Posted on 09/17/2002 11:45:39 AM PDT by Bonaparte
Parents of kidnapped girl thank jurors for convicting, recommending death for neighbor
Updated Sept. 17, 2002, 2:08 p.m. ET
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The parents of Danielle van Dam on Tuesday thanked the jury that found their neighbor guilty of kidnapping and killing the 7-year-old girl and said they hoped their "angel" would watch over the panel.
Speaking for the first time in months, Damon and Brenda van Dam said they were pleased with the outcome of the trial, which ended Monday with the jury's recommendation that David Westerfield be put to death.
"We feel that the justice system revealed the truth and that Danielle's murderer has been held accountable. ... That was our hope, that Danielle's death would not go unanswered," Brenda van Dam said, reading from a statement.
On the death sentence, she said, "What matters most is that this monster could never again hurt another child."
A gag order had barred the van Dams from speaking during the trial. The couple spoke to reporters at a seaside park that had been one of Danielle's favorite places.
The van Dams thanked jurors for taking on "an incredibly difficult job."
"We will ask our angel, Danielle, to watch over you and your families," Brenda van Dam said. "We know she will take special care of you."
Westerfield will be sentenced on Nov. 22, when Superior Court Judge William Mudd will either accept the jury's recommendation or impose a sentence of life in prison without chance for parole.
Under California law, all death penalty cases are automatically appealed.
The penalty verdict came after an unusual series of notes from jurors, who first told Mudd they were deadlocked, then asked for more time to deliberate, and finally, told him they had reached a conclusion.
"I think the verdict speaks for itself," the jury foreman, identified only as Tony, told reporters afterward. "There were people on both sides ... but then after discussing it further, we came to agreements.
Westerfield, 50, showed no emotion as the verdict was read. Westerfield's mother shook and cried as one of her son's attorneys tried to console her. The van Dams sat at the rear of the court with their arms linked, and Brenda van Dan cried as the verdict was read.
Danielle was last seen Feb. 1 when her father put her to bed in her second-story bedroom, decorated in her favorite colors, pink and purple. Just days before she had sold Girl Scout cookies to Westerfield, who lived two doors down from her house in the upscale San Diego suburb.
Her nude body was found nearly a month later along a road outside the city, too decomposed to determine the cause of death or whether she had been sexually assaulted.
In the hours before the body was found, defense lawyers were brokering a plea bargain in which Westerfield would have avoided the death penalty in exchange for leading investigators to the girl's remains, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday.
The paper quoted sources as saying that Westerfield would have pleaded guilty to murder and be sentenced to life in prison. One source said the deal was minutes away from completion when the lawyers learned Danielle's body had been located and they dropped negotiations.
The van Dams said they were not aware of any such deal. Both prosecutors and defense lawyers declined to comment.
The slaying of Danielle preceded other frightening abductions this year, including those of Elizabeth Smart in Utah, Samantha Runnion in Orange County and Cassandra Williamson in Missouri. Samantha and Cassandra were killed; Elizabeth remains missing.
Westerfield was convicted Aug. 21 of kidnapping, murder and possession of child pornography.
The jury foreman said blood and other physical evidence linking Westerfield to Danielle led him to believe Westerfield was guilty, adding he was not swayed by the character testimony from the defendant's son and daughter.
Both he and another juror, identified as Jeffrey, said Danielle's blood on the defendant's jacket was probably the most compelling evidence in the two-month trial.
"Blood on the jacket. Where did it come from? How did it get there?" Jeffrey asked.
Defense attorneys sought to portray Westerfield as a family man who contributed to society through his patented design work on devices used in medicine and other fields.
The self-employed engineer had no prior felony record and played an active role in the lives of his children and close friends.
"He's a good man but for one three-day weekend of terror," his lawyer Steven Feldman said in court.
Westerfield did not testify during the trial, something the jury foreman indicated disturbed him and others.
"We really wanted David Westerfield to speak to us and give us what his state of mind was," he said.
Actually, it is those who believe in guilt that need to give it up. I mean you won, game over, be happy, go home. Just remember these helpful tips:
If you live near Sabre Springs I would make sure and lock my doors, just in case.
If you have drug using, drunks over make sure to lock the doors behind them.
Try and limit sex partners to people you have known more than an hour.
If you have a dog, check to make sure it barks.
If you have an alarm, make sure it works.
If you find doors open at 3AM that were closed when you went to sleep, check the house and for heaven's sake check the kids, especially if one sleepwalks.
If something bad happens and you need the police, don't lie, either about your activities or what you said to a neighbor.
Stay away from the WetVac. Don't feel the need to vaccum.
Reading the beginning of Feldman's closing argument was very enlighting about the make-up of the jury. He seemed to say that some of the jurors considered DNA to be uncontestable. That its mere presence meant guilt.
That would explain Dusek's feigned ingorance when he asked one of the bug guys if their science was better than DNA. Feldman objected, Mudd overruled. Considered his mistake then excused the jury. Judge then chewed out the witness. Incredible.
More Emotion. The incredible inclusion by Judge Mudd of all the porn evidence.
He told Feldman he had left the "barn door wide open" when he mentioned the number of pictures the expert had chosen to show the jury.
Judge then claimed he was going to include all instead of 14 to 17 of them. He cited the "Best Evidence Law".
Feldman informed him the "Best Evidence Law" had been abolished, Mudd then babbled about the "barn door being wide open".
During deliberations the first thing the jury asked for was all the porn. And 12 magnifing glasses and a color printing xerox machine. And people wondered why it took ten days to decide.
But that is not what the article says and it seems that LE used this false impression to influence how the reporters discussed and wrote about the trial.
A local SD lawyer said the source could not have been any of the prosecutors or defense attyns. Plea bargains are to be kept secret. And both Dusek and the DA refused to comment.
It's possible to get "too close" to a subject, until you lose all perspective.
Yep, aside from all that, he's a model citizen.
Sounds vaguely familiar.
Was Westerfield born in Hope and raised in Hot Springs?
Celebratory wife-swap and orgy, Friday at 8.
Your implication that only those on Westerfield's side believe in reasonable doubt is false.
Well, you are just a font of disinformation.
The jury obviously considered the porn charge first as they signed that verdict form by Tuesday morning after requesting the porn Friday. Monday afternoon they had asked for the Redden tape and actually waited until the next morning to sign off of the porn count.
Of course your statement regarding magnifying glasses and a color printing xerox machine is a lie.
For some reason you wish to paint the jury as wishing to pour over porn images for days on end for their own purient interests.
What is your agenda with these constant misrepresentations?
Could be. His ass'll be on death row for about 12 years.
I don't recall him as a presence on the threads until now.
It appears a certain agenda is in play here.
That has to be the most ridiculous remark I have EVER heard in my life! Who's to say he wouldn't have done it again had he gotten away with it? good grief.
snip...
These people really had their blinders on, and I hope the humiliation of this "defeat" for their cause will make them leave. I just think they make the forum far less useful for their presence.
Illbay,
If you often get flamed, perhaps it's because of illogical tripe like this. First you say contrarian questions are good, then you demand that the people that ask them go away.
How about addressing even one of the points others or I have made about this case instead of knee-jerk attacks about how we love child killers, and perhaps we could have a discussion.
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