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What police misconduct? What phone call? Was there misconduct involved in the collection of the hair, blood, or fingerprint evidence?

Police misconduct - Warrants for search of Westerfield's homes contained quotes that were never given, and misstated evidence in order to provide more probable cause than they actually had. Evidence: The people quoted deny giving those quotes, evidence shown on the actual police reports differs from that quoted on the warrants. Consequence: None, Judge Mudd did not allow any of this information in the trial.

Phone call - The day before the VanDams began urging search parties to look around the Dehesa Road area, they received a phone call (verified by the police phone tap in place at the time.) Feldman tried to ask about this at the preliminary hearing, but Dusek objected and Mudd sustained before Feldman could even finish the question. The call was, supposedly, a tip on where to search, but the defense was not allowed to ask any questions about it. Evidence: Police phone tap, VanDams quotes, preliminary hearing transcripts. Consequence: None, Judge Mudd did not allow it into evidence. (Note: The exculpatory value of some one else knowing the location of Danielle's body should be obvious.)

Hair, Blood, and Fingerprints - Since you mention it, there was some misconduct in the blood evidence. For reasons unclear to everyone, the police decided to violate their own procedures and photograph the blood stains on the jacket with a polaroid camera, instead of a 35mm. Their tests then destroyed the fabric and stain, and polaroid pictures cannot be blown up to examine the spotting. The police claimed (in an interview, not in court) that they were ordered to use a polaroid in this case, but would not state from whom the orders came. In case you haven't leapt to the obvious conclusion, Judge Mudd did not allow any questioning about this lapse.

Drew Garrett

You wrote:

collection of the hair, blood, or fingerprint evidence

Hair - mitochondrial DNA match. Could have been Brenda or the boys as well as Danielle's.
Blood - not proven to be blood. I believe that it was a mitochondrial DNA match as well (i.e. could have been Brenda's as well).
Fingerprints - Danielle was in Westerfield's house unsupervised while Brenda was looking at the kitchen remodel. Fingerprints in the moter home could have been from quite awhile ago (Westerfield didn't always lock the thing as per testimony).

The evidence isn't there to convict, IMHO. And we know that Brenda and Westerfield bumped and grinded at the bar (as per testimony) - do we know that they didn't do other things either in the motor home or his house?

This case isn't over yet, IMHO.