Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | September 17, 2002 | J. Harry Jones

[Bug]

Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found

By J. Harry Jones
STAFF WRITER

September 17, 2002

Minutes before Danielle van Dam's remains were found Feb. 27, David Westerfield's lawyers were brokering a deal with prosecutors:

He would tell police where he dumped the 7-year-old girl's body; they would not seek the death penalty.

Law enforcement sources told The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday defense lawyers Steven Feldman and Robert Boyce were negotiating for a life sentence for the 50-year-old design engineer, a neighbor of the van Dams in Sabre Springs.

The deal they were discussing would have allowed Westerfield to plead guilty to murder and be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, said the officials, who spoke on condition they not be identified.

Prosecutors were seriously considering the bargain when Danielle's body was discovered off Dehesa Road that afternoon, nearly four weeks after she disappeared from her bedroom.

"The deal was just minutes away," one of the sources said.

It was aborted, but details were confirmed yesterday soon after a San Diego Superior Court jury recommended the death penalty for Westerfield.

The officials outlined this chronology:

Feldman and Boyce were at the downtown San Diego jail discussing the final arrangements with Westerfield when volunteer searchers found Danielle's remains beneath trees along Dehesa Road east of El Cajon.

When the lawyers left to meet with prosecutors, they noticed members of the news media gathering in the street and asked what was happening.

After being told a body had been found, they went directly to the nearby Hall of Justice and met with prosecutors. The defense lawyers were handed a copy of a Thomas Guide map of the Dehesa area on which a circle had been drawn indicating the location of the body.

Feldman and Boyce took the map back to Westerfield and later telephoned to say they no longer "had anything to discuss regarding a plea bargain."

Neither Feldman nor Boyce could be reached for comment last night.

Danielle was reported missing from her home the morning of Feb. 2, and Westerfield, who lived two doors away, quickly became the primary suspect. He was watched closely by police for weeks as authorities and volunteers searched from the Sabre Springs neighborhood to the Imperial County desert.

After DNA results linked Westerfield to the crime, he was arrested Feb. 22 and charged with kidnapping and burglary.

Three days later, even though Danielle's body had not been found, District Attorney Paul Pfingst announced murder and kidnapping charges would be filed that could carry the death penalty.

Many law enforcement officials feared Danielle's body might never be found. Then, on Feb. 27, volunteer searchers combing the Dehesa area, far from where police had focused, found Danielle's badly decomposed remains.

At that point, the official sources said yesterday, any opportunity Westerfield and his lawyers had to win a plea bargain evaporated.

---

J. Harry Jones: (619) 542-4590;

email

Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

[Roscoe]

Why have a trial, what is the point?

He was found guilty, remember?

[Valpal1]

That link was a real trip down memory lane. Back when you were still on the fence.

I didn't put much stock in it back then because it was to vague and mixed up with the binocs and other stuff which sounded imbellished as it was endlessly repeated through LE circles.

However this article is very explicit in naming who, when, where, and what, right down to the brand of map handed to the defense lawyers. That at least gives it the appearance of being a more accurate version of the rumor that has been around for 6 months.

To me it's just another rumor that has been confirmed, just like the swinging.

Are you going to stick with the SNDFF side of the fence? It is only going to become more clear that Westerfield is the killer as more information comes out of the unsealed documents and closed hearings.

[CW_Conservative]

He was found guilty, remember?

Exactly, so why are anonymous law enforcement sources commenting on a case that they won? Why are they hiding? Why not come out and take a bow on a job well done?

[connectthedots]

At least we know the main reason Westerfield didn't testify. Attorneys are not permitted to put a witness on the stand when they know that witness will lie. Had DW insisted on testifying, Feldman would have been able to properly withdraw has the defense attorney and that would have sealed, right then and there, DW's conviction.

[Amore]

No, you're mistaken. Feldy would not have had to withdraw and would not have been allowed to withdraw at that stage of the proceedings. There are procedures set up for these occasions. As I recall from long ago law school classes, basically, DW goes on the stand and tells his story by himself. Feldy is not allowed ethically to participate in helping DW tell a story Feldy knows is untrue. So if this story about the plea pans out (as I expect it will), I'm sure that contributed to DW's decision not to testify. Feldy would have told him that ethically he could not participate in the lies.

[VRWC_minion]

Exactly, so why are anonymous law enforcement sources commenting on a case that they won?

I may be wrong but I think its considered bad form for any lawyer to discuss negotiations that take place with another lawyer. I can understand why the prosecuting atty's would want this info out and also prefer to avoid getting into discussing the specifics of conversations with other attorneys.

I'm not an atty but I have stayed in a Howard Johnsons.

[cinFLA]

It's very troubling to think that he had a chance to walk even after offering to show where the body was.

How do you equate life w/o parole to "walking"?

[dennisw]

It's sad but this scum still has another 20 years of life as he runs out his appeals while on death row. I prefer sure, swift and certain punishment. The man who tried to kill FDR in 1933 was executed 33 days later. His errant bullet killed the mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak who was in the motorcade.


http://www.graveyards.com/bohemian/cermak.html

[bvw]

(1) Westerfield was railroaded. The case wasn't made against him, except by encouraging a mindset of "presumption of guilt" and insisting that the defense prove he didn't do it.

(2) The Jury -- at least the two seen on Van Sustern last night, were (imo) slacker spoiled brats, all to willing to buy in to the railroading. That can and does heppen -- not every jury is perfect, and that's why we have a system of appeals.

(3) If this thread is anything, it is a demonstration of the pack mentality at work. There are packs on both sides of the issue. If anyone counts themselves as a memebr of either side without looking hard into the case himself -- well, that person is no help to anyone and hasn't anything but discord to the threads. And, I think a *statiscal* count will show -- (admittedly I'm not making one, just stating a close observer's hunch) -- that the posters most willing to state and restate an "opnion" on the case without any evidence of self-study in the case are the hang-em-high crowd. Is Free Republic become a haven and home of a bunch of cheerleaders and a yapping mob of followers?

* * * * *

If Westerfield did murder the girl, why was this trial such a farce? Most on this thread so far say "Justice" was served -- and if he did murder, that is true to some extent, yet even in that case why was this trial as much a farce as the OJ trial? A prejudiced jury in that OJ trial returned the verdict by seemingly according to its prejudice, and a prejudiced jury in this Westerfield trial returned its verdict seemingly according to its prejudice.

The bug evidence was given by the field's best experts -- it is not so dismissable as the two jury dilettantes let have in their interview -- and there are dozens and dozens of men and women convicted on the basis of it's science. The folks who casually deride it -- that is foolish.

Who says Westerfield is innocent? Those who want to mock unfairly those -- like me -- who believe that according to the standards of presumption of innocence requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt, that a proper verdict was "Not Guilty [beyond a reasonable doubt]".

[Jaded]

Freepmail.....

[First Conservative]

My sentiments also. I sure hope he was the killer, cause he will eventually pay the price for this crime - whether or not he really did it. (If someone else was the real culprit, can anyone imagine that fact ever coming to light in this lifetime?)

I believe the railroad whistle has sounded and the holdout jurors - both phases - were overwhelmed by the others - in violation of their oaths. You supporters of these verdicts better hope you are never accused of a crime.

[ernie pantuso]

You are correct. It is "bad form". Also, the rules of evidence generally preclude statements made during the course of settlement negotiations from being introduced at trial.

[Helen]

Thank you for saying that.

One of the aspects of this trial that troubles me is Dusek's comment that the prosecution didn't have to prove anything. Danielle was dead and HE did it and that was all they needed to be concerned about. What a blow to our system of justice and the presumption of innocence and the delicate balance between the rule of law and anarchy!

[TamiPie]

Where's UCANSEE2 and others??

[pinz-n-needlez]

Ha ha ha, Kevin.

You thinking of becoming Nancy Grace's staff writer? :-)

[cherry]

"Justice not served? Those Freepers who thought he was innocent might want to reconsider. He was going to tell police where the body was located. How would a man innocent of the crime know where the body was?"

justice served?....putting on a million dollar trial which will be followed by many millions in appeals which the state will pay for and will put all families thru this horror again and again....and that is JUSTICE?

would a wise court have pushed for the plea, not have a trial , not put the parents of the victim, and the young perp on the stand to humiliate them , and banish the perp to the depts of the prison system...

The DA was up for re-election ....that is what all this circus was about.....

[Freedom2specul8]

"The trap was thus set and sprung and an innocent man was sacrificed to protect an evil (is there any other kind?) statist cabal. "

If DW overhead anything about someone else doing it..he's gotta be a first rate dumbass for not telling the jury.

[cherry]

i meant to say the young children of the perp....they were devatated by the trial but I guess the court system is all about devastating as many people as possible to make themselves look good...

election year....period1

[Freedom2specul8]

"IMO, you've got your "more explosive than a confession" right here. "

I'm telling ya, I don't think feldman would say ANYTHING to harm his client ..and that would be harmful. I still maintain it's gotta be a 3rd party issue. I'm now thinking it was just something to throw everyone off.

[Freedom2specul8]

You must have gotten flamed by someone on the save dave side cuz it's hurtful to dw. We did know this rumor was floating around. That didn't mean it was true.