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.

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

email

Copyright 2002 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.

[VRWC_minion]

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

Yeah, your right. Its too expensive to hold child murderers accountable. We should just let them go.

[pinz-n-needlez]

That was me, Ditter. The offer still holds.

I'm sorry you can't see what's being spoonfed to you imo. But we each make our own decisions.

I still think he's innocent, still can't build a coherent scenario around the notion of guilt.

Flame away, I don't bite back. Just share my thinking where I think someone might be interested. That's why I don't say much here anymore, don't think y'all are interested in hearing thinking like mine.

[Roscoe]

The man who tried to kill FDR in 1933 was executed 33 days later.

With only 17 days passing between the death of Cermak and Zangara's execution.

Wow.

When Cermak died on 3rd March, Zangara was charged with murder and after being found guilty was sentenced to death in the electric chair at the Florida State Penitentiary. When he heard his sentence he yelled at the judge, "You give me electric chair. I no afraid of that chair! You're one of capitalists. You is crook man too. Put me in electric chair. I no care!" Guiseppe Zangara was executed on 20th March, 1933.

[OldFriend]

What is it you gain by denying half the evidence? Does that make him less than a murderer in your eyes?

[pinz-n-needlez]

No, this one story doesn't make me think differently, IM.

But thanks for the nice words, I think. :-)

People here can post what they want, but it's too bad so many words have been written in anger and meaness over the past 24 hours.

Lots more stories will be coming out, some sensible, some not. DW is still welcome to my home, assuming he ever sees sunshine again.

[tetelestai]

I meant that it's scary to think that he could have been found "not guilty" even though the lawyers and judge knew otherwise.

[Amore]

I mean this in all sincerity, not sarcasm. I certainly hope you don't have any young children in your home.

[John Jamieson]

This morning:

The van Dams said they had no knowledge of any deal, surely they would have have been asked for their input.

Brenda first said she wanted to know "why" he did it and then changed her mind to "how" did he do it. Duh!

The books about this case should be coming soon, I can't wait.

I studied the bug guys testimony for many hours and understand their math and logic. It is not reasonable to ignore them. There are just 2 possibilities:

1. DW is innocent.
2. He had help.

Either way, Damielle's killer(s) are still out there.

[dennisw]

Thanks for checking out the link. Maybe you even knew about it already....But justice was swift and certain back then and the DEMOCRATS were in office!

[Amore]

I don't follow your reasoning, Kim. Do we know for a fact that Feldy made such a statement about "more explosive than a confession"? If so, then the plea deal seems to fit -- although as someone else pointed out such plea negotiations are not admissible, and I don't see how it could ever have been in danger of being admitted into evidence -- at least at the trial portion, as opposed to the penalty portion -- and probably not there either.

I agree with tetelestai, if this plea offer story is true, it is appalling that he may have gotten off scot free.

[John Jamieson]

Sorry for the typo: "Danielle"

[VRWC_minion]

There are just 2 possibilities:

Logically there is at least 3.

[Roscoe]

Maybe you even knew about it already....

Afraid I didn't.

The 17 days between the victim's death and the execution was pretty amazing.

[John Jamieson]

We all agree that child killers must be found and punished. The question is who did it, not should they get away with it.

[Freedom2specul8]

yes, I've read it in a news report. I'll look for it while I eat lunch..and will be back in a few.

[John Jamieson]

2 possibilities that fit the bug evidence. The third possibilty ignores it.

[agarrett]

I wonder how many more will step up to the plate and do so after all the abuse they heaped upon us?

  From this article, I suspect I was wrong. Mind you, there's still some things I would like to see cleared up, but if he was making a deal based on knowing where the body was, then it's pretty clear he was guilty.

  I'd take some issue with claiming there was abuse on the threads, by the way.

Drew Garrett

[Pagey]

How would a man innocent of the crime know where the body was?

Perhaps he was an expert in 'Remote Viewing'.This dirty man surely raped and killed that little girl,and he gets to live? It's moments like these,that add one more stain to my State of Calif."Yeah,lets let him live another 20 years", the leftists say.It's unbelievable how this is allowed.I also wonder how long before those 2 (sorry excuses for parents)wait,before they start partying in that garage again.

[John Jamieson]

This story could very easily be based on a half truth. The Prosecution may have been prepared to offer life for the body with NO prior indication from DW that he knew where it was. You may be assuming too much. These lawyers explore every angle.

[Freedom2specul8]

I had saved info about it on harddrive..

http://www.uniontrib.com/news/metro/danielle/20020506-9999_1m6westerfieldpapers.html

Other motions remained sealed on the judge's orders. The sealed motions discuss other potential evidence in the case, including evidence that Westerfield's lawyers label in court documents as "nearly as explosive as a confession." The lawyers didn't specify the nature of this evidence.

Westerfield's lawyers want to keep these sealed motions secret from the public through Westerfield's trial and until all his post-trial appeals are exhausted if he's convicted, according to documents made public today.

The documents unsealed today contain some information that hadn't yet become public in the case. Among other things, prosecutors say Danielle's hair was found inside Westerfield's motor home.

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So you're saying that a defense atty might say something publicly...that is negative about his client?