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If this case was the "slam dunk" that you "hindsighters" claim it is, it would not have generated 10s of thousands of posts, gavel to gavel national coverage, and hours of jury deliberation.

The prosecution case was never strong. If DW was really ready to confess the DA should have accepted a plea bargin. As it was they were very fortunate to get both the conviction and death penalty. A confession would have locked up the case and erased all doubt for all time. Instead, the trail cost millions of dollars and ruined the reputations (deservedly) of the van Dams and many of their friends. A phyrric victory, since California will never execute DW.

To me, the fascinating aspect of this case is the moral conflicts it presents. Is real deviant sex worse than fantasy porn sex? Is smoking pot in the garage of a suburban home worse than drunk driving? Who is a better parent, DW or DVD? Is it OK for the police or prosecuter to lie to the suspect or jury? Is it OK for the defender? Should a defense attorney work hard to acquit a child killer? If these are not core issues for Freepers to discuss, I don't know what are. I'm proud of my contribution to the discussion and hope I provoked some thoughtful posts. It's our role to question authority. Something about the prosecution's "misplaced hose garden hose as evidence of guilt" rubbed me the wrong way.

The van Dams would have made it much easier if they had (or will) tell the whole truth about the night of Danielle's abduction. I believe DVD and BVD both lied on the stand and are still covering up something about themselves or their friends. DVD made me very suspicious of him in the John and Ken interview where he didn't want to reveal the "timeline" of that night. As it turns out, that timeline had nothing to do with convicting DW. It was only important to the van Dams. Why?

Finally, there is the little matter of the bug experts. DW probably dumped the body on Feb 1, so how could the bug guys be so far off? This will put the whole bug forensics into question and might lead to the release of other guilty parties. I believe I was the first to suggest the murderer doused the body with bleach. Perhaps a subject for future research.