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Westerfield Trial Delayed

Aired July 30, 2002 - 14:29   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: To San Diego now where the trial of the man accused of killing Danielle van Dam is almost over. The final witnesses are taking the stand, and soon jurors will have their say.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is at the courthouse -- hi, Thelma.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra. Well things have been pushing back a bit today. Now, the prosecution was expected to wrap up its rebuttal case today, and closing arguments were expected to begin this week, but it seems that an expert for the defense has had some kind of a scheduling problem, and so it looks as though this may all drag into next week.

Now, we have some live pictures from the courtroom right now. After a four-week break, the jury is back today. The prosecution has called several rebuttal witnesses to the stand to testify about the way in which evidence was collected. Specifically, insects in and around Danielle van Dam's body. The purpose? To establish a time line for her death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The prosecution and defense agree on at least three details in the murder trial of 50-year-old David Westerfield: That Danielle van Dam was last seen alive the night of February 1, when her father put her to bed; that she was reported missing the following morning on February 2; that nearly a month later, her nude body was found off the side of the road on February 27.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was clear to me she had been dead for a considerable period of time.

GUTIERREZ: Danielle's body was so severely decomposed, even the medical examiner could not establish a time of death or a cause of death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And a period of time will pass...

GUTIERREZ: So the defense brought on its top witness, a forensic entomologist, a bug expert who studies the life cycle of bugs found in a decomposed body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would suggest a shorter period of time as opposed to three to four and five, six weeks.

GUTIERREZ: The expert testified Danielle's body wasn't exposed to insects until sometime between February 12 and 21, well after Westerfield had been under 24-hour police surveillance.

Based on that time line, the defense told jurors there is no way David Westerfield could have murdered Danielle.

But the prosecution says, not so. Its expert witness, a forensic anthropologist, came up with a different time line for Danielle's death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am relying solely on my experience, the data I had to provide a window of possibility.

GUTIERREZ: The prosecution's expert placed Danielle's time of death somewhere between January 16 through the 31. The problem is, that's two days before she was even reported missing.

Neither of the experts, the anthropologist nor entomologist, actually examined Danielle's body, and the only person who did, the San Diego county medical examiner, says Danielle could have been murdered any time from January 23 through February 17, offering jurors no solid clue as to exactly when or exactly how she died.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUTIERREZ: The defense has one more witness, one more expert witness, to call to the stand on Thursday. His testimony is expected to carry through to Monday -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right. We will be following it. Thelma Gutierrez, live in San Diego. Thanks, Thelma.

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