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Westerfield Attorney Arrives at Court

Aired August 21, 2002 - 13:52   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I am wondering, is James Hattori still standing by outside the courthouse? James, are you seeing any activity there?
JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we do know that the defense attorney, Mr. Steven Feldman, has arrived at the court. We caught a glimpse of him heading into the courtroom. Of course the prosecutor and the family are also expected to be there in court for the announcement.

The defense attorney has -- you talked about personal -- taking it personally during the trial. The defense attorney came across, especially in closing, in very emotional tones, saying that trying to create, obviously, a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors to spare his client from any kind of conviction, saying that there is no evidence linking him to -- the van Dam house where the kidnapping occurred, that there is doubt about the scientific evidence that Jeffrey was talking about in terms of the decomposition of Danielle van Dam's body. He took it in very emotional terms to the jury, to try and convey this idea that it is not a solid case, it is not a slam dunk as some have characterized it.

Now, of course, we will have to talk to the jury and see how that all played out, and hopefully we will get a chance to do that. But first, the verdict, we will see what that is, shortly, live from the courtroom. Judge William Mudd's courtroom on the third floor here in San Diego County Courthouse, as Mr. Toobin explained, a very tiny courthouse -- courtroom, that is.

So we will be looking for that picture very shortly, Carol.

LIN: That is right, in about seven minutes. And certainly no love affair between the judge and the media in this case, James.

HATTORI: That is right. He, in fact, went to the extreme point of ejecting a radio producer who works for a personality on San Diego radio here, who said some things, in the mind of the judge, that were inappropriate. Apparently, the radio host had some sort of contact inside the courthouse, and was privy to some comments that the van Dam family, particularly Mr. van Dam, had said to the defense attorney, apparently offended by some of the things the defense attorney said.

Actually, the comments were directed to the defense attorney's mother who was in court. And as a result, the judge has been very sensitive to media contact -- to media comments.

LIN: All right. Six minutes to the verdict. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com