murder case, it's because the evidence is weak, not because they all think they're brilliant Sherlock Holmes types and want to use the jury as a forum to demonstrate their intellectual brilliance. Speaking to others here only confirms their version of reality. It's essentially narcisstic. I'm really not trying to name call here: I seriously think this is the human emotion from whence such ramblings come.

[FreeTheHostages]

Actually, no. When the court reporter speaks into a cup, it's just to protect the sound. If they're typing on a set of keys, sometimes two or three fingers pressed at once, they're recording sounds, often composite sounds. If they are using a machine that tries to actually give them a printout of words, they'll be correcting it as it goes by - words on a digital teletype sort of thing. The latter is rarely used so far because the technology just isn't there. (if you've ever tried to use dragonslayer, you know what I mean) but five years from now it will be a reality

[Jaded]

agents are privileged to do what would otherwise be unlawful if done by a private citizen."'

This case aside, our forefathers are not only turning in their graves, they are sobbing. Can you hear them? They are nearly drowned out by the sound of the multitudes marching in lock-step.

[Freedom2specul8]

WHOOPS!! These darn threads look alike sometimes..don't think I've made this mistake before..

My posts about ruby ridge was meant for the SMOKEY room. I THINK I have a solution for their conspiracy/corruption charges...it's posted over there.

[NautiNurse]

(if you've ever tried to use dragonslayer, you know what I mean) but five years from now it will be a reality

LOL--ten years ago, folks were swearing it would be a reality in five years!

[Amore]

Your post is so spot on! They are just feeding off each other and don't realize how out of touch they are.

BTW, I believe you said Henrietta is the only lawyer who is on the DW side? I know on the guilty side is at least 3, you, me, P-Marlowe. That's what got me about the folks on these threads. The CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY commentators on CTV and MSNBC & Fox & everywhere were calling the evidence "a mountain," and "overwhelming," etc. They were saying the best Feldy could hope for was a hung jury. Now, when you've got the criminal defense attorneys saying that, you KNOW you're in big trouble. But, hey, what do you, I, P-Marlowe, those commentators, the jury, and everyone else know? We didn't receive the magic 10 commandments of "Dave is being railroaded" handed down from God!

[Freedom2specul8]

I realize that how this must bother you greatly, but I simply do NOT understand why you don't recognize the OBVIOUS.

If the founding fathers are watching this trial at all, they are saying to themselves, THANK THE LORD they caught another child porn user who was caught with the victim's blood, hair, dna etc..

Feldman is no dummy Jaded.., he had MUCH MORE MONEY given to him than most defense attorneys, and he's KNOWN to be a bulldog attorney. He just had NOTHING to bite into to shake the charges off of the defendant.

what made this case even more interesting....the defendant wasn't a poor sap with child porn, he was a rich sap with child porn who came from a bad familial background.

For whatever reason his mom told the public he was a horndog, and for whatever reason his x-girlfriend was uncomfortable around him after they broke up (stalking type of behaviour), and why he has a drinking problem severe enough for her to drop him like a hot potato...Feldman was unable to recover from their testimony and he couldn't find anything to neutralize or erase or hide all the evidence the jury spent 9 days looking at, weeks listening to.

[Freedom2specul8]

Granted, the mom didn't testify....she would have made it worse for him

[Freedom2specul8]

No I am not familiar with dragon slayer..this guy wasn't typing anything. I got the impression he was repeating word for word testimony.

[Freedom2specul8]

P-Marlowe is too? Cool...

[Jaded]

I see you missed the point of the statement, as usual.

"This case aside" <=

[Amore]

Is is logical that Feldman would advise his client of the poor prospect for appeal?

Then to ask his client to consider confessing during the penalty phase, asking for his life to be spared, because he was in an alcohol induced blackout during the murder, and due to lack of capacity, he couldn't have pre-meditated?

It's a fine line Feldy has to advise DW on. He has to be honest about his chances for appeal, but on the other hand, he wants to hold out some hope. So, they will go over the issues they have to argue (& they do have issues, I just don't think they'll ultimately work) and Feldy will try to be honest but also try to give it a bit of spin to encourage DW not to give up hope.

As for advising DW to confess, who knows? He might. DW stooped to blame his son, so I don't think any tactic is beyond either DW or Feldy.

As for the "blackout" issue, I've heard other people say what you say about blackouts but I don't think it is accurate. All a blackout means is that your brain has stopped recording. It's not that you've forgotten what happened, it just totally is not recorded in the brain. But I don't believe blackouts have anything to do with premeditation. Lots of people with drinking problems have blackouts after-the-fact, but they are performing quite normally at the time. Well, they might appear to be a little tipsy, but they are still acting and thinking like themselves. I don't think a blackout does or should preclude a finding of premeditation.

[Amore]

Well, P-Marlowe said he did a lot of appellate work, didn't he? Maybe he isn't, I guess I just assumed. Either way, I see he knows what he's talking about.

[nina0113]

Their defense of this monster has just been more nauseating than I can stand.

If we thought he WAS a monster, we wouldn't be defending him. We think he's been railroaded. Believe me, if I thought he had done it, I'd be looking forward to his imprisonment in the General Population in prison. The DP would still be enforced, but it would be much sooner, & slower & more painful, than the needle.

Yes, there was A spot of blood in the motor home, A hair and A fingerprint. There is no evidence at all as to how long they have been there. I think of all the places I hid in hide'n'seek games as a kid, & how much DNA I left around in other people's toolsheds, under their porches, etc. I would have regarded an unlocked motor home as a gift from God.

If Westerfield could not have been in the Van Damm house, & could not have dropped the body, I don't see how he could have committed the crime, at least not alone. If there was even the tiniest whiff of an accomplice in dropping the body, or some hint of where the unknown accomplice KEPT the body before dropping it, I'd be more comfortable with this verdict.

[FreeTheHostages]

ah, then that's it!

[ContemptofCourt]

I think he was guilty as well.

Reading the transcripts, it is cleat that Feldman was trying but had little to work with. On his crosses, many of his questions were objected to and sustained by the Court. This, alone, demonstrates to the jury that the defense is strugling.

[FreeTheHostages]

true, true, I'm not swearing. me and my boyfriend recently tried a better version of such software on my home computer and it got nearly everything I said. but i had to speak vey slow. witnesses in criminal trials don't speak slowly . . .