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Defense Delay in Westerfield Sentencing
Aired November 22, 2002 - 14:19 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: David Westerfield was found guilty of murder three months ago. A month later, the jury recommended he be put to death. But when it came time for the judge's decision, the defense says, hold on.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is now at the San Diego courthouse -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know, not many people -- not many legal experts around here thought that was going to be successful, but the defense made a last-ditch effort to delay this sentencing.
It was a really two-pronged argument. The first part failed. The first part involved a published article in a San Diego magazine that talked about an unnamed police source that claimed that Westerfield had killed the little girl in her bedroom, and had not really kidnapped her. The quote was, "He hit her, and that was it."
Now, the judge dismissed that argument as pure speculation. He said there was very clear uncontested evidence that the little girl was alive after she had been taken from her bedroom, that she was alive sometime in Westerfield's RV.
The second part of the argument, however, was successful, and that was that the defense was arguing they just didn't have enough time to prepare an argument for the sentencing, that Steven Feldman had undergone surgery, that there had been several demands from the media to unseal documents, and that they did not have enough time for this argument.
The judge was clearly disturbed by it. He was upset. He said, I feel boxed in by this, but this is a capital case. So, he did decide to continue it until January 3, 2003.
Now, shortly after the proceeding, the van Dams did appear outside the courtroom, and Brenda van Dam just talked about how disappointed she was by this, and she felt that those last-minute pleadings by the defense was really just sort of a game, and that she was very sorry that this was not resolved today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDA VAN DAM, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I'm really let down by the decision by the fact that the defense wasn't prepared. We wanted to have this cart behind us for the holidays, and it just makes it difficult. You know, I thought today would be the end, and we would be heading into the holidays, which are going to be so difficult for our family this year. But I look forward to it being over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: So, now it looks like they're going to have to wait another five weeks to see whether Judge William Mudd decides to go with the jury recommendation, which is to sentence David Westerfield to death, or decides to go with a lesser penalty -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired November 22, 2002 - 14:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: David Westerfield was found guilty of murder three months ago. A month later, the jury recommended he be put to death. But when it came time for the judge's decision, the defense says, hold on.
CNN's Rusty Dornin is now at the San Diego courthouse -- Rusty.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know, not many people -- not many legal experts around here thought that was going to be successful, but the defense made a last-ditch effort to delay this sentencing.
It was a really two-pronged argument. The first part failed. The first part involved a published article in a San Diego magazine that talked about an unnamed police source that claimed that Westerfield had killed the little girl in her bedroom, and had not really kidnapped her. The quote was, "He hit her, and that was it."
Now, the judge dismissed that argument as pure speculation. He said there was very clear uncontested evidence that the little girl was alive after she had been taken from her bedroom, that she was alive sometime in Westerfield's RV.
The second part of the argument, however, was successful, and that was that the defense was arguing they just didn't have enough time to prepare an argument for the sentencing, that Steven Feldman had undergone surgery, that there had been several demands from the media to unseal documents, and that they did not have enough time for this argument.
The judge was clearly disturbed by it. He was upset. He said, I feel boxed in by this, but this is a capital case. So, he did decide to continue it until January 3, 2003.
Now, shortly after the proceeding, the van Dams did appear outside the courtroom, and Brenda van Dam just talked about how disappointed she was by this, and she felt that those last-minute pleadings by the defense was really just sort of a game, and that she was very sorry that this was not resolved today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDA VAN DAM, VICTIM'S MOTHER: I'm really let down by the decision by the fact that the defense wasn't prepared. We wanted to have this cart behind us for the holidays, and it just makes it difficult. You know, I thought today would be the end, and we would be heading into the holidays, which are going to be so difficult for our family this year. But I look forward to it being over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DORNIN: So, now it looks like they're going to have to wait another five weeks to see whether Judge William Mudd decides to go with the jury recommendation, which is to sentence David Westerfield to death, or decides to go with a lesser penalty -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Rusty Dornin, thanks so much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
