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Judge Reviews Cops' Files In Van Dam Murder Case

Westerfield Lawyers Believe Investigators Have History Of Misconduct

POSTED: 7:40 am PDT April 18, 2002
UPDATED: 11:33 am PDT April 18, 2002

A judge Thursday will consider a request by lawyers representing David Westerfield to review the personnel records of 13 officers involved in the investigation of Danielle van Dam's abduction and murder -- that's after he reviews the files himself.

Danielle van Dam
DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002
DISCUSSION

In court documents, defense attorney Robert Boyce said that police ignored his client's requests for a lawyer and questioned him abusively following the 7-year-old's disappearance.

In the days after the second-grader vanished, police were so rough in their questioning that Westerfield "stated that he thought he was abused and all that was missing were the bright lights and a rubber hose," Boyce said in the documents.

The documents maintain that after Westerfield became a suspect, police interrogated him for nine straight hours, ignoring his repeated requests to speak with a lawyer, sleep, make telephone calls, shower, change clothes and halt the interview, according to the documents.

"I asked you to get me a lawyer. Bring me a lawyer in here. Bring the D.A. in. Bring somebody in I can talk to. ... You're asking me to admit to something," Westerfield told police detectives during one interview, the court documents state.

"As far as I'm concerned, I didn't do it. I know that you're adamant that I did."

Westerfield's trial is scheduled to begin on May 17.

Boyce and defense attorney Steven Feldman especially want Superior Court Judge William Mudd to look at records of complaints against detectives Mark Keyser and Mike Ott, who they allege have a history of "dishonesty and excessive force."

Ott and Keyser interviewed Westerfield two days after the girl disappeared and accompanied him on the 600-mile route he said he traveled the weekend Danielle van Dam turned up missing.

They also tried to visit Westerfield in jail the day after the victim's body was found.

Feldman and Boyce want Mudd to review records regarding aggressive conduct or violation of constitutional or statutory rights, including Miranda rights and rights to counsel, in interviewing suspects and witnesses.

Ott and Keyser previously "violated a suspect's constitutional rights, used excessive force and lied," according to a document from Feldman and Boyce.


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