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Westerfield Trial Opening Statements Today
Aired June 04, 2002 - 10:25 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And now to Southern California, where opening statements are due to get underway today in the trial of David Westerfield. He is the San Diego man accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam.
Our Thelma Gutierrez is covering the proceedings, and she joins us now with more. Thelma, good morning.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This has been called one of the most highly publicized cases in all of San Diego history. In about three hours, opening statements are expected to begin, as you had mentioned, in the trial of 50-year-old David Westerfield. Now the twice divorced father of two is accused of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Daniel van Dam. If he is convicted, he could face the death penalty. Danielle was reported missing from her home on February 2. While hundreds of people searched for her, David Westerfield, who lived only two doors away, was arrested in connection with her disappearance. Five days after his arrest, Danielle's naked and decomposed body was found in a rural area in San Diego County. The medical examiner has not been able to establish how the child died, or whether or not she was sexually assaulted. But during the preliminary hearings, forensic experts at the San Diego police department said DNA from blood stains found in Westerfield's mobile home and on his jacket, match the victim's.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNETTE PEER, DNA EXPERT, SAN DIEGO POLICE: The search on February 6 -- 6, excuse me, mostly involved searching for blood. There were numerous dark stains, red-brown stains, brown stains, reddish stains, that I observed during the course of the examination. When I came across a stain, I would mark that area for future testing. Once I had tested or found approximately 19 areas of the motor home, I began a chemical test for the presence of blood.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUTIERREZ: Forensic experts say the fingerprints found in the motor home matched Danielle, and investigators say they also found pornographic images of young girls on four computers seized from Westerfield's home. Prosecutors say that this points to a motive. They will argue that Westerfield intended on kidnapping and sexually assaulting Danielle. Now, Westerfield has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, murder, and misdemeanor possession of child pornography. The parents, Brenda and Damon van Dam, will not be allowed to sit in the courtroom during the trial because they are witnesses. That may all change once they are done testifying. And we are told by a family spokesperson that Damon van Dam was told to be prepared to take the stand later this afternoon once opening statements are -- have been completed -- Daryn, back to you.
KAGAN: Yes, Thelma, at least then he will be able to be in the courtroom for part of the trial, as they face their daughter's gruesome murder. Thelma Gutierrez in San Diego. Thelma, thank you very much.
Let's get some legal perspective on all these happenings from the Skakel deliberation to the Westerfield jury selection and that trial. And for that, we bring in our legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, joining us from New York -- Jeff, good morning.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, Dan (ph) -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That's OK. First of all, this seems incredibly fast. It was only four months ago that Danielle van Dam disappeared, and already the trial is beginning.
TOOBIN: Extremely fast, especially when you think that this is California, which has one of the notoriously slow judicial systems in America. The San Diego system works better than Los Angeles, or at least it works faster. So, that's why jury selection is done. Opening statements begin today.
KAGAN: Incredible. What about this aspect of the parents not even being allowed into the courtroom because they are potential witnesses. It sounds like you are just adding to the cruelty of what these people have been through.
TOOBIN: Well, but that's actually a fairly standard that witnesses are not allowed to watch any testimony...
KAGAN: But Jeffrey, isn't this one of the classic points that victim rights advocates make, that they can't even be -- that the parents of this child can't even be in the courtroom?
TOOBIN: That's true, but you have to remember the circumstances of this case as well. The defense in this case is that the parents were swingers, were involved in adult sex clubs, and the people that they met through these encounters were actually involved in the abduction of their daughter.
So I mean, it is gruesome, it is lurid, it is especially painful for these parents who have already, you know, suffered the horrible loss of their daughter, but this is a case where you can understand why the judge would say, look, you can't listen to others testimony because then there would be the suspicion that you lined up your testimony with what other people say. KAGAN: So you would -- you would expect that in this trial, the parents' background that we heard so much about when their daughter first went missing, we will hear about that in the trial as well?
TOOBIN: That appears to be the defense, although it seems hard to me that if the jury believes that this DNA evidence, if Danielle's blood is really found inside David Westerfield's trailer, it is hard to believe why anything else would matter, but defense attorneys have said in the preliminary hearing and elsewhere that they plan to make this defense, and they have got to try something, so that's what it looks like they will be doing.
KAGAN: That they do. They are trying to save the man's life because the death penalty is at stake here. Now, as you did mention, there is physical evidence in that case. There is not as much physical evidence in this very old case with Martha Moxley in Norwalk, Connecticut. Closing arguments took place yesterday. A big burden, I would think, on the prosecution to kind of tie this all together. Did they?
TOOBIN: You know, we've been talking all through this trial about how difficult the prosecution's road was, with the absence of physical absence, with the passage of 26-plus years since the murder. But I tell you, Jonathan Benedict, the prosecutor, gave one of the best summations that I have ever heard yesterday...
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: Really? And I am sure you have heard a few in your time.
TOOBIN: I really have. And what he did was, is he put the evidence in a different context. Most was -- dramatically, at the end of his summation, he used a tape recording of Michael Skakel describing the night of the murder to a ghost writer that he had worked with on a book that he had planned to write. He had dropped the project. And what he showed -- the prosecutor did, was how Michael Skakel had lied to the ghost writer about various things that went on that night.
KAGAN: But Jeffrey, just because you are a liar doesn't make you a killer.
TOOBIN: Absolutely right. And those issues do not -- and that isn't the whole case. And the absence of physical evidence, the presence of other suspects -- Tommy Skakel, the brother; Ken Littleton, the tutor -- remain. But to show that he lied about what went that night was certainly a dramatic way to finish the case, and certainly give the jury a lot to think about.
Whether it leads to a conviction, boy, I have no idea. Because it was a very spin in the courtroom yesterday.
KAGAN: On that note, the impossible question. Do you think this is going to be a quick jury, or do you think it will be some time before they come back with their verdict? TOOBIN: Well, one thing I have learned in the post-OJ era, is that the OJ criminal jury was so criticized for coming back so quickly that jurors in high profile cases feel a special obligation to take a day or two, look at the evidence, at least look like they are taking the case seriously. So I think a verdict today is unlikely, tomorrow, I think, is when the real jury watch starts, but I have been wrong before.
KAGAN: And you will be standing by no matter when it comes through.
TOOBIN: I will indeed.
KAGAN: There for us to serve. Jeffrey Toobin in New York. Thank you so much.
TOOBIN: See you, Daryn.
KAGAN: Appreciate it.
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