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CNN Live Event/Special

Closing Arguments to Begin in Westerfield Murder Trial

Aired August 06, 2002 - 13:24   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: One of the most highly publicized child abduction cases has been that of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. Closing arguments are expected to begin today in the trial of her accused killer, David Westerfield.
CNN's Thelma Gutierrez is live outside the courthouse in San Diego -- Thelma.

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kyra.

Jurors spent the top part of morning listening to final jury instructions. Closing arguments are now under way right now.

Let's go live to the courtroom, where you can see lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek laying out his case. He just talked about all the physical evidence in this case. And he just told jurors that investigators found Danielle's hair in David Westerfield's bed and on his pillow and between his sheets.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JEFF DUSAK, PROSECUTOR: Get rid of the pajamas. Where did the orange and blue items come from? Get rid of those. Get rid of the black cowboy boots that were described at Dad's. Hide, destroy, conceal, wash, all the evidence. Lie when you were asked what happened to the police department.

And maybe even what aggravates it even more is his interview with the TV people. Understand the setting -- it's in his mind. Two doors down from that interview -- two doors down -- the van Dams are wondering where is my child, what has happened to her, will we ever see her again, will we ever see her alive again? He is standing in front of those cameras lying to them to all of us and joking about it: Hey, you are not going to put this on with out my hat. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

That's the kind of individual we are dealing with here. But it gets worse. As we saw in the presentation of this case, he tried to blame his son. He tries to pass the blame off on his son.

GUTIERREZ: Jeff Dusak was talking about the fact that David Westerfield had talked about the pornography -- the thousands of images of pornography in his home and on his computer. And the defense had brought up at one time that perhaps those images did not belong to David Westerfield, but perhaps his 18-year-old son, Neil. Neil took the stand. Neil testified he never downloaded any pornography at his father's house.

David Westerfield is charged with kidnapping and murdering 7- year-old Danielle van Dam. Jurors will be instructed on each specific count that Westerfield is charged with. In addition to kidnapping and murder, he is also faces a misdemeanor count of possession of child pornography. As we had mentioned thousands of pornographic images were allegedly found in Westerfield's home and on his computers. The jury was instructed that they must unanimously agree on which, if any, of those specific images is child pornography.

And Kyra, those jurors have a huge job ahead of them. The trial has gone on now for two months. They have 199 different exhibits to go over. And they also have to look over the testimony of 100 different witnesses. And the judge has asked both sides -- the prosecution and the defense -- to be brief during closing arguments.

Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: Thelma Gutierrez, thank you so much. We are going to continue to check in with you.

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