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Judge Unseals Van Dam Murder Case Documents

Pretrial Hearings Start Tuesday

POSTED: 10:05 am PDT May 6, 2002
UPDATED: 6:24 pm PDT May 6, 2002

Attorneys for David Westerfield may claim their client was drunk if he abducted and killed 7-year-old Danielle van Dam from her home, a prosecutor said in pretrial motions released Monday.

Danielle van Dam
DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002
DISCUSSION
Westerfield, 50, is charged with murder, kidnapping, possession of child pornography and a special circumstance allegation of murder during a kidnapping in connection with the second grader's death.

Prosecutors said last week they will seek the death penalty if Westerfield is convicted.

Deputy District Attorney Jeff Dusek said that his office had no idea what to make of possible defenses such as: an alibi for Westerfield; third party access to the van Dam residence; or a third party culpability defense that one or more of 34-to-76 registered sex offenders in the vicinity committed the crimes.

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"To date, the people (of California) have received no discovery (documents from the defense) at all," Dusek wrote in one of the motions. "More specifically, the people have received no reports whatsoever indicating how the defense will prove facts necessary to establish an alibi or third party culpability."

Defense attorneys Robert Boyce and Steven Feldman said that the request for a hearing regarding the relevance of third party culpability evidence was premature.

"At this point in time, Mr. Westerfield has not fully investigated his defenses," his attorneys wrote in a motion filed April 29. "At the risk of sounding cynical, the defense is concerned that the people are filing some of these motions to obtain's Mr. Westerfield's defense strategy and theory of the case."

Prosecutors admitted that they called the victim's parents -- Damon and Brenda van Dam -- as witnesses at Westerfield's preliminary hearing in part to discover what kind of cross-examination could be expected from the defense at trial, according to Boyce and Feldman.

The parents discovered that their daughter was missing from her bed the morning of Feb. 2. Volunteer searchers in the East County found her body on Feb. 27, along a road in Dehesa.

Westerfield, who lived two doors down from the van Dams in Sabre Springs, was arrested on Feb. 22.

Dusek also filed a motion seeking to limit questioning of Brenda and Damon van Dam about their lifelong experiences with alcohol of drugs.

Brenda van Dam testified at the preliminary hearing that she smoked a marijuana cigarette both while with her girlfriends in her garage before going to Dad's restaurant the night of Feb. 1, and while at Dad's later that night.

Westerfield's attorneys contend in another motion that the child pornography charge against the defendant should be tried separately from the murder and kidnapping charges.

But prosecutors said that while possession of child pornography isn't in the same class of crime as murder and kidnapping, all three crimes are certainly "connected together in their commission."

"The defendant kidnapped a 7-year-old girl from her own bed," Dusek wrote in his motion. "He killed her, then dumped her nude body in an isolated location. The conclusion is inescapable ... she was sexually molested prior to her murder."

Westerfield's attorneys also filed a motion objecting to the introduction at trial of any computer images, cartoons, photographs or videos of pornographic materials seized from computers files and computer storage devices in the defendant's home.

All but two of the images of alleged pornography introduced at the preliminary hearing were created on the storage discs seized from Mr. Westerfield in mid-1999, the defendant's attorneys state in court papers.

"Pornographic images created up to three years have slight, if any, probative value on proving a motive on the part of David Westerfield to kidnap and/or murder Danielle van Dam," Westerfield's attorneys wrote.

Prosecutors said the computer evidence seized from the defendant's home included still images of clothed, partially naked and nude adult and apparent children; a series of still, animated images depicting forcible sexual attacks of a young female; and digital movies of displaying adults and apparent children engaged in sexual activity, including forcible sexual assault.

One seized compact disc containing sexually explicit forcible sex scenes with apparent juveniles was created last November, prosecutors said.

Superior Court Judge William Mudd is scheduled to hear arguments on the pretrial motions beginning Tuesday. Trial is set for May 17.


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