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American Morning

Jury Recommends Death for Westerfield

Aired September 17, 2002 - 9:14   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Death by lethal injection. That's what a San Diego jury now recommending for David Westerfield, convicted of killing and kidnapping his 7-year-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We the jury, in the above entitled cause, determine that the penalty shall be death. Dated September 16, 2002. Signed, Juror number 10, foreperson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The jury deliberated for a week, deadlocked yesterday morning, but then later in the day reached a verdict after a lunch break. Let's talk about it with CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who's live here in New York. And from San Francisco, Marc Klass, of the KlassKids foundation. Marc Klass's daughter, Polly, kidnapped back in 1993. Marc, I want to begin with you this morning. Have you talked to the parents of Danielle van Dam yet and their reaction thus far has been?

MARC KLASS, KLASSKIDS FOUNDATION LEADER: I spoke to Mrs. van Dam two days ago, the evening before the verdict came down. And they're quite weary, they just wanted this whole thing to be over. And now, I guess the gag order has been lifted. They're free to talk a little bit about their daughter. And I know they're looking forward to being able to give their victim impact statements and let the world know what this devastation has really been about for them as a family.

HEMMER: Marc, I think it's difficult to read the hearts and minds of other people, but you more so than anyone can probably understand and relate to the experience they're having right now. What is that experience? Can you define it for us please?

KLASS: You know what, I can tell you that there were no champagne corks being popped in the van Dam home yesterday. It's a weary, tired kind of a process. And you know, another person's life has been put on the line and certainly nobody can get any joy out of that. Look at how difficult it was for the jury to finally come to that decision. But finally this chapter in their lives is coming to a close, and hopefully David Westerfield will no longer have to dominate their lives. Hopefully they'll be able to put this piece of waste behind them and move into more positive things.

HEMMER: I want you to hang on there a second, Marc. Back here in New York with Jeffrey Toobin. I wanted you to listen to what one of the jurors had to say said yesterday after the verdict was handed down. Quick listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to sort of fathom what exactly happened in terms of did he enter the house, did he take her from there but that -- yes, when it came down to it we really just needed to place her in his environment. And we didn't necessarily have to fill in all of the gaps of the story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: You heard that yesterday I'm sure. What about that? I mean, is -- are there gaps in the prosecution's case that they could not answer or do indeed jurors at one point say, you know what? Let's get past that.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's interesting, that was practically word for word from the prosecutor's summation. You don't have to fill in all of gaps. You don't have to tell the whole story in order to reach a verdict. I mean one of the peculiarities, one of the reasons that this case was so compelling for a lot of people, is that there was compelling evidence that David Westerfield killed Danielle. Her blood on his jacket. Both jurors said that was the key evidence in the case.

But there were mysteries that remain. How did he get in the house? How did he get Danielle out of the house with no one knowing? It -- the prosecution never filled in that part of the story. As a legal matter, they didn't. But it did leave a sort of lingering mystery for a lot of people.

HEMMER: What do you make of the panel, when they essentially come back in the morning and say they are deadlocked. Then they come back and say, we need a little bit more time. And then they take a lunch break, and then boom, we have what we saw yesterday.

TOOBIN: Not all that uncommon. Jurors often get very nervous right before they have to, as it were, pull the trigger. They say they're deadlocked, but then one juror or two jurors say you know, I thought about it a little more. The defense claimed yesterday that they should have a mistrial because it seemed like the jurors were deliberating over lunch. That's not necessarily the case. It may be simply that, you know, the approach of actually having to deliver the verdict may have sort of jogged one's juror conscience.

HEMMER: You know all too well the track record for the death penalty being carried out in California. What's the chance that Westerfield will ever be given lethal injection?

TOOBIN: Low. Just a couple of numbers here: currently, there are about 611 people on death row in California. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, they have executed a total of 10 people. About one or two people a year are being executed. It's far more likely, I think, that he will die of natural causes than he will be executed, given the backlog.

HEMMER: Marc Klass, in 30 seconds we have left here, if you were advising Danielle's parents about moving on with their lives. I know you and many others, John Walsh we know all to well, Samantha Runnion's mother too has been quite outspoken since her daughter was kidnapped and killed. How do you take the anger, and the passion and put it in to something that is positive down the road to help others?

KLASS: Well, certainly Bill, anger can be a very positive agent of change. I think that Ghandi and Martin Luther King probably took anger and changed the world with it for their constituencies. But you know what you have to do is you have to -- first of all, seek out psychological counseling, depend upon your family and your core supporters to bolster you and get you through these kinds of things. And then fight back in some way. Create a legacy in their daughter's name that will be protective of children for generations to come, so that her death can be measured in accomplishment and not in statistics.

HEMMER: Thank you, Marc. Marc Klass in San Francisco, Jeffrey Toobin here in New York. Good to see you again, pal. And we will hear from the parents again later today. We do anticipate a briefing from California. Here's Paula.

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 September 17, 2002 - 9:14   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Death by lethal injection. That's what a San Diego jury now recommending for David Westerfield, convicted of killing and kidnapping his 7-year-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We the jury, in the above entitled cause, determine that the penalty shall be death. Dated September 16, 2002. Signed, Juror number 10, foreperson.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: The jury deliberated for a week, deadlocked yesterday morning, but then later in the day reached a verdict after a lunch break. Let's talk about it with CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who's live here in New York. And from San Francisco, Marc Klass, of the KlassKids foundation. Marc Klass's daughter, Polly, kidnapped back in 1993. Marc, I want to begin with you this morning. Have you talked to the parents of Danielle van Dam yet and their reaction thus far has been?

MARC KLASS, KLASSKIDS FOUNDATION LEADER: I spoke to Mrs. van Dam two days ago, the evening before the verdict came down. And they're quite weary, they just wanted this whole thing to be over. And now, I guess the gag order has been lifted. They're free to talk a little bit about their daughter. And I know they're looking forward to being able to give their victim impact statements and let the world know what this devastation has really been about for them as a family.

HEMMER: Marc, I think it's difficult to read the hearts and minds of other people, but you more so than anyone can probably understand and relate to the experience they're having right now. What is that experience? Can you define it for us please?

KLASS: You know what, I can tell you that there were no champagne corks being popped in the van Dam home yesterday. It's a weary, tired kind of a process. And you know, another person's life has been put on the line and certainly nobody can get any joy out of that. Look at how difficult it was for the jury to finally come to that decision. But finally this chapter in their lives is coming to a close, and hopefully David Westerfield will no longer have to dominate their lives. Hopefully they'll be able to put this piece of waste behind them and move into more positive things.

HEMMER: I want you to hang on there a second, Marc. Back here in New York with Jeffrey Toobin. I wanted you to listen to what one of the jurors had to say said yesterday after the verdict was handed down. Quick listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We tried to sort of fathom what exactly happened in terms of did he enter the house, did he take her from there but that -- yes, when it came down to it we really just needed to place her in his environment. And we didn't necessarily have to fill in all of the gaps of the story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: You heard that yesterday I'm sure. What about that? I mean, is -- are there gaps in the prosecution's case that they could not answer or do indeed jurors at one point say, you know what? Let's get past that.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: You know, it's interesting, that was practically word for word from the prosecutor's summation. You don't have to fill in all of gaps. You don't have to tell the whole story in order to reach a verdict. I mean one of the peculiarities, one of the reasons that this case was so compelling for a lot of people, is that there was compelling evidence that David Westerfield killed Danielle. Her blood on his jacket. Both jurors said that was the key evidence in the case.

But there were mysteries that remain. How did he get in the house? How did he get Danielle out of the house with no one knowing? It -- the prosecution never filled in that part of the story. As a legal matter, they didn't. But it did leave a sort of lingering mystery for a lot of people.

HEMMER: What do you make of the panel, when they essentially come back in the morning and say they are deadlocked. Then they come back and say, we need a little bit more time. And then they take a lunch break, and then boom, we have what we saw yesterday.

TOOBIN: Not all that uncommon. Jurors often get very nervous right before they have to, as it were, pull the trigger. They say they're deadlocked, but then one juror or two jurors say you know, I thought about it a little more. The defense claimed yesterday that they should have a mistrial because it seemed like the jurors were deliberating over lunch. That's not necessarily the case. It may be simply that, you know, the approach of actually having to deliver the verdict may have sort of jogged one's juror conscience.

HEMMER: You know all too well the track record for the death penalty being carried out in California. What's the chance that Westerfield will ever be given lethal injection?

TOOBIN: Low. Just a couple of numbers here: currently, there are about 611 people on death row in California. Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, they have executed a total of 10 people. About one or two people a year are being executed. It's far more likely, I think, that he will die of natural causes than he will be executed, given the backlog.

HEMMER: Marc Klass, in 30 seconds we have left here, if you were advising Danielle's parents about moving on with their lives. I know you and many others, John Walsh we know all to well, Samantha Runnion's mother too has been quite outspoken since her daughter was kidnapped and killed. How do you take the anger, and the passion and put it in to something that is positive down the road to help others?

KLASS: Well, certainly Bill, anger can be a very positive agent of change. I think that Ghandi and Martin Luther King probably took anger and changed the world with it for their constituencies. But you know what you have to do is you have to -- first of all, seek out psychological counseling, depend upon your family and your core supporters to bolster you and get you through these kinds of things. And then fight back in some way. Create a legacy in their daughter's name that will be protective of children for generations to come, so that her death can be measured in accomplishment and not in statistics.

HEMMER: Thank you, Marc. Marc Klass in San Francisco, Jeffrey Toobin here in New York. Good to see you again, pal. And we will hear from the parents again later today. We do anticipate a briefing from California. Here's Paula.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com