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Plea deal 'minutes away' when body found
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | September 17, 2002 | J. Harry Jones

Posted on 09/17/2002 5:28:16 AM PDT by 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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: westerfield
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To: sneakypete
They didn't and don't give a damn about a little girl being murdered because they had a more serious offense on their alleged minds,"sex".

Oh I agree with you that many of Westerfield's defenders were more obsessed with the parents sexual and drug activities than they were in the facts of the case. I wouldn't be suprised if a few of these nuts believe that Westerfield was the avenging angel of God and brutalized and murdered that couples little girl to smite them for their sins.

These people just want to cling to anything or deny anything to hold onto their narrow world view. Bad things happen to bad people, and bad people do bad things. In their minds eye, the VD's were bad people, and they did bad things.. therefor the bad thing.. the death of their daughter was somehow their fault... not the sick sadistic animal who committed the crime, but the parents fault. Westerfield doesn't look evil.. so he can't have done it. They stare evil right in the face and refuse to accept what they see.

No one is going to put the VD's up as parents of the year, but it is ludicrous to claim their actions caused their daughters demise. Westerfield did that, and mercifully he will never have the opportunity to do it again. May God have mercy on his soul, because he will get and deserves no quarter on earth.

581 posted on 09/18/2002 5:37:14 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: CW_Conservative
This is another example of why jury consultants explain to atty's what kind of clothes their clients should wear etc.. Little things do matter.

"She also thought that the Van Dam's lifestyle "opened doors". "
I wonder how much it was discussed behind closed doors.

582 posted on 09/18/2002 5:44:32 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: John Jamieson
It's a technicality I agree, but if DW didn't act alone, the jury should have found him not guilty because he was charged as the lone perp. Any CA lawyers that can verify this?

What planet are you from? This is not the law in ANY state... the question before the jury was, did DW kidnap, rape, murder that poor girl. And without question he did, even if the jury believe he had accomplices... which no evidence circumstancial or otherwise was presented at all, that does not defacto negate DW's or any other defendants culpability for their actions.

Even if DW had someone else help him kidnap, rape and kill her, he still committed the acts.. an accomplice does not negate ones actions, and just because only 1 man was charged, does not mean that he should be innocent if his partners aren't... That's ludicrous. By that circular, convoluted non-logic Timothy McVeigh could not have been found guilty had Terry Nichols not been charged..

Sorry, no technicality here, your claim is not valid in any state of the Union, or in any territory under her protection.

583 posted on 09/18/2002 5:45:00 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: HamiltonJay
"No one is going to put the VD's up as parents of the year, but it is ludicrous to claim their actions caused their daughters demise. Westerfield did that, and mercifully he will never have the opportunity to do it again. May God have mercy on his soul, because he will get and deserves no quarter on earth."

It's been rumored by the other side that more and more stuff would be coming out about the van dams..disgusting pornographic, sexual exploit and druggy kind of stuff. They want the parents to hurt even more..even knowing all of this new crappola about "dave".

584 posted on 09/18/2002 5:48:12 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: sneakypete
"Even thinking about the horrors she suffered leaves a feeling in my chest like a lump of lead."

Me too ...

585 posted on 09/18/2002 5:49:40 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
It's been rumored by the other side that more and more stuff would be coming out about the van dams..disgusting pornographic, sexual exploit and druggy kind of stuff. They want the parents to hurt even more..even knowing all of this new crappola about "dave".

Of course they want to destroy the VD's... They are the Christian equivalent of the Taliban... live immorally and we will do everything to destroy you. They do not represent morality or god in their actions, they are just Zealots with a cause... a cause they feel is just and deserved. Had they been born in Afghanistan they would have been the ones executing women for showing their ankles.

I suggest wholey these individuals do know know Christ, nor morality. And certainly represent neither in their continued zealot attacks and actions upon the VDs.

586 posted on 09/18/2002 6:00:48 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: savedbygrace
"Without the blood on the jacket, the bugs would have ruled the day. IMO.

But he had to get it cleaned, rather than burn it. That's what got him."


You could very well be right....what if the blood wasn't there but the handprint was??
587 posted on 09/18/2002 6:03:43 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I always thought that the case would be won or lost by the jury's trip to the motor home.

588 posted on 09/18/2002 6:06:53 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I have heard a "rumor" that the jacket was a Christmas gift from one of his children, and that's why he couldn't get rid of it.
589 posted on 09/18/2002 6:08:16 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
This is another example of why jury consultants explain to atty's what kind of
clothes their clients should wear etc.. Little things do matter.

You're right, but I would still consider their job. She was a security guard.

Maybe the jurors dismissed Faulkner for similiar reasons. I mean, that tie he was wearing was a distraction. It appeared to have pictures of trout on it. Or maybe I need sleep.
590 posted on 09/18/2002 6:14:36 AM PDT by CW_Conservative
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To: sneakypete
Regardless of their lifestyle,her parents deserve a LOT of sympathy,too.

None. Zip. They are nullities until and unless they can confront their own gross failings toward their child. They should not be treated unkindly or shunned. But neither should they be fawned over and allowed to wallow self-indulgently in the maudlin tears of others either. Heedless self-indulgence was and is their core problem. Why encourage it?

Their selfish, self-indulgent, heedless, sordid lifestyle was destroying the little girl psychically, emotionally, and spiritually before Westerfield kidpapped, abused, and murdered her. Only hedonist atomists (and there are many who infest FR) would deny that. Only hedonist atomists believe each person's behavior choices are hermetically sealed off from the rest of civilization, that they can be as "nasty as they wanna be," and still live in a secure, clean, and pleasant society. They are deluded. Society is secure and pleasant only to the extent that there is a majority of decent and self-disciplined people who work hard to keep it that way. The filth dwellers freeload off the efforts of the moral and self-disciplined.

I ache for Danielle when I think of the many times she must have been lying in her bed, acutely aware of what mom and dad and various strangers were doing just scant feet away. It sickens me that her parents would be so surpassingly callous and heedless.

I would have sympathy for Danielle's parents at this late date only if they genuinely and personally felt overwhelming remorse and shame for their lifestyle and how it undoubtedly impacted their daughter. They must face and accept the consequences of their own acts--otherwise they are simply freeloading off the sympathy of people who want to give them a pass.

591 posted on 09/18/2002 6:15:05 AM PDT by Kevin Curry
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To: redlipstick
WRT:MH Really? Because they would think about it possibly being the last place Danielle was alive? Did you see the comments from the 5'5" juror? She said she could barely reach the "door knob"... If that's true, it sure blows the "kids" snuck in the motorhome theory eh?

I wonder if "savedbygrace" heard the same rumor about the jacket? I just figured it was a detail DW missed or had forgotten about.



592 posted on 09/18/2002 6:15:46 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: CW_Conservative
I hope they weren't that petty!

A security guard eh? I wonder what she thought of Heather Mac... (wasn't that the name of the gal who didn't report the MH and was late for her testimony?)
593 posted on 09/18/2002 6:18:55 AM PDT by Freedom2specul8
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
I'm 5'2, and I used to have trouble opening our RV door, and it was a much smaller RV than DW's.
But also that they were seeing the locations of certain items of evidence, like the blood spot being outside the bathroom. That's 10 feet inside the door, and points out the great unlikelihood of Danielle wandering in and bleeding one drop so far from the entrance.

594 posted on 09/18/2002 6:24:35 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: cyncooper
Be sure and read post #565.
595 posted on 09/18/2002 6:26:37 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Kim, could you please post this article?

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/wed/news/news_1n18feldman.html
596 posted on 09/18/2002 6:33:45 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: ~Kim4VRWC's~
Good point. See my #333, last paragraph.
597 posted on 09/18/2002 6:42:14 AM PDT by savedbygrace
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To: John Jamieson
Just for you, JJ - Barb speaks!


http://kfmb.com/topstory11121.html
598 posted on 09/18/2002 6:51:42 AM PDT by EllaMinnow
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To: truth_seeker
Truth seeker speaks the truth. The Save Dave gang behaved horribly. Ridiculing anyone who they even suspected disagreed with them. They were especially awful to Kim 4VRWC. Kim, by the way was unfailingly polite & lady like. I continuely told Kim this by freepmail during the whole awful time. bvd If you don't believe us you can look those post up & see for yourself.
599 posted on 09/18/2002 6:56:48 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: Amore
I am just checking out posts since I signed off last night.

My, my, those are very interesting revelations.
600 posted on 09/18/2002 6:59:19 AM PDT by cyncooper
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