Criminal
Aug. 14, 2002
Westerfield Jurors Deliberate for Third Day
SAN DIEGO - Jurors in the trial of David A. Westerfield ended their third day of deliberations Monday without deciding the guilt or innocence of the 50-year-old design engineer, who is accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.
Superior Court Judge William D. Mudd put Westerfield's fate into the jurors' hands Thursday morning. The panel discussed the evidence during the remainder of that day and for half a day Friday.
During closing arguments after two months of testimony, Deputy District Attorney Jeff B. Dusek said blood, hair and fiber evidence tied Westerfield to the crime. He called a spot of Danielle's blood on Westerfield's jacket the "smoking gun."
Lead defense attorney Steven E. Feldman argued that Westerfield couldn't have left Danielle's body where volunteer searchers found it Feb. 27 because insect activity began on the body at a time when Westerfield was under constant police surveillance. Feldman also said police found no evidence that Westerfield was in the van Dams' house.
Danielle's parents discovered early Feb. 2 that she was missing from her second-floor bedroom. Police began house-to-house searches throughout the Sabre Springs neighborhood in the northern portion of San Diego. Westerfield, who lived two doors away, was not at home. He returned Feb. 4, telling police of driving to the ocean, to the Imperial County desert and back to the ocean. Late that night, homicide investigators began searching his house.
Police arrested Westerfield two weeks later and have held him without bail. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
On Monday, Mudd released inventories of items seized during police searches. The judge earlier released the search warrant affidavits in response to an appellate court order but withheld the inventories. After a second appellate order, the judge released the additional documents. The new documents showed that all the material related to Westerfield's guilt or innocence had been revealed during the trial.
A gag order imposed by Mudd prevents anyone connected with the trial from commenting on the jury's deliberations.
The six-man, six-woman panel was scheduled to resume deliberations today.
Claude Walbert
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